The Unknown Memoir of Tuvia Bielski

YIVO's new "From the YIVO Archives" series is designed to share the treasures of the YIVO Archives with the public, providing insight into various aspects of the East European Jewish experience through highlighted artifacts.

The inaugural program focused on the post-war memoir of Tuvia Bielski, leader of the Bielski partisans during World War II. The memoir was discovered in the YIVO Archives in 2009. Handwritten in Yiddish, it is a rich and fascinating look into the Jewish way of life from the shtetl to the modern world. The memoir is currently being translated by Barbara Harshav (Yale University), to be published by the YIVO Institute as part of the new YIVO Yiddish Library Project. Robert Bielski, Tuvia Bielski's son, joined Professor Harshav in a round table discussion, moderated by Jonathan Brent (YIVO Executive Director). Yelena Shmulenson and Allen Lewis Rickman also read selected excerpts from the memoir in its original Yiddish, with English translation by Barbara Harshav.