And yet the slurs continue.
On December 31, Paramount Vantage released "Defiance," which tells the story of Tuvia, Asael, and Zus Bielski, three Jewish brothers from a tiny village in Nazi-occupied Belarus. They formed a guerrilla unit in the dense woods, created a makeshift village from ghetto escapees and, in the end, saved some 1,200 Jews from Hitler. The Bielski brothers have long deserved to be mentioned with Oskar Schindler and the fighters of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
The film, which is based on a book of the same title by Nechama Tec, has garnered a shower of positive attention. It stars Daniel Craig, the current James Bond, as the visionary Tuvia, who ended his life as a Brooklyn truck driver. Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell (of "Billy Elliot" fame) play Zus and Asael respectively.
The project has also drawn a more negative response. Although smears against the brothers have long enjoyed currency among Polish anti-Semites - who can't seem to decide whether the Bielskis were simpering cowards or heartless savages - they had not reached the respectable press until word of the film's release began to spread.
In June, Gazeta Wyborcza, an important Polish daily edited by Solidarity hero Adam Michnik, gave prominent airing to the charge that "Bielski partisans were involved in the massacre of 128 [Polish] civilians by a Soviet partisan unit in the village of Naliboki in May 1943," according to an English language translation of the article on its website.
As a source, the paper cited an investigation being conducted by the Lodz branch of the Instytut Pamięci Narodowej or Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), a Polish government-affiliated body charged with prosecuting crimes against the Polish nation.
Since the Gazeta Wyborcza article appeared, other periodicals have followed suit. A Polish "historian" named Jerzy Robert Nowak told Variety, the daily newspaper of the entertainment industry in Hollywood, "We Poles are furious. It is a scandal that anyone could think of making a film casting the murderers who massacred Polish villagers as heroes."
On December 31 The Times of London published a story, "Poland Split Over Whether Daniel Craig is Film Hero or Villain," which repeated the IPN accusation and said that some "Poles fear that in telling Bielski's story Hollywood has airbrushed out some unpleasant episodes." (The piece concluded by pointing out that "several members of the Bielski family served in the Israeli armed forces," which the writer seemed to regard as a damning fact.)
The Daily Mail (of London) followed up a few days later with a story on Tuvia Bielski headlined, appallingly, "Jewish Savior or Butcher of Innocents?" It said that "critics" accuse him of "terrorizing ethnic Poles."
None of the articles noted that the IPN's accusation is utterly lacking in solid evidence. It is, in fact, little more than an exercise in character assassination.
The IPN, which has been investigating the Naliboki incident since 2001, has said that Soviet partisan detachments - which began a covert war against the Nazi occupiers soon after the invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941 - murdered a group of 128 Polish individuals, mostly men but also three women, an unspecified number of teenage boys and a ten-year-old child, on May 8, 1943.
In the roughly 300-word description of the investigation e-mailed to me in 2007, the word Bielski is only mentioned once, in the final line: "Jewish partisans from Tweje Bielski's detachment also participated in the attack on Naliboki."
Then in June 2008 the IPN issued another statement, one that backtracked considerably from its previous statement. Noting that some eyewitnesses claimed Bielski partisans were "among those who attacked," it added that the "eyewitnesses don't say on what factual basis this statement is based."
Their statements were "not supported by any other proof, for instance by archival documents." (The Soviet documents on the Naliboki attack do not mention the Bielskis.) The IPN also said that "some historians" allege the Bielski detachment was involved "but the authors don't give sources of this information in their works."
"So the fact of the participation of the partisans from the Bielski detachment in the attack on Naliboki is only one of the versions accepted in the course of the investigation," the IPN said.
Yet even the Polish journalist who co-authored the original Gazeta Wyborcza story, Piotr Głuchowski, has come to believe the charge is shockingly flimsy. In a December 28, 2008 e-mail message to me, he said he tracked down a Polish war survivor, Wacław Nowicki, who wrote a memoir in 1993 suggesting the Bielski unit was involved in the attack.
The book has been a primary source for Polish anti-Semites wishing to denigrate the brothers' achievements. "After a two-hour interrogation he said to us that he is not sure that the Bielskis were in Naliboki on May 8, 1943," he wrote.
Nowicki claimed he was relying on testimony from "Lova from Novogrudek," whose words were confirmed for him by "Vanya from Lubocz," wrote Głuchowski in a subsequent article for Gazeta Wyborcza.
Here's the simple truth: The Jewish unit was not "stationed in the Naliboki dense forest" nor "active in the area" in May 1943 at the time of the Naliboki attack, as the IPN has alleged.
The Bielski brothers, strapping sons of a miller, hailed from Stankevich, a speck on the map in a borderland region that has been part of Lithuania, Poland, and Russia at various points in its history. After the Nazis and their collaborators began conducting mass slaughters of the Jewish population, they slowly built a ragtag community of desperate Jews in the woods where they had tromped as boys. On the day in May 1943 when the Naliboki attack occurred, the brothers' group was located in a forest called Stara-Huta near Stankevich. It is more than 50 kilometers to the west of Naliboki village.
It is true that since February 1943 the brothers' unit (then a few hundred strong) had been formally integrated into the Soviet partisan structure, pledging allegiance to a cause that provided cover for its rescue and resistance efforts. At the time of the Naliboki attack, it was officially known as the second company of the October Detachment of the Lenin Brigade in the Lida District. (The official name would change a handful of times over the course of the war.) All of the group's movements were recorded in Soviet documents that now reside in the archives of the Belarussian branch of the Soviet partisan movement in Minsk and in Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.
According to the IPN, the attack on Naliboki village was not perpetrated by detachments from the Lenin Brigade in the Lida District. Instead, the IPN said it was carried out by three detachments from the Stalin Brigade and "partisans from" the Chkalov Brigade. Both brigades, based in the Naliboki forest, were members of the Ivenets District.
The IPN didn't respond when I asked if wandering members of the Jewish unit participated in the attack, acting under the orders of someone other than the Bielski brothers and operating outside of their designated brigade structure. It probably doesn't need to be stated that the Soviets were very serious about adhering to lines of authority. Soviet partisans were executed for violating even the most minor of regulations.
The Bielski partisans eventually did reach the Naliboki forest, which may explain why they have become mixed up in this allegation. They first arrived in August 1943, after it became too dangerous to remain in the area near Stankevich, only to be driven out by German attack. Then in September and October 1943 they returned with nearly a thousand men, women, and children and created a legendary shtetl, an extraordinary place with tailors, shoemakers, blacksmiths, and gunsmiths.
It had a large kitchen, a central square for gatherings, a mill powered by a horse, a main street, a theater troupe, and a tannery that doubled as a synagogue. It was well known to the gentile peasants in surrounding communities like Naliboki village on the forest's eastern edge. They called it Jerusalem.
It is an outrage that wartime achievements of this magnitude can be so casually denigrated. The Bielski brothers were far from perfect. But what they accomplished in the woods of Belarus deserves the highest of acclaim.
Peter Duffy is the author of "The Bielski Brothers" (HarperCollins, 2003). His latest book, "The Killing of Major Denis Mahon: A Mystery of Old Ireland" (HarperCollins), has just been published in paperback. He writes for The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and other publications.
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Some context
Date 04:01, 01-14, 09
The article correctly points out that the involvement of the Bielski group in the Naliboki massacre is unsupported by any evidence.
But this does not change the larger context. During World War II, in that multi-ethnic area of Belarus, Polish and Soviet partisan forces fought a "war within a war" with each other. By allying themselves with the Soviet partisans (even if for very good reasons), the Bielski brothers fought against Polish partisan units. Sadly, this fact has not earned them any love in Poland.
The real problem for Poles with the film should be that the entire wartime situation is simplified, and Polish partisans are not mentioned at all. In interviews Daniel Craig always states that the film takes place in Belorussia, again not pointing out that the area was still formally part of Poland at that time from the viewpoint of international law.
As the film opens in Polish cinemas, it hopefully will produce a useful debate. Who knows, maybe in time the Bielski brothers will be recognized as Polish heroes also, at least by some more enlightened members of Polish society. With the current change in Polish viewpoints concerning the significance of the Holocaust, I believe a real possibility for this exists.
The Bielskis were collaborators
Date 07:01, 01-15, 09
They collaborated with the invading Soviets as the murdered and pillaged their way through eastern Poland, stealing food from and murdering peasants.
Had they been gentiles collaborating with Nazis to save their own skin, I don't think the readers of this publication would be so understanding....
Very Typical
Date 11:01, 01-17, 09
It seems typical that when an individual, or group of individuals, is either celebrated in documentaries, or Hollywood films, someone is always ready to discredit or to demonize them. It must be human nature to personally attack those who have stepped forward, in times of extreme adversity, to make a difference and/or become leaders of men.
As a Christian I have seen this time and again with the media and their radical opinions of Jesus Christ and who they think he was. It makes me mad enough to shoot my television. Were Bielski's perfect? No. None of us are. Maybe they did kill a few innocent civilians, either by accident, or on purpose. Who knows? What would I have done under the same circumstances? I don't really know that either. One thing is certain, and that is the fact that there have been innocent people killed in every war. It's not an excuse, just a fact. It happens. We can only do our best to prevent it in wars to come.
The point is we can't let the naysayers and the pessimists take away our faith, our heritage, and the heroes that inspire us when we struggle in our own difficult times. Hold on tight to your believes and values, and ignore those who would like nothing better than to have everyone be as miserable and fearful as they are.
Andy Oven
Double Standards?
Date 12:01, 01-20, 09
You have been very critical for the Polish publications stating that there was no source information specified. Ironically, I do not see any source information for your claims that state the opposite to the Gazeta / IPN / e.t.c. You were very direct putting an offensive tag to the Polish authors calling them "anti-Semites". Using the same line of thought as you represent, we should just label you: anti-Polish. I don't know if you noticed, but just after Poland got invaded by Soviet Russia (a result of Hitler-Stalin or Ribbentrop-Molotov pact), Bielskis (Polish citizens!) offered their support to the Soviet invaders. This is actually enough to call them betrators, and anti-Polish. Making heroes out of these people is offensive to anyone with a basic system of values and knowing Polish history. Bielskis' involvement in actions against Polish nation is a consequence of their collaboration with the Soviets. At this point, it does not matter whether we have documented proof of their involvement in the massacre in Naliboki. This will not change the fact that they were Soviet collaborators acting against Polish nation. I am wondering what Americans would feel to any collaborators to the 9/11 attackers. What would they feel if someone made a movie about such collaborators, presenting them as heroes? I am under impression that we would be witnesses to a lot of noise in mass-media around such a movie, and the thing would be probably banned from every American movie theatre. ...but it is OK to do this to Poland -- who cares? ...only 40,000,000 citizens.
Jan Kowalski
Real Heros?
Date 12:01, 01-24, 09
I think that even though they may be from Poland.. they were Jews. The Polish were very mean to Jews during that time. They worked with the Germans conspiring against them, and even saying , "You aren't all dead!" when Jews asked for help from Polish they felt they could trust. It is very much different than the 9/11 attack here in America. They fought to save people, not to blatantly terrorize. They fought for survival and the right to survive. The Germans were trying to wipe out every Jew, and they saw that the Russians were fighting against them and sought help being they had a similar cause. The Germans were terrorists. SO who cares if they fought to stop them? The Germans treated the Polish like puppets. SO instead of being mad at them for saving lives, be mad at those Germans who are the ones with Polish blood on their hands.
The Bielski Brothers
Date 03:01, 01-28, 09
The accusation of the Bielski brothers as traitors of the Polish state is at best ironical. In Poland before 1939 Jew was a nationality with some rights but less than the Poles at that time. The time of the Soviet occupation. The local Byelorussians (and Ukranians?) also accepted (first) with open arms the Soviet occupation of Eastern Poland (or as the Soviets called it Western Byelarus and Western Ukraine). Looking into the legalities and citizenship, the older Bielski brothers were born when the same area was the Russian Empire. The borders were moved the Belski family stayed in the same place. The only fact remained the same ;that they have been Jews. Why shouldn't they to be loyal to a power that offered them equality (as they had probably believed) opposite to the one that did not. Besides, like it or not or no matter how unjust is was; Poland ceased to exist. Citizenship in Europe(is) not necessarily equals loyalty, Jews, Poles or otherwise. Heroes of the Polish nation were not always perfectly clean just like everybody else, including the Jewish nation's heroes. I personally have a great respect for the Polish nation and their tortured history as a whole. In this movie, yes there are some Hollywood style scenes, but they were probably unavoidable, nevertheless, I have not seen any anti-Polish reference in it. Maybe the exception of the sign in hanged Byelorussian peasant's neck; in Polish: "Jew Lover". The Bielski brothers were not waging war against the Poles, they were trying to save their Jewish brothers as patriotic Poles would do the same with their own.
George Harsanyi
Anti-Semitic slurs dominate Wiki articles
Date 10:02, 02-3, 09
One recent you might be concerned by what anti-Semites say is that the slurs Mr. Duffy describes have dominated the articles on the Bielski partisans, Duffy's book, and the movie, in Wikipedia.
- Sam Bialik
Only a Jew will see good in another Jew!!!!
Date 02:02, 02-8, 09
The Bielski Brothers were Murderers, they killed innocent peasants and stole from them, they fought for whom they saw fit and sold out their own country...But if you knew the real truth, i guess you may change your minds or not as the truth amongst jews is best forgotten, a fabrication of the truth is better when it shows that you were hero's and not cowards
I am Bielski, Peter, thanks.
Date 11:02, 02-18, 09
> We celebrate Passover
> Let's not forget what the Bielski story is all about.
> We overcame Pharaoh,
> We overcame the Greeks,
> We overcame the Romans,
> We overcame the Inquisition in Spain ,
> We overcame the Pogroms in Russia ,
> We overcame Hitler,
> We overcame the Germans,
> We overcame the Holocaust,
> We overcame the armies of the seven Arab countries,
> We overcame Saddam.
The Macabees, Bar-Kochva and now The Bielski Brothers
Zus Bielski from the movie Defiance "you little *beep* & "I am Bielski".
If you cast blame, cast it on the right people.
Date 08:03, 03-15, 10
War is a terrible thing. Beautiful and terrible, it is beyond most people's imagining. I am a 3-year veteran of the War in Iraq. I have seen things that would make the rest of you weep. But I am a soldier. I fight because it is my duty, and i have (nor want) no other. The Bielski brothers were forced into a war not their own. And yet so were the Germans. The German people as a whole are good people. One of my comrades was a German soldier, and I witnessed him give his life to save a wife and a child from being killed by a fanatical terrorist. The Nazi party is where the evil spawned from during this time. Do not hate the Germans for fighting. Hate the Nazis for corrupting. I may have seen hell, but it cannot compare to what the Jewish people have undergone. And heroes should be praised, not slandered. If I could make a movie for my dead friend, I would. Because he, and anyone else who stands against tyranny, is a hero.
