Nechama Tec
(May 15, 1931 in Lublin, Poland –August 3, 2023 in New York
City, New York, USA), Holocaust survivor, historian, and scholar
Nechama Tec was a Holocaust survivor, scholar, and author of
the book “Defiance: The Bielski Partisans,” which inspired the 2008 film of the
same name.
Tec was born to a Jewish family in Lublin, Poland, shortly
before the Nazis took power in Germany, and was eight years old when Poland was
invaded in 1939. She and her family survived the Holocaust after being
sheltered by Polish Catholics. Following the war, she emigrated to the United
States and earned a doctorate in sociology from Columbia University.
Despite Tec’s experience in Poland, she preferred to focus on
an optimistic view of humankind, telling the stories of those who helped her
family instead of those who wished them harm. Both her 1984 memoir, “Dry Tears:
The Story of a Lost Childhood,” and her 1986 book, “When Light Pierced the
Darkness,” won the Merit of Distinction Award from the Anti-Defamation League
of B’nai B’rith.
Tec was also the author of “Resilience and Courage: Women,
Men, and the Holocaust,” and “Defiance: The Bielski Partisans,” which tells the
story of Polish brothers who worked to save Jews in Belarus during World War
II. The book was adapted into the 2008 film, “Defiance,” starring Daniel Craig
and Liev Schreiber.
Tec remained a Holocaust scholar for her entire life. In
1995, she served as Scholar in Residence at the International Institute for
Holocaust Research at Yad Vashem in Israel, and she was on the Council of the
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.