When the Nazis invaded Eastern Europe and began their program of liquidation and
brutality, partisan groups arose out of the citizenry to fight against these oppressors. In June
1941, the Germans entered the Soviet Union and persecuted all those that lay in their path to
Moscow, including the Jews of Belarus. Once in the country, the Nazis began destroying
villages and murdering innocents. Out of this terror, emerged ordinary people who decided to
wage a guerilla war against the occupiers. The Beilski brothers greatly resisted the Holocaust by
dedicating themselves to saving citizens, forming highly structured encampments, and
participating in armed resistance against the Nazis. Thus, the Bielskis and their Otriad were a
powerful force in saving Jewish lives and disrupting Nazi operations on the Eastern Front.