Erin Harper
Deep in the Naliboki forest in Belarus, in the blackness of the night, more than 800 Jewish men, women, and children walk slowly through the dense wilderness. They push through the thick branches and foliage. The Jews arrive at the edge of a vast swampland. And, one by one, they descend into the swamp sinking deep in the mud. Hidden in the dark, they wait quietly in extreme desperation to evade capture by the Germans.
It’s August of 1943. This group of Jews had been living in the forest for almost two years fighting German soldiers, rescuing fellow Jews, and rebuilding the very life and community that the Nazis were trying to destroy. This group is known as the Bielski partisans.
Erin Harper
But what about the millions of other people who were there? Witnesses. Collaborators. Resistors.
All of these perspectives, we explore in this new season of
12 Years That Shook the World. From the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, I’m Erin Harper. Join me as we step into the lives of real people, like an American witness to Nazi Germany’s early moves to conquer Europe.
Dr. Rebecca Erbelding
Erin Harper
Dr. Jürgen Matthäus
Gerstein’s story is often presented as one that points to the possibilities of individual decisions and action.
Erin Harper
And hundreds of Jews who found refuge in the Belorussian wilderness, and fought back against German soldiers.