Defiance: Defiance; The Bielski Partisans: Nechama Tec

This was a fascinating book about Jewish resistance fighters during WWII. The Polish Bielski brothers, gathered a group of resistance fighters and hid in the forest for two years during WWII. Unlike other bands of fighters, this group accepted everyone, woman, elderly, and children and were focused on the survival of the Jewish people over killing Nazis. The book spent a lot of time talking about each person and how they were remembered and what each person contributed. It was very much both a novel about the remarkable will to survive and remarkable people. After the war the brothers who started the resistance group moved to Israel and the United States where they lived very ordinary lives. The author wrote this book to recognize what this group accomplished, but unfortunately he was only able to meet with Tuvia for a short time before he passed away. The Brothers were accused of war crimes associated with the Naliboki massacre, where over 100 people were massacred by Soviets, who supported the Resistance fighters. I was disheartened by the treatment the farmers were given from the fighters, they were constantly raided by the resistance and were expected to give a bulk of their product to the war effort, life for them seemed horrible too with violence from both sides.