Tuvia Bielski grew up with eleven siblings on their parents’ farm. After completing his military service, he became a businessman and as of 1939 he worked for a company in Lida, Poland (today Belarus).
When the Wehrmacht occupied the region in June 1941, Bielski suffered persecution because he was Jewish. He fled to the surrounding Belorussian forests and joined his brothers Asael, Sus, and Aron Bielski in the spring of 1942. The brothers set up a forest camp and armed themselves. They helped numerous Jews escape from the nearby ghettos. They formed a partisan unit in the forest under the leadership of Tuvia Bielski and sabotaged railway lines, bridges, and food transports that were important for the German occupiers. Jews who did not actively fight remained in the forest camp and were protected and cared for by the partisan unit. Tuvia Bielski took in all Jews regardless of their age and gender. About 1,200 Jews, mostly women, children, and the elderly, survived with Bielski’s protection.
After the war Tuvia Bielski initially lived in Israel. In 1956 he emigrated with his family to the United States.
Tuvia Bielski (left) with two Polish policemen, Sobotniki (Poland, today Subotniki, Belarus), before 1939. Source: Yad Vashem Archives, Jerusalem, 7293
Tuvia Bielski with his daughter (back row, 2nd and 3rd from left), his wife Leah and his son (front row, 5th and 6th from left), his brother Zus (back row, 4th from right), his cousin Yehuda (back row, far right), and other surviving members of the Bielski group, Israel, 1948. Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington D.C., courtesy of Yehuda and Lola Bell Collection, 97696
