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Zvi Bielski Speaks About the Thousands His Family Saved During Holocaust

Son of 'Defiance' Hero Spoke About His Family Legacy

Zvi Bielski, son of Alexander (Zus) Bielski, was in Westport Sunday to speak about the heroic work of his father and uncles in the former Soviet Union during World War II.

The bravery and cunning of the Bielski brothers was documented in the 2008 film, Defiance, directed by Edward Zwick.

Zvi Bielski's talk, which combined a recount of his family, video clips, question-and-answer sessions and a good dose of humor, was presented by the Schneerson Center for Jewish Life at Saugatuck Elementary School. 

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The event was meant to remind people about the significance of the Holocaust and its ongoing impact, noted Chanie Stone, co-executive director of the Schneerson Center. "There is a new generation that needs to be aware of these events so that they never occur again," she said.

The Bieslki brothers were guerilla  fighters who fiercely and methodically retaliated against the Nazi regime. The brothers – Tuvia, Zus and Aesel —  led the largest armed Jewish resistance group during World War II. "They saved 1,250 Jewish people who had no chance of survival," Zvi Bielski told the audience. "But the Bielski story is not about the Bielskis. It is about the people they saved."

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During World War II, the three brothers smuggled Jews out of heavily guarded ghettos, scouted the roads for fugitives and led retaliatory raids against Belorussian peasants who collaborated with the Nazis against their former Jewish neighbors. By 1944 they had formed the largest armed rescue operation of Jews by Jews in World War II. "They took in women and children, the old and the sick," Zvi Bielski noted. "They offered protection to all who could find their way to them. Their group included 275 men men on horseback with machine guns."

Throughout the world, there are people who remain indebted to the Bielski brothers for saving their lives, Zvi noted. "There are five generations of Jews in existence who were not supposed to be here," he told the audience.

He reminded the audience of a scene from the film in which a woman with an infant  was rescued from a swamp after being left behind. "That was a true event," he said. "Years later, my parents were in Israel taking a stroll and a woman came up to my father and embraced him and kissed him repeatedly. It was the same woman he had saved. She called her daughters so that they could meet my dad. There are hundreds of stories like that."

One story he shared indirectly involves the Trump family. "Ivana Trump was at the premier of Defiance in New York," he said. "I found out that her daughter, Ivanka, is married to Jared Kushner. The Bielskis saved 17 members of the Kushner family."

Bielski  praised the film and the book Defiance, which was written by Westport resident Nechama Tec (www.nechamatec.com).  He also recommends the book The Bielski Brothers by Peter Duffy and a History Channel production, titled "Bielski Brothers: Jerusalem in the Forest."

"When I was growing up, we would have 30 or 40 people visit our house on Sundays," he reported. "I thought they were relatives, but it turns out they were all people that my family saved. I am from one of the wealthiest families in the world. We are rich in the number of people that my family saved. Their legacy is that 19,000 people are able to walk around the planet because of them."

Zus Bielski died in August of 1995 at the age of 83. "His only regret during his life was that he wished he could have saved more people," Zvi Bielski said. "He will always be my hero. He was a great man."

During the the event, Rabbi Levi Stone, co-executive director of the Schneerson Center for Jewish Life,and Rabbi Yehoshua Hecht, noted how the actions of one person have the power to change the outcome of an impossible situation.

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