On Wednesday, April 26, holocaust survivors Aron and Henryka Bielski visited Shady Side Academy for a Q&A session with seventh, eighth and tenth grade students at the Senior School's Memorial Hall. Aron was a member of the Bielski partisan brigade that saved more than 1,200 Jews fleeing Nazi oppression during World War II.

Aron and his family were farmers in what us now know as Belarus. In 1939, the area was seized by the Soviet Union in alliance with the Germans. Following the invasion, Aron and three of his brothers sought refuge in the woods were they had spent time as children. In the spring of 1942 they gathered 30 surviving family members and friends and created a resistance organization which grew to be the largest armed rescuers of Jews during WWII – eventually their group grew to nearly 800 members. In 1943 their camp became a real village in the forest with a school, synagogue and even a jail. In July 1944 the Red Army liberated the woods where the camp was located. At the time of the liberation, the Bielski group had grown to 1,230 people.

The story of the Bielski brothers is featured in the 2008 movie Defiance.

The students listened intently as the Bielskis shared their personal stories, and came prepared with plenty of questions to help them broaden their historical understanding of the Holocaust.

Mr and Mrs. Bielski's visit was arranged by Classrooms Without Borders, in coordination with Middle School Learning Specialist Amy Katz and Senior School history teacher Brittany Pack.

View the photos of the Bielskis' visit below: