Defying Myths of Jews to the Slaughter
Maggid Jonathan Furst
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“I would rather save one old woman than kill 10 Nazi soldiers”
– Tuvia Bielski, Jewish Partisan commander and leader of ‘Jerusalem’, a 1200-person Jewish refugee village created inside Nazi territory
If you haven’t seen the movie Defiance yet, go see it — now or when it comes out on DVD, June 2nd.
This is, to me, a hugely an important movie. Not just because Defiance brings the inspiring history of Bielski partisans to millions of people for the first time. Not just because it stars Daniel Craig (aka James Bond) as Jewish resistance leader Tuvia Bielski. And not even because it helps me in my work doing outreach about the Jewish partisans.
Defiance is important because, as far as I know, it is the first Hollywood movie to shake the myth that the Jews went meekly to their deaths during the Holocaust.
Sure, we all heard about the Warsaw uprising: a brief flicker of resistance, doomed from the start in by an overwhelming, vicious force. That one heroic stand, taken alone, almost reinforces the story of our peoples’ helplessness. Too little, too late. Why didn’t more Jews fight back? How could they go like sheep to the slaughter?
The answer is: they didn’t. Approximately 20,000 to 30,000 Jews – both men and women, many of them teenagers, fought in armed resistance groups as Jewish partisans. Millions more resisted by every means possible: politically, artistically and spiritually; as spies, smugglers, and couriers; through unarmed struggle and non-cooperation, even in the death camps.
The Bielski partisans didn’t just fight the Nazis. They won. Even thrived, creating a village of over 1200 people. They built shelters, a bakery, a schoolhouse, a tannery which doubled as a synagogue, and more. All on an island in a swamp inside Nazi territory.
Though the Bielskis are clearly the good guys of the film, and some of the historical details are changed, but the choices they faced (often split-second decisions) are acute – and they aren’t shown as black and white. If you steal food, should you kill the people you steal from so they can’t betray you, or let them live and risk reprisal? Do you rescue sick and elderly people though caring for them puts the rest of your unit in danger? When the results are unknowable and your community is split on immediate, life and death issues, who decides?
Defiance is important because it changes the story of the Jewish experience: how people think about Jews, and how we see ourselves. Jews in the Shoah weren’t helpless victims waiting for death. And they weren’t beacons of moral purity, either. They were ordinary people, doing whatever they could to survive the near-overwhelming physical, psychological and moral crises surrounding them.
When I first learned about the partisans, that our ancestors weren’t all martyrs, I stopped thinking of myself as a victim, from a family of generations of victims. Victimized, perhaps. Brutally murdered, raped, tortured and enslaved during the course of history, yes. But never passive. Never simply accepting. Never cooperating with injustice or accepting it as a just fate.
Of course, that story isn’t one hundred percent accurate. Some gave up, a few collaborated. But knowing that most Jews resisted to the best of their abilities, that’s a story that gives me more ease in the world. Knowing there were victories decreases my fear and helps me slow down in the rush to blame. These are stories that we as maggidim need to unearth, keep alive, help grow among our communities.
Defiance is just one of the many documented stories of Shoah resistance. Only HaShem knows how many were never recorded. Speaking through the media of our time, it has the potential to affect millions of people. And that’s where you come in. Because as good as this film is, it’s just a film. But in the hands of inspired teachers, storytellers, and leaders, we can weave this and other life-changing stories into the fabric of our communities to change our collective story. And when that story changes, think of what else can change. Here are some resources to help you do it:
www.defiancemovie.com – Official site for the Defiance film, with information on ordering the DVD. Includes trailers, historical background, and descriptions of further resources.
www.jewishpartisans.org/defiance – Films, bios, interviews, and educator resources on the Bielskis and other Jewish partisans. Includes a Tuvia Bielski bio and an Ethics and Defiance discussion guide.
DEFIANCE: The Bielski Partisans by Nechama Tec -The basis for the Defiance movie script. Considered one of the best researched books about the Bielski partisans.
The Bielski Brothers: The True Story of Three Men Who Defied the Nazis, Built a Village in the Forest and Saved 1,200 Jew by Peter Duffy: Another highly recommended, well researched book about the Bielskis.
Maggid Jonathan Furst serves as spiritual facilitator for Kneset HaLev in San Francisco and outreach coordinator for The Jewish Partisan Education Foundation (JPEF).
JPEF conducts trainings Nationwide on Defiance and other stories of the Jewish Partisans. For more information email: jonathan@jewishpartisans.org
