The Bielski Brothers Essay

There are numerous stories on the gruesome slaughters of Jewish people during the rage of the Second World War. However, there is one story in particular that is unlike the rest. The book The Bielski Brothers: The True Story of Three Men Who Defied the Nazis, Saved 1,200 Jews, and Built a Village in the Forest by Peter Duffy takes place in the year of 1971, focusing on three brothers, Tuvia, Asael, and Zus Bielski who witness their parents and two other siblings being carted away by Nazi Soldiers like lambs to the slaughter. The Bielski brothers were, of course, devastated to see their family be led to their premature death and even blamed themselves for not being there to help them, but the brothers did not give in to the despair nor in the slightest bit. Instead, the brothers retaliated—fought back with vigor and cunning wits to show that one does not mess with a Bielski, and even saved over a thousand Jews along the way. The brothers built a base in the forest that consisted of themselves and close relatives. Later, the Bielskis decided to welcome any and all Jews to their base. Rumors of the Bielski haven in the forest started spreading to the ghettos, convincing more and more Jews to escape and join. However, due to the expansion of the community, the

Germans caught wind of the Bielski partisan group and thus attempted to eradicate them, causing many relocations deeper into the forest.

I believe the author’s purpose for writing this book is to inform people about the heroic acts of these three brothers and other people who have fought against the Nazis and helped Jewish people from being senselessly murdered.

The organization was decent; the book followed a chronological order where each chapter focused on a certain time span. The amount of photos was few and were placed in the middle of the book. I think that if the photos were spread throughout the book would have made it more attention-grabbing, but the photos were fascinating, though. As for the reading level, I believe that this book is suitable for people aged 15 or older because of the somewhat challenging vocabulary and

wording.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about the World War II and the Holocaust, and mainly to those 14 years of age or older. This is because I believe that to fully enjoy this book, you need to be interested in the subject at hand. Don’t get me wrong, I do like learning about the Holocaust, but this story just didn’t work for me. I like a good non-fiction book, but I found myself having trouble with focusing as I read this book, especially in the exposition. Besides that, the story was great and fascinating such as the part describing Tuvia before the Bielski partisans group or the building of the Jewish community in the forest. Furthermore, the book wasn’t that jammed pack with facts, but it did have some boring parts, in my opinion, so I think this book would be more fitting for a mature audience since they would be able to get through the book easier and also because of the fact that the book concentrates on a rather tragic and sensitive topic. Also, there is minor use of language, mainly in the dialogue, but a decent amount of violence due to mentions of Jewish mass killings. I would rate this book an 8/10 solely because I struggled with getting through the book with my wavering interest, but despite this, the book is still worth to check out!