“The Three Heroic Brothers”Three brothers risked their lives to provide a safe haven for the Jewish people. Before World War II the Bielskis lived in a village called Stankevich where they were the only Jews living there. Their parents and other relatives were murdered in a massacre. After this tragic event the three brothers left for the Belarusian forest. They decided to help save the Jews and by the end of the war they saved 1,200. The Bielskis' life before the war was busy. They were the only Jews living in a small village: “The Bielski house was separate from the main section of the community… The Bielskis were the only Jews in town” (Duffy 1). The three brothers Tuvia, Asael and Zus lived with their grandparents on farmland in the forest. As the only Jews in town, they were fine with it. Their neighbors had no problem with their presence. Once the family settled in “…the Tsar issued another series of anti-Jewish decrees, including one that made it illegal for Jews to buy, sell, manage, or rent rural property” (Duffy 2). The tragedy between Jews and Germans was beginning, but the Tsar was slowly stripping the Jews of their rights. Since Jews were not allowed to own property of their own, the Bielskis had to try to keep their home from being taken away. They lived in a forest on farmland, so that means they took care of the farm and knew the forest surrounding their home. The brothers had an education, but they did not learn that it varied every day. Sometimes they attend a local school or are home-schooled. They were intelligent kids and understood three different local languages ​​which would be useful to them later. Although Tuvia wasn't that interested... mid-paper...... in getting caught otherwise they would be executed. The Nazis took them to a ditch outside the ghetto, forced them to undress, face the ditch and shoot them. Works Cited Anflick, Charles. Resistance: teenage partisans and resisters who fought Nazi tyranny. New York: Rosen Pub., 1999. Print.Duffy, Peter. The Bielski Brothers: The true story of three men who defied the Nazis, saved 1,200 Jews, and built a village in the forest. New York: HarperCollins, 2003. Print.Levy, Patricia. Survival and resistance. Austin, Texas: Raintree Steck-Vaughn, 2001. Print. The Holocaust. "The Bielski partisans." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Remembrance Council, June 10, 2013. Web. April 16, 2014. “The International School for Holocaust Studies.” CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF PHOTOGRAPHS AS HISTORICAL SOURCES. Np, nd Web. April 16. 2014.