| Aharon Bielski | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1927 (age 84–85) |
| Other names | Aaron Bielski Aharon Bielski Aron Bell |
| Spouse | Henryka |
| Relatives | Tuvia Bielski, brother Asael Bielski, brother Alexander Zeisal Bielski, brother |
Aron Bielski, later changed to Aron Bell, (born 1927)[1] is a Polish-American Jew and former member of the Bielski partisans group, the largest armed rescuers of Jews by Jews during World War II. He was also known as Arczyk Bielski. The youngest of the four Bielski brothers, he is the only one still living (Asael died in 1945, Tuvia in 1987, Alexander 'Zus' in 1995).
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The Bielski family were farmers in Stankiewicze (Stankievichy) near Navahrudak, an area that at the beginning of the Second World War belonged to the Second Polish Republic, but in September 1939 was seized by the Soviet Union (see: Polish September Campaign and Soviet invasion of Poland (1939)), which was then allied with Nazi Germany. After German Operation Barbarossa, Aron's brothers created a notable resistance organization, the Bielski partisans group. Aron became a member of that group.
Nechama Tec who wrote a book about them had the following to say about Aron: "Occasionally in the forest he acted as a guide. Those I spoke to agree that his participation and impact on the life of the Bielski otriad was minimal, almost nonexistent."[2] While Nechama was not able to interview Aron, he was interviewed by Peter Duffy in his book.[3] That author, in the second authoritative book about the Bielski partisans, mentions Aron about 30 times, and lists him as one of the important sources for the book. Duffy interviewed Bell for the 2000 article Heroes Among Us published in The New York Times.[4]
After the war, Bielski returned to communist-dominated Poland, and soon after immigrated to British Mandate of Palestine. In 1954, he settled in the United States, along with his surviving brothers and their families,[5] where he drove and then owned two trucks in New York City. Aron is the only member of the Bielski family to change his family name (to "Bell").
In 2007, Aron and his wife Henryka (then 58 years old) were arrested for kidnapping 93-year-old Janina Zaniewska. It was alleged that they flew her to Poland, under the guise of taking her to visit old friends, dropped her at a nursing home, and returned to Palm Beach, Florida. Next, they were alleged to have withdrawn $300,000 from Zaniewska's bank account (later determined to be around $250,000). Police were contacted in August by a bank manager who wondered why the Bells were withdrawing her money. Police eventually found Zaniewska at the nursing home and arrested the couple. The charges against them carried a sentence of up to 90 years in prison,[6] but were dropped in February 2008 after the couple agreed to repay $260,000.[7] No wrongdoing was admitted nor proven by the prosecution.
George MacKay portrayed Aron in the 2008 film Defiance, which has been criticised in Poland due to its omission of the alleged involvement of the Bielski group in a massacre of Polish civilians conducted by Soviet-aligned partisans in Naliboki.[8][9] The Bielski partisan group was the subject of an official inquiry by the Polish Institute of National Remembrance's Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation after witnesses testified that Bielski partisans were among the perpetrators of the Naliboki massacre; however, the investigation found no conclusive evidence linking the Bielski group to the crime.[10]
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