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A must read for anyone interested in Jewish survival during the Holocaust 2010-05-27

Reviewer: Gary Selikow

The real life story of the Bielski brothers, Tuvia, Asael and Zus. They rescued 1200 Jews from the death clutches of the Nazi Einsatzgruppen (death squads) and saved more Jewish lives than Oskar Schindler.
They also killed nearly as many Nazi soldiers as perished during the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. s.
This engaging and gripping book is a must read for anyone interested in what Jews did to survive during the Holocaust. It tells of the lives of the Bielskis, of the fate of Jews in Poland and Belarus during the Second World War, and of the forest village built by the Bielskis for Jewish survivors who had escaped Nazi terror.
also how the village evaded detection by the Nazis.
While circumstances made co-operation with the Soviets necessary, Jewish and Zionist education was secretly given to children in the village, against Soviet rules.
Asael was later killed fighting in the Red Army against the Nazis and Tuvia and Zus , realizing after the war that there was no future for Jews in the soviet Union, migrated to Israel where they fought in the War of Independence and later to the USA.

Assigned reading for a Sixth Grade World History class? 2010-04-21

Reviewer: John A. Lefcourte

Like other readers I had seen the movie "Defiance" and wanted to learn more about the Bielskis and how they were able to succeed in maintaining a large group of Jews in the forests of Belarus during World War Two. I was very disappointed in this book, despite all the research that the author did in preparation for its writing. The language used is very stilted. The camp had communal kitchens with "a profusion of metal pots", one of the brothers "was wrested from his slumber", the partisans don't wait, they "bide their time", the brothers' band don't merely shoot, they "discharge their weapons" and "strafe" the enemy (they are on foot, not in airplanes). People are "filled with bullets". A German airplane lets loose a "torrent" of bullets, etc. Hitler, in invading Russia, intends "to drink tea" in Moscow. These are just a few examples of the author's use of trite phrases or excessive language. He must have sat with Roget's Thesaurus next to him in order to pad the language and lengthen the book. Similarly, the inclusion of the progress of World War Two around the globe has no relevence to what the Bielski's are encountering and seems to be used to pad the text.

The author does provide some details that flesh out how the Bielski group was able to survive yet critical questions are not answered. The author describes how a party of the group sent out to obtain provisions led the Germans to their hideout in the forest because they were carrying a freshly killed cow in their horse drawn sleigh and the enemy was able to follow the trail of fresh blood in the snow. The enemy was unable to follow the sleigh and horse tracks in the snow? How had the Bielskis been able to cover their tracks in the snow covered country? Apparently this question never occurred to the author.

I found the material interesting but the writing painful.

could not put it down 2010-02-24

Reviewer: D. Kelleher

Just watched the film,so thought i would reed the bookAnd a very good read it is.

Incredible Story...Writing is a bit bland 2010-02-18

Reviewer: David T. Matthewman

This is an incredible story and worth the read. The writer doesn't have a style that grabs the reader's attention and it is written almost like a narrative. The story itself held my attention but there were some very boring parts.

Seminal portrait of the most unlikely war heroes 2010-01-08

Reviewer: Fred L. Houpt

After having watched the film "Defiance" a moving and upsetting portrayal of the story, I noted that some here on Amazon criticized the director for straying from the real story. So, I got this book from the library, read it and here are my views.

The book is thoroughly sourced and researched and it shows. While there is a coherent narrative the book borrows from direct quotes from those who were there. We hear first hand impressions and they are raw and nightmarish. While I was upset at the depictions in the movie, it really does not come close to the fullness of suffering, depredation, murder, evil and heroic efforts described in the book. The scale of evil, in my view, as Jews in particular were singularly targeted in Eastern Europe, is amongst the most vile actions of the despicable Nazi regime. When the war was slipping away from them the SS stepped up their efforts to complete the destruction of European Jewry at the expense of evacuating their own soldiers from the front. Such was the determination of the Nazi hierarchy to demolish Jews even if they were going to lose the war. We read of how the SS recruited men (by freeing) criminals from German jails, suiting them up in uniforms, issuing guns and sending them to the Eastern front with the sole job of killing as many Jews as possible. This is what the Jews had to face: a monstrous killing machine led by a revolting bunch of "devils henchmen", for lack of a better term.

In the most unlikely way the brothers Bielski decided that they would fight back as partisans as well as shelter as many other Jews as possible. To do so they had to fight endless battles: some to convince meek shtetl and ghetto dwellers that hiding in the forest was better than avoiding the random killings all around. Some of the battles were (controversially) among other Jews who dared challenge their leadership. While I cannot judge what I would have done in their place, to criticize their own brutal responses, to the point of killing those they were enraged with, is to take sides and I just choose not to. What is also clear is that if these brothers had shown more compassion and flexibility, they would have been swept aside many times by other aggressive Jewish leaders, and who knows if they would have been better leaders in the long run? The facts are that the Bielski's were the initial leaders and they would not let other Jews or Russian commanders displace them, no matter what. This tenacity, in the long run, helped them save almost 1200 lives. That speaks for itself.

What is very hard to stomach as you read...is the scope and ferocity of the Nazi murderers, both the Germans and the locals, from Belorussia, Ukraine, etc. The reality was that many local residents gleefully helped the Germans hunt down Jews, knowing full well that it was a death sentence. We have to ask why? What did these Jewish peasants, farmers, tailors and craftsman do to these non-Jews to motivate them to assist the Nazi's? It haunts the entire book and there is no answer attempted. Anti-semitism was not something that stopped with the Germans; even many of the Russian Red Army expressed all too typical contempt for their own Jewish partisans fighting alongside their soldiers.

This is a gut wrenching and very disturbing book. But, in telling the full story, the scope of the heroism is all the more highlighted. Seen against the towering odds against them, the Bielski brothers accomplished what was considered impossible, maybe miraculous. Escape and survive the most efficient and horrific attempt to wipe out Jews. They succeeded beyond anyone's expectations, least of all their own. We can only conclude that had more Jews decided early on in the war to fight back and become partisans that the outcome would not have been the same. A very important book for all serious students of WW2. Graphic and not for the weak stomach. The film does err in the depiction of the conflicts among the brothers and on a few other facts. It was not necessary to create inaccuracies as the real story was adequately stirring. Sad to say, many Hollywood films based on history are guilty of ignoring the known facts in favor of the directors views.