Alexander Zeisal Bielski
Alexander Zeisal Bielski | |
---|---|
Navahrudak, Russian Empire | |
Died | 18 August 1995 Brooklyn, United States | (aged 82)
Other names | Zus Bielski |
Known for | Bielski partisans |
Spouses | |
Children | 4 |
Relatives | Tuvia Bielski (brother) Asael Bielski (brother) Aron Bielski (brother) |
Alexander Zeisal "Zus" Bielski (19 October 1912 – 18 August 1995) was a leader of the Bielski partisans who rescued approximately 1,200 Jews fleeing from the Nazi Holocaust during World War II.
Biography
Alexander "Zus" Bielski was born in 1912. He grew up in the only Polish Jewish family in Stankiewicze. The small village in Eastern Poland (now Western
World War II
When
Other refugees joined them and eventually formed a large partisan group. They hid in the forests of Belarus throughout World War II, led by the Bielskis. Zus, along with his brothers
Later life
After the war, Zus initially moved to Israel, but he left for New York City in 1956. There, he built his wealth by owning a large fleet of taxi cabs and a trucking company with his brother Tuvia.
He died of cardiac arrest in Brooklyn at age 82.[3] He and his wife Sonia had three sons: David, Jay, and Zvi. Jay served in the IDF as a volunteer during the 1973 war, and Zvi (June 1, 1952 – April 14, 2013) served in the Israeli paratroopers during the Lebanon incursion. Matthew and Elan, Jay's sons, served in a Special Forces unit within the elite Israeli paratroopers.[3][4]
Legacy
Liev Schreiber portrayed Zus Bielski in the film Defiance (2008).
References
- ^ a b Tec, Nechama (2009). Defiance; the Bielski Partisan. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 15.
- ISBN 0195093909.
- ^ a b c "Alexander Z. Bielski, 83, a Guerrilla Fighter Who Harried Nazis and Saved Jews, Is Dead". The New York Times. 23 August 1995. Retrieved 1 April 2009.
Alexander Zeisal Bielski, a leader of the famous Bielski Brigade that harried German occupation forces and rescued hundreds of Jews from Nazi execution in Byelorussia during World War II, died on Friday at his home in Brooklyn. He was 82. His family said he died of cardiac arrest.
- ^ Children of the Otriad (c) 2008 Paramount Pictures Corporation, included in the special features on the 2008 DVD Defiance