Bielski Brothers
At the end of the war, with Soviet control of Belarus becoming increasingly oppressive, the surviving Bielskis fled to Romania, traveling on to the British Mandate of Palestine and eventually to the United States. Asael was drafted into the Soviet Red Army and was killed in action at Marlbork in 1944.
Critical reaction
Publishers Weekly wrote: "This is a story about heroes, and Duffy does a masterful job of telling it." The publication noted that, after the war when Tuvia Bielski was living in Brooklyn, "no one knew that the local immigrant truck driver had once commanded the feared Bielski brigade. It is time the three brothers received their due."
The Library Journal critic wrote that the book "relates in vivid detail the World War II saga of the Bielski partisans", adding "[a]lthough clearly impressed with the Bielskis' accomplishments, as well as with the men themselves, Duffy does not let that detract from recounting the less noble aspects of partisan life."
The critic for the Kirkus Reviews called it a "powerful recounting of a little-known story" and that the book was "more uplifting than most" Holocaust books, adding that the "day-in, day-out account of the next four years is an often unbearably intense chronicle of horror and courage. A novel telling a similar story would almost certainly be dismissed as outlandish, but Duffy's copious endnotes convincingly document the saga's reality."
Footnotes
- ^ The Bielski Brothers: The True Story of Three Men Who Defied the Nazis, Built a Village in the Forest, and Saved 1,200 Jews, Harper Perennial: 2004; ISBN 0-06-093553-7
- ^ "Barnes & Noble: Bielski Brothers; Editorial Reviews". Bn.com. Barnes & Noble. Retrieved 28 January 2009.
- ^ KIRKUS REVIEW, posted online in 2010
References
- Peter Duffy, The Bielski Brothers: The True Story of Three Men Who Defied the Nazis, Built a Village in the Forest, and Saved 1,200 Jews, Harper Perennial, 2004, ISBN 0-06-093553-7
Further reading
- Tec, Nechama. Defiance: The Bielski Partisans, Oxford University Press, 1994; ISBN 0-19-509390-9
- Lida Memorial Society website