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Holocaust Exhibit Honors Heroism Of Jewish Brothers

Tribune photo by CHRIS URSO

Phyllis Davidson, a docent at the Florida Holocaust Museum, looks at an exhibit Sunday in St. Petersburg.

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By SARAH HOYE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 16, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - It was a bittersweet celebration Sunday during the grand opening of the exhibit, "Courage and Compassion: The Legacy of the Bielski Brothers," at The Florida Holocaust Museum.

"Courage and Compassion" showcases the heroic efforts of three brothers — Tuvia, Zus and Asael Bielski — who helped save more than 1,000 Jews during World War II. The exhibit coincides with the Edward Zwick film "Defiance," based on the story of the Bielski brothers, that opens in theaters in January starring Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber. A private screening of the film at Baywalk Muvico followed the opening reception.

Photos, videos, original documents and tools on display through Feb. 22 chronicle pre-war life, victimization of Jews and the fight for survival for those who took refuge in a forest near Novogrudok — now Belarus — to avoid the Nazis as they began their takeover of Poland.

The exhibit was the undertaking of Brendon Rennert, Tuvia's grandson, who enlisted the help of his immediate and extended family to collect artifacts, keepsakes and memories in an effors to share the story of his family's legacy.

"My grandfather and his brothers were ordinary men who did extraordinary things … passing them on the street you would not know they were heroes," Rennert said before the crowd of nearly 500 museum and family members. "The brothers together were an unstoppable force. …They survived through unimaginable conditions. It is not a story of death, but a story of life."

Aron Bielski, the youngest and only surviving Bielski sibling, attended the opening of the exhibit and film screening. While touring the exhibit inside the museum, he pointed to a picture of his father, David, and began to cry.

"He said to my older brothers, 'The war is not forever. You're young, run to the forest and save your lives," said Bielski, who was 11 years old when he joined his brothers in the forest. "I don't think that a kid at 11 understands what's happening. Because of them, I survived."

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