Jewish Survivor Sonia Bielski Testimony | USC Shoah Foundation

You are watching Sonia Bielski, a Jewish Holocaust survivor. To learn more about Sonia, and explore the stories of other Holocaust survivors and witnesses, visit vhaonline.usc.edu.
Learn more about USC Shoah Foundation: sfi.usc.edu/
SUBSCRIBE: kzbin.info...
#USCShoahFoundation #StrongerThanHate #Survivor
Connect with USC Shoah Foundation:
Facebook: / uscsfi
Twitter: / uscshoahfdn
Instagram: / uscshoahfoundation
IWitness: iwitness.usc.edu/SFI/
Website: sfi.usc.edu/
About USC Shoah Foundation:
USC Shoah Foundation - The Institute for Visual History and Education develops
empathy, understanding and respect through testimony, using its Visual History Archive of more than 55,000 video testimonies, academic programs and partnerships across USC and 170 universities, and award-winning IWitness education program. USC Shoah Foundation’s interactive programming, research and materials are accessed in museums and universities, cited by government leaders and NGOs, and taught in classrooms around the world. Now in its third decade, USC Shoah Foundation reaches millions of people on six continents from its home at the University of Southern California.
Copyright USC Shoah Foundation - The Institute for Visual History and Education

[@adm6785]

It took a lot for these survivors to take the time to relive and share such a horrible past. I felt the very least I could do is listen to each and every one of them. Each and every one has been an honor and a privilage to hear, but this one is one of the best. How they managed to keep things together with over a thousand people for over three years in the forest.........I have no words. Truly a remarkable testimony of leadership and courage..... a true survival story of those who did whatever it took to live and help others to make it through a living hell. Thank you for sharing the good and the bad with us.

[@christychristina292]

I love this lady. She reminds me of my great grandma who spoke 6 languages and English was her least proficient, but her force of will and zest for life made up for it and then some. What a fantastic human being she is. The interviewer as many have commented actually prevented her from telling her story by asking utterly inane questions repeatedly.

[@janejones5362]

I speak 5. German was my first foreign language, but I wont use it. I have an emotional block about speaking it. I was born many years after the Holocaust.

[@kaycox5555]

Sad, beautiful, haunting, horrific story. Today we complain about traffic - look what these once young people had to live through. Blessings Mrs. Bielski, and thanks to all who posted this.

[@kaycox5555]

...Oh, and "Number 11," refers to a shoe size, meaning you have to hoof it when you go by "Number 11."

[@chrissims3810]

Thank you for your testimony.

[@jmckendrick165]

A strong, intelligent, honest woman.

[@joziemolody3592]

It's a shame the interviewer was so terrible. She asked Sonia the same questions over and over. For example, she must have asked 4+ times if the Bielskis worked on joint missions with the Russians. It obviously became frustrating for Mrs Bielski and it was even more frustrating for the viewer. I also can't count the times she asked about who made decisions which Sonia said in the beginning was the 3 Bielski brothers. Of coruse Sonia's testimony favors her husband but that is expected.

[@krupamakim]

Totally agree.

[@piotrbartnicki6590]

This is a very important question. After all, together with Russian troops, they terrorized the local Polish and Belarusian population, and together they carried out a massacre in the village of Naliboki kzbin.info/www/bejne/eWemgoN-q5mAaZY

[@nikkiboyer8971]

A bad interviewer

[@cynthiabelleman6497]

I've listened to many of these and noticed the interviewers were terrible in some. I think they are volunteering college students

[@rescuepetsrule6842]

A very proud woman...

[@meredithlynn]

I was terribly impressed with this interview. The interviewer helped Sonya say on track and helped with the translation. I also loved hearing the boys praise their parents. I think this family has something in America we call grit...real true grit. May we all be thankful they have shared and documented one of the most unusual and captivating stories of the Holocaust. May God bless and be with the children of these families!!!!

[@emmaburgess4320]

How incompetent these interviewers are .. it’s a real disgrace that these people have to suffer again with their incompetence!!

[@alessiabroglia6682]

Emma Burgess I totally agree with you. She is too noisy and she didn’t give the possibility to Sonia to tell her own story.

[@jameswells-uk6qu]

Totally agree...this interviewer is driving me nuts!

[@debbimoryski132]

The interviewer is way louder, I wish the camera man did a better job with the volume. So frustrating

[@krupamakim]

This is the same interviewer who did a miserable job while interviewing Mr. Aron Bell. She does not let the speaker finish the story, neither does she let them remain on track. She constantly keeps interfering with irrelevant questions. It sounds like she's just not competent enough to extract a story, and keeps asking same questions and loses track of the trail. Almost feels like she's not interested and just keeps asking for no reason, just because she has to. Very very poor service.

[@ilenekaplan109]

Great testimony but interviewer was extremely annoying with her repeated questions. Train these people before letting them interview these survivors who have already suffered so much. Let them tell their story and then ask questions so the survivor doesn’t lose their train of thought. This is Not an interrogation. I do not like the way she was talked to. Interviewer is very pushy in the way she asks the questions.

[@jameswells-uk6qu]

Agree totally..it's painful to watch n listen to when it could be so much more enlightening and enjoyable if only they had an interviewer who knew HOW to ask pertinent questions!

[@krupamakim]

So true.

[@lourdesprudencio5647]

I agree, very rude....

[@sharoncaudill7071]

Interviewer is the rudest I ever have heard on these testimonies.

[@sherryhigby6132]

Wow what a brave woman. Her story is amazing. I know they all went through Hell, but she's inspiring.

[@jameswells-uk6qu]

Oh NO...NOT THE SAME INTERVIEWER! This Family's story is both famous but horrific and sad..and to have a woman who is sooo stupid..is a shame. She's asking ridiculous questions over and over. Poor Ms. Bielski!

[@rescuepetsrule6842]

The movie Defiance made me want to learn more about the Bielskis- there is a lot about them online. Lillian, Tuvias wife, also gives her story and helps fill in info not in this interview.

[@piotrbartnicki6590]

Did you find this material as well? kzbin.info/www/bejne/eIeskJSXZa96hqM

[@rescuepetsrule6842]

@@piotrbartnicki6590 Good video- TY! I was disappointed to read about little Aaron- look him up in relation to the crime he committed- robbed an old woman, left her in a bad home in Poland, went back to FL to spend it all. Sad- he destroyed an old woman's life by pretending to 'help' her visit Poland. Lot more to their story than the movie shows...

[@rowan655]

That interviewer needs lessons in manners.

[@krupamakim]

Very true. She's so abrasive even while asking questions. And does not let the speaker finish .

[@mrsj6548]

OMG! Interview? Interrogator!

[@Hilushenka]

Indeed, it sounds like it!

[@johnforeman634]

That is one intelligent and tough woman. People seem to like to crap on the interviewer, but listen, she is explaining some very complicated scenarios and using certain colloquialisms that make it difficult to understand. Give her a break, I’m listening carefully and I am having trouble following as well. Just like the interviewer. Of course, it’s not the interviewees fault, she’s describing as best she can.

[@gyorgyakos9618]

Of Sonia Bielski: Peter Duffy, author of the book

[@lourdesprudencio5647]

What is the name of the book???

[@gyorgyakos9618]

@@lourdesprudencio5647 I'm sorry. I just see that I did'nt finish my remark. I already forgot what I wanted to say. The book: The Bielski Brothers en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bielski_Brothers_(book)

[@BeverleyPriceJewellery]

My mother was born in Lubcz too

[@joydarling314]

Her story sounds like the movie called Defiance

[@user-sc5xd5ie7t]

The movie based on this events

[@shabbirbnadaf3186]

Shoha foundation, from where you discovered this hilarious interviewer?

[@pamelamiller5996]

This interviewer is the worst. She interviewed the other mrs Bielski. Doesn’t let the poor lady talk asking ridiculous questions. So is was such a brave lady an also Lillian went through so much. Pls get better interviewers

[@kasiamay1742]

What a fantastic interview! Sadly, this lady's English made it quite hard to understand and follow what she was saying. It is so cute that she used Polish words and some Russian words too(with the accent of the Eastern Poland, now Belarus) and Yidish (similar to German) She used them as if they were part English vocabulary, without realising they are not actually not being understood by English speakers. Wonderful lady... obviously speaks Fluent Polish, Yiddish, French and English... but difficult to understand her story. I think the interviewer did a good job. She is not rude, she is Polish 😅 When this lady mentioned 'farms' at the begining of the interview describing her family, she didnt mean farms, she meant LANDED ESTATES- MAJĄTKI ZIEMSKIE. also, ziemianka is a dug out tunnel under the ground where potatoes were stored over winter. White Polacks- white Poles 😂

[@gyorgyakos9618]

Don't blame the interviewer so much. She helps out Sonia and translates some of the Polish words for us. I couldn't do that. The problem seems to be the bad English of Sonia. I pity because her story is really interesting. You can read more on Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bielski_partisans).

[@piotrbartnicki6590]

Better here kzbin.info/www/bejne/eIeskJSXZa96hqM

[@Hilushenka]

I disagree, the interviewer was impatient and at times rude,

[@janejones5362]

What a strong face this lady has.

[@blondeblythe]

This is the worst interviewer I've seen in all the Holocaust survivor videos I've watched, and I've watched a lot! She needs to quit interrupting and let the lady tell her story!

[@lourdesprudencio5647]

I am so upset with the interviewer, she seems so rude to her & interupting , not very nice....

[@maryhedden1192]

Brave lady, amazing story. I found her English difficult to understand but her story was fascinating. The interviewer was unprofessional, terrible to listen to… didn’t know to shut up.

[@JenniferJones-Cartier]

Couldn't understand the lady

[@sararalaniz]

Brave lady God bless her. Hardest video to understand and the interviewer was the worse.

[@martinandry7096]

This interviewer is the worst. Just let the lady talk.

[@jameswells-uk6qu]

Amen..I know it's been 6yrs. But this interview is annoying due to an incompetent interviewer!

[@krupamakim]

Totally agree.

[@tarininathaghoridurgadevi]

The interviewer is not sensitive enough and competent enough to understand this lady. She is not able and trained...total lacking of sensitivity...she keeps asking the lady again and again what she already told her seconds ago. Sorry but not a pleasure to see that. IT´S NOT AN INTERROGATION !!! or a process ! it`s an interview !!! The tune of voice isn´t ok. She sounds arrogant, cold and bored and not as it is supposed to be. Although jewish, i don´t think she knows what it feels to recall the experiences...is really annoying and actually very irritating !!!

[@diannemullins6462]

interviewer interrupt so much she caused confusion with the lady it was hard to explain her story with the interviewer interrupt.................

[@anniemcclure38]

What a rude interviewer. Horrible ugly behavior from her. She should be ashamed

[@krupamakim]

Totally agree.

[@mikemueller3552]

Can’t handle listening any longer 13 minutes in due to most annoying interviewer. What a shame!!!!

[@fada7903]

Sadly, the interviewer ruined the testemony forever. What a shame!

[@theresabraddock9310]

another interrogation type interviewer so it was not a flowing retelling the interviewer interrupted so often and with questions that were already answered.

[@darlenewells3309]

Ps...how could this channel even put this out! Shame on you!

[@hazelnorfolk6964]

Don’t think much of the interviewer, rude

[@agatagoldy]

This interviewer is a nightmare interrogator

[@barbarawright3319]

The interviewer made her very agitated and confused her. Bad interviewer

[@jmckendrick165]

The Bielskis killed whole villages of peasant, including the children? Did I hear correctly?! (2:04:00).

[@sherbesh5421]

The interviewer was such an interrupter.

[@2007Isabellamaria]

4.fq

[@cristinaalvarezarena5202]

The interviewer is awful so annoying and unprepared

[@stchl6557]

This poor woman being interrogated by this awful, dreadful, interviewer. I don’t know why this lady just didn’t say to her shut the hell up and let me tell my story.

[@stopchildtrafficking]

This woman asking questions is way too dominant and doesn’t know how to conduct a proper interview.