Sunday, May 03, 2009
Out of the Ghettos and into the Forests!
Defiance (O.U.P. 1993, reprinted 2009 with a foreword by Edward Zwick)
Reviewed by Red Bingham
Defiance – if you haven’t read a copy of Nechama Tec’s story of Belorussian Jews fighting the Nazis and collaborators, get it and read it. If you haven’t seen the movie, “Defiance”, then wait a few weeks and it will be coming to a cinema near you.
Predictably, the release of the movie has spawned reviews that question the timing of it (given the events in Gaza). There is also at least one reviewer from the English Guardian who points out “the heads of all eight major studios, and so many producers and directors, happen to be Jewish” and who goes on to draw parallels with Hollywood’s treatment of Moslems.[1] An interesting point perhaps but largely irrelevant to a film that focusses on a Jewish Partisan detachment that successfully fought back in WWII while keeping alive over a thousand men, women and children who had escaped the ghettos. That the film is a Hollywood treatment of an historical event and therefore a fictional narrative that is based on real events
The world knows little about the Bielski brothers – not even many Jews have heard of them. However, Nechama Tec’s history based on exhaustive interviews with surviving partisans will change all that. When people ask, “Why didn’t the Jews fight back in World War Two?” we can say, “Read Defiance”. Dr Nechama Tec chronicles how in 1941, Tuvia Bielski and his brothers Zus and Asael who, were farmers in the Polish/Belorussian village of Stankiewicze, organised a resistance movement whose priority was to save Jews and whose secondary aim was to fight back. This historical account describes how the Bielskis and some
Nechama Tec (maiden name Hela Bawnik)[2] was a child in Poland when the Nazis invaded. Her immediate family went into hiding and survived the war. Her autobiography, Dry Tears, deals with her family’s struggle to remain alive by denying their identity. Perhaps that is why she became so fascinated by the Bielski Otriad who lived and fought as Jews at a time when to do so was nearly impossible. Dr Tec’s online biography details many of the themes in Defiance: her “research and publications have concentrated on the intricate relationships between self-preservation, compassion, altruism, rescue, resistance, cooperation, and gender. She is currently working on two books, Profiles of Women and A Comparative Study of Jewish and Non-Jewish Resistance.[3]”
Defiance is not Mila 18. Mila 18 by Leon Uris and Schindler’s Ark by Thomas Kenneally were both excellent novels but that’s what they were – novels. Both were well researched and largely based on real events but you will find them in the fiction part of the library. Defiance is definitely non-fiction. Dr Tec’s blend of historical and sociological research is detailed and the reader will come across passages that have been repeated, comments about how accounts differ and comparisons of differing power relationships within the forest community. While these can be a little dry at times and can interfere with the flow of the narrative, it gives the book its historical integrity. You’ll still be turning the pages till the end to find out what happened to everyone. And the news there is pretty good – the Bielski otriad (partisan detachment with the Russian army) had an attrition rate of only 5% (an estimated 49 out of 1,200) and remarkably, noone died of starvation despite living in forests for three years.[4]
Below: A still from the movie with Daniel Craig as Tuvia Bielski
Defiance (O.U.P. 1993, reprinted 2009 with a foreword by Edward Zwick)
Reviewed by Red Bingham
Defiance – if you haven’t read a copy of Nechama Tec’s story of Belorussian Jews fighting the Nazis and collaborators, get it and read it. If you haven’t seen the movie, “Defiance”, then wait a few weeks and it will be coming to a cinema near you.
Predictably, the release of the movie has spawned reviews that question the timing of it (given the events in Gaza). There is also at least one reviewer from the English Guardian who points out “the heads of all eight major studios, and so many producers and directors, happen to be Jewish” and who goes on to draw parallels with Hollywood’s treatment of Moslems.[1] An interesting point perhaps but largely irrelevant to a film that focusses on a Jewish Partisan detachment that successfully fought back in WWII while keeping alive over a thousand men, women and children who had escaped the ghettos. That the film is a Hollywood treatment of an historical event and therefore a fictional narrative that is based on real events
The world knows little about the Bielski brothers – not even many Jews have heard of them. However, Nechama Tec’s history based on exhaustive interviews with surviving partisans will change all that. When people ask, “Why didn’t the Jews fight back in World War Two?” we can say, “Read Defiance”. Dr Nechama Tec chronicles how in 1941, Tuvia Bielski and his brothers Zus and Asael who, were farmers in the Polish/Belorussian village of Stankiewicze, organised a resistance movement whose priority was to save Jews and whose secondary aim was to fight back. This historical account describes how the Bielskis and some
Nechama Tec (maiden name Hela Bawnik)[2] was a child in Poland when the Nazis invaded. Her immediate family went into hiding and survived the war. Her autobiography, Dry Tears, deals with her family’s struggle to remain alive by denying their identity. Perhaps that is why she became so fascinated by the Bielski Otriad who lived and fought as Jews at a time when to do so was nearly impossible. Dr Tec’s online biography details many of the themes in Defiance: her “research and publications have concentrated on the intricate relationships between self-preservation, compassion, altruism, rescue, resistance, cooperation, and gender. She is currently working on two books, Profiles of Women and A Comparative Study of Jewish and Non-Jewish Resistance.[3]”
Defiance is not Mila 18. Mila 18 by Leon Uris and Schindler’s Ark by Thomas Kenneally were both excellent novels but that’s what they were – novels. Both were well researched and largely based on real events but you will find them in the fiction part of the library. Defiance is definitely non-fiction. Dr Tec’s blend of historical and sociological research is detailed and the reader will come across passages that have been repeated, comments about how accounts differ and comparisons of differing power relationships within the forest community. While these can be a little dry at times and can interfere with the flow of the narrative, it gives the book its historical integrity. You’ll still be turning the pages till the end to find out what happened to everyone. And the news there is pretty good – the Bielski otriad (partisan detachment with the Russian army) had an attrition rate of only 5% (an estimated 49 out of 1,200) and remarkably, noone died of starvation despite living in forests for three years.[4]
Below: A still from the movie with Daniel Craig as Tuvia Bielski
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Defiance - out of the ghettos and into the forests
Out of the Ghettos and into the Forests!
Defiance (O.U.P. 1993, reprinted 2009 with a foreword by Edward Zwick)
Reviewed by Red Bingham
Author: Dr Nechama Tec
Professor Emerita of Sociology
University of Connecticut, Stamford, Connecticut
PhD, Columbia University
Defiance – if you haven’t read a copy of Nechama Tec’s story of Belorussian Jews fighting the Nazis and collaborators, get it and read it. If you haven’t seen the movie, “Defiance”, then it will soon be coming to a cinema near you.
Predictably, the release of the movie has spawned reviews that question the timing of it (given the events in Gaza). There is also at least one reviewer from the English Guardian who points out “the heads of all eight major studios, and so many producers and directors, happen to be Jewish” and who goes on to draw parallels with Hollywood’s treatment of Moslems.[1] An interesting point perhaps but largely irrelevant to a film that focusses on a Jewish Partisan detachment that successfully fought back in WWII while keeping alive over a thousand men, women and children who had escaped the ghettos. That the film is a Hollywood treatment of an historical event and therefore a fictional narrative that is based on real events
The world knows little about the Bielski brothers – not even many Jews have heard of them. However, Nechama Tec’s history based on exhaustive interviews with surviving partisans will change all that. When people ask, “Why didn’t the Jews fight back in World War Two?” we can say, “Read Defiance”. Dr Nechama Tec chronicles how in 1941, Tuvia Bielski and his brothers Zus and Asael who, were farmers in the Polish/Belorussian village of Stankiewicze, organised a resistance movement whose priority was to save Jews and whose secondary aim was to fight back. This historical account describes how the Bielskis and some
Nechama Tec (maiden name Hela Bawnik)[2] was a child in Poland when the Nazis invaded. Her immediate family went into hiding and survived the war. Her autobiography, Dry Tears, deals with her family’s struggle to remain alive by denying their identity. Perhaps that is why she became so fascinated by the Bielski Otriad who lived and fought as Jews at a time when to do so was nearly impossible. Dr Tec’s online biography details many of the themes in Defiance: her “research and publications have concentrated on the intricate relationships between self-preservation, compassion, altruism, rescue, resistance, cooperation, and gender. She is currently working on two books, Profiles of Women and A Comparative Study of Jewish and Non-Jewish Resistance.[3]”
Defiance is not Mila 18. Mila 18 by Leon Uris and Schindler’s Ark by Thomas Kenneally were both excellent novels but that’s what they were – novels. Both were well researched and largely based on real events but you will find them in the fiction part of the library. Defiance is definitely non-fiction. Dr Tec’s blend of historical and sociological research is detailed and the reader will come across passages that have been repeated, comments about how accounts differ and comparisons of differing power relationships within the forest community. While these can be a little dry at times and can interfere with the flow of the narrative, it gives the book its historical integrity. You’ll still be turning the pages till the end to find out what happened to everyone. And the news there is pretty good – the Bielski otriad (partisan detachment with the Russian army) had an attrition rate of only 5% (an estimated 49 out of 1,200) and remarkably, noone died of starvation despite living in forests for three years.[4]
Below: A poster from the movie with Daniel Craig as Tuvia Bielski
http://www.firstshowing.net/img/defiance-tsrposter-big.jpg
[1] http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2009/jan/13/defiance
[2] http://www.theverylongview.com/WATH/reviews/review5.htm
[3] http://www.uni.edu/holocaust/nechama-bio.pdf
[4] Tec, Nechama Defiance (O.U.P. 2009) page 294
Defiance (O.U.P. 1993, reprinted 2009 with a foreword by Edward Zwick)
Reviewed by Red Bingham
Author: Dr Nechama Tec
Professor Emerita of Sociology
University of Connecticut, Stamford, Connecticut
PhD, Columbia University
Defiance – if you haven’t read a copy of Nechama Tec’s story of Belorussian Jews fighting the Nazis and collaborators, get it and read it. If you haven’t seen the movie, “Defiance”, then it will soon be coming to a cinema near you.
Predictably, the release of the movie has spawned reviews that question the timing of it (given the events in Gaza). There is also at least one reviewer from the English Guardian who points out “the heads of all eight major studios, and so many producers and directors, happen to be Jewish” and who goes on to draw parallels with Hollywood’s treatment of Moslems.[1] An interesting point perhaps but largely irrelevant to a film that focusses on a Jewish Partisan detachment that successfully fought back in WWII while keeping alive over a thousand men, women and children who had escaped the ghettos. That the film is a Hollywood treatment of an historical event and therefore a fictional narrative that is based on real events
The world knows little about the Bielski brothers – not even many Jews have heard of them. However, Nechama Tec’s history based on exhaustive interviews with surviving partisans will change all that. When people ask, “Why didn’t the Jews fight back in World War Two?” we can say, “Read Defiance”. Dr Nechama Tec chronicles how in 1941, Tuvia Bielski and his brothers Zus and Asael who, were farmers in the Polish/Belorussian village of Stankiewicze, organised a resistance movement whose priority was to save Jews and whose secondary aim was to fight back. This historical account describes how the Bielskis and some
Nechama Tec (maiden name Hela Bawnik)[2] was a child in Poland when the Nazis invaded. Her immediate family went into hiding and survived the war. Her autobiography, Dry Tears, deals with her family’s struggle to remain alive by denying their identity. Perhaps that is why she became so fascinated by the Bielski Otriad who lived and fought as Jews at a time when to do so was nearly impossible. Dr Tec’s online biography details many of the themes in Defiance: her “research and publications have concentrated on the intricate relationships between self-preservation, compassion, altruism, rescue, resistance, cooperation, and gender. She is currently working on two books, Profiles of Women and A Comparative Study of Jewish and Non-Jewish Resistance.[3]”
Defiance is not Mila 18. Mila 18 by Leon Uris and Schindler’s Ark by Thomas Kenneally were both excellent novels but that’s what they were – novels. Both were well researched and largely based on real events but you will find them in the fiction part of the library. Defiance is definitely non-fiction. Dr Tec’s blend of historical and sociological research is detailed and the reader will come across passages that have been repeated, comments about how accounts differ and comparisons of differing power relationships within the forest community. While these can be a little dry at times and can interfere with the flow of the narrative, it gives the book its historical integrity. You’ll still be turning the pages till the end to find out what happened to everyone. And the news there is pretty good – the Bielski otriad (partisan detachment with the Russian army) had an attrition rate of only 5% (an estimated 49 out of 1,200) and remarkably, noone died of starvation despite living in forests for three years.[4]
Below: A poster from the movie with Daniel Craig as Tuvia Bielski
http://www.firstshowing.net/img/defiance-tsrposter-big.jpg
[1] http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2009/jan/13/defiance
[2] http://www.theverylongview.com/WATH/reviews/review5.htm
[3] http://www.uni.edu/holocaust/nechama-bio.pdf
[4] Tec, Nechama Defiance (O.U.P. 2009) page 294
Labels: Book Review
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Red Bingham, an Australian anarchist is keen to demolish myths. There was a Holocaust and the Nazis weren't Superman. As you can see, I'm Superman. Fight bullshit in all its forms - Red Bingham
Denial
Denial an imaginative story
The chairman of the Public Speakers’ Union rose to his feet and addressed the meeting:
“Ladies and Gentlemen. Our next speaker really needs no introduction but I will attempt one anyway…..” The audience grew restive, with booing and catcalls erupting from several sections of the packed hall. “Ladies and Gentlemen,” remonstrated the startled chairman, “Professor David Irwin is an invited speaker and he deserves a polite hearing. Those who wish to take issue with his views may do so after his speech, at question time.”
The controversial professor rose to his feet and with a brief smile and a nod to the chairman, David Irwin moved to the speaker’s rostrum. His opening gambit started off slowly with his pawns as he questioned the reliability of existing historical documents. Booing recommenced. Then he started moving his pieces into play, discrediting his historical rivals. Many in the crowd responded angrily and Professor Irwin warmed to their abuse, accusing them of trying to silence the truth. His truth. It had all been going to plan as he moved to his endgame:
“And so, ladies and gentlemen, let me conclude by emphasising that the existence of the so-called ‘gas chambers’ at Auschwitz and other camps, was simply just a hoax. The well-funded Holocaust industry has systematically misrepresented the real situation in wartime Germany and the occupied territories to present malicious propaganda in order to further its own ends.”
Looking around the hall, the professor felt his triumph in demolishing this pathetic opposition. “Another blitzkrieg!” He filled his glass with water and drank thirstily. “I challenge anyone to offer me irrefutable proof that six million Jews were exterminated in World War II. The only thing that was exterminated was the truth!”
Five minutes later, after the uproar from the hall had begun to die down, an old man with snowy white hair rose to his feet. The chairman gave him permission to speak.
“Professor, my name is Irwin David. I would like to take you up on your challenge. You demand proof. These blue numbers on my arm are proof to me. The memories I have, that only death or senility will take from me, is also proof to me. However, I realise that you require a different type of proof. You have said how historical records can be faked, how photos of the mountains of unburied bodies were forgeries, how the documented tales of survivors were distortions. You’ve said how history is often written by the winners and that their testimony is suspect. I could argue with you on these matters but I know it would not be of any use at all. We would both be wasting our time and believe me, the Nazis wasted enough of my time. I can prove that the events of the Holocaust are true for I have invented a time capsule.”
Professor David Irwin snorted with contemptuous laughter.
“Time capsules? Ladies and gentlemen! So I’ll get into a time capsule and go, where? To meet fairies at the bottom of the garden? Sorry, I don’t believe in the myth of the Holocaust and I don’t believe in getting into time capsules either. You’ll have to try harder than that, sir.”
The old man called out, “No, Professor, you don’t get into this time capsule; it has gotten into you. It was a capsule that was dissolved in the water which you just drank.”
“Impossible!” Professor Irwin went red in the face. Sweat glistened on his upper lip as he fumbled to loosen his tie. Too late! He swooned, saw stars and everything went black.
*****
“David! David! Get up!” David felt water being splashed onto his face.
“Wher …..where am I? Who are you?” David was lying on something hard – railway sleepers.
“David, It’s me! Your brother, Irwin. I think you fainted from hunger. Come on; get up before the Germans spot us.”
David struggled to his feet and leaned against the train.
“There’s no time, David!” whispered Irwin. “We’ve got to get away now before it’s too late.”
But it was too late. Another squad of soldiers was now advancing towards their only line of retreat. There was now no choice but to rejoin the ghetto deportees being loaded into the cattle trucks.
When the doors slammed shut, the prayers and groaning commenced. David pulled at his collar. “I can’t breathe! Irwin, get me some water….”
*****
When the train pulled into the siding, armed guards and vicious dogs were there to welcome them. Steam and shouting and noises of fear surrounded them. Though David and Irwin were exhausted from hunger and from the rigours of the nightmare journey, they had to assist in carrying away the bodies of those who hadn’t made the trip.
An hour later, David was in a queue for delousing. Irwin had been separated from him at the “Selektion”. This disturbed him but at least he would be given a shower and then something to eat.
*****
David stood there waiting for the water to come streaming out of the pipes but it did not come. The terror swept over him before the gas had entered his lungs. He grabbed at his throat. “Help me! I’m choking!” he cried out.
*****
“Have some water, David,” said the snowy-haired figure. “You probably fainted from all that poison that was spread around. Do you recognise me? I’m your brother.”
The chairman of the Public Speakers’ Union rose to his feet and addressed the meeting:
“Ladies and Gentlemen. Our next speaker really needs no introduction but I will attempt one anyway…..” The audience grew restive, with booing and catcalls erupting from several sections of the packed hall. “Ladies and Gentlemen,” remonstrated the startled chairman, “Professor David Irwin is an invited speaker and he deserves a polite hearing. Those who wish to take issue with his views may do so after his speech, at question time.”
The controversial professor rose to his feet and with a brief smile and a nod to the chairman, David Irwin moved to the speaker’s rostrum. His opening gambit started off slowly with his pawns as he questioned the reliability of existing historical documents. Booing recommenced. Then he started moving his pieces into play, discrediting his historical rivals. Many in the crowd responded angrily and Professor Irwin warmed to their abuse, accusing them of trying to silence the truth. His truth. It had all been going to plan as he moved to his endgame:
“And so, ladies and gentlemen, let me conclude by emphasising that the existence of the so-called ‘gas chambers’ at Auschwitz and other camps, was simply just a hoax. The well-funded Holocaust industry has systematically misrepresented the real situation in wartime Germany and the occupied territories to present malicious propaganda in order to further its own ends.”
Looking around the hall, the professor felt his triumph in demolishing this pathetic opposition. “Another blitzkrieg!” He filled his glass with water and drank thirstily. “I challenge anyone to offer me irrefutable proof that six million Jews were exterminated in World War II. The only thing that was exterminated was the truth!”
Five minutes later, after the uproar from the hall had begun to die down, an old man with snowy white hair rose to his feet. The chairman gave him permission to speak.
“Professor, my name is Irwin David. I would like to take you up on your challenge. You demand proof. These blue numbers on my arm are proof to me. The memories I have, that only death or senility will take from me, is also proof to me. However, I realise that you require a different type of proof. You have said how historical records can be faked, how photos of the mountains of unburied bodies were forgeries, how the documented tales of survivors were distortions. You’ve said how history is often written by the winners and that their testimony is suspect. I could argue with you on these matters but I know it would not be of any use at all. We would both be wasting our time and believe me, the Nazis wasted enough of my time. I can prove that the events of the Holocaust are true for I have invented a time capsule.”
Professor David Irwin snorted with contemptuous laughter.
“Time capsules? Ladies and gentlemen! So I’ll get into a time capsule and go, where? To meet fairies at the bottom of the garden? Sorry, I don’t believe in the myth of the Holocaust and I don’t believe in getting into time capsules either. You’ll have to try harder than that, sir.”
The old man called out, “No, Professor, you don’t get into this time capsule; it has gotten into you. It was a capsule that was dissolved in the water which you just drank.”
“Impossible!” Professor Irwin went red in the face. Sweat glistened on his upper lip as he fumbled to loosen his tie. Too late! He swooned, saw stars and everything went black.
*****
“David! David! Get up!” David felt water being splashed onto his face.
“Wher …..where am I? Who are you?” David was lying on something hard – railway sleepers.
“David, It’s me! Your brother, Irwin. I think you fainted from hunger. Come on; get up before the Germans spot us.”
David struggled to his feet and leaned against the train.
“There’s no time, David!” whispered Irwin. “We’ve got to get away now before it’s too late.”
But it was too late. Another squad of soldiers was now advancing towards their only line of retreat. There was now no choice but to rejoin the ghetto deportees being loaded into the cattle trucks.
When the doors slammed shut, the prayers and groaning commenced. David pulled at his collar. “I can’t breathe! Irwin, get me some water….”
*****
When the train pulled into the siding, armed guards and vicious dogs were there to welcome them. Steam and shouting and noises of fear surrounded them. Though David and Irwin were exhausted from hunger and from the rigours of the nightmare journey, they had to assist in carrying away the bodies of those who hadn’t made the trip.
An hour later, David was in a queue for delousing. Irwin had been separated from him at the “Selektion”. This disturbed him but at least he would be given a shower and then something to eat.
*****
David stood there waiting for the water to come streaming out of the pipes but it did not come. The terror swept over him before the gas had entered his lungs. He grabbed at his throat. “Help me! I’m choking!” he cried out.
*****
“Have some water, David,” said the snowy-haired figure. “You probably fainted from all that poison that was spread around. Do you recognise me? I’m your brother.”
