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Abe Asner
Leon Bakst Charles Bedzow Tuvia Bielski Frank Blaichman Gertrude Boyarski David Broudo Harry Burger Joe Cameron Romi Cohn Max Cukier Marisa Diena Bernard Druskin Don Felson Sara Fortis Eugenio Gentili Tedeschi Jeff Gradow 
In the beginning, Abe Asner thought the war would only last a few weeks. It continued for over four years and Abe's partisan unit grew to several thousand people, including the woman who later became Abe’s wife. 
Leon Bakst was a teenager from Ivie when he escaped from a work camp and hiked to the Naliboki forest with over a dozen other escapees to join the Bielski Brigade. Having brought with them rifles and ammunition they stole from the work camp, Leon and his group were immediately accepted. Though he experienced many close calls, Leon survived with the Bielski camp to see Poland liberated. He now lives in Texas. 
Charles Bedzow (aka Chonon Bedzowski) and his family made a risky escape from the Lida ghetto in 1942 to join the Bielski brigade in their encampment in the woods. At age 17, Charles became a Bielski partisan, collecting supplies for the group, scouting, and going on sabotage and ambush missions. 
In the Nalibocka forest, Tuvia set up a functioning partisan and family camp, with everyone working to support the community in a variety of ways. Tuvia's group consisted of 1200 Jews. A high percentage of those he led survived, due to his strong and effective leadership, and his determination to save as many Jews as possible.
The amazing story of the Bielski partisans was turned into the motion picture 'Defiance' in 2009. 
At 21, Frank was the youngest platoon commander in his all-Jewish unit of 400. Toward the end of the war, his unit escorted the future Prime Minister of Poland to a secret meeting with the Soviet high command. 
After Nazi collaborators killed her family, Gertrude convinced the commander of a Russian partisan camp to let her fight. Gertrude lived in the forest as a partisan for three years. After blowing up a bridge with the help of a friend, she was awarded the Medal of Lenin, one of the Soviet Union's highest honors. 
As a partisan, David ingeniously smuggled munitions supplies destined for the resistance movement in Athens past the German blockades, by emptying milk barrels and filling them with guns. By the time of the liberation he was planning and carrying out sabotage missions and interrogating high-ranking German prisoners himself. 
A partisan in the First Alpine Division, Harry used his fluency in German to interrogate captured soldiers. One of the division’s most important tasks was the sabotage of German electric capabilities in Northern Italy, where the destruction of local power plants seriously hindered German mobility. 
Joe destroyed a Polish dairy factory to prevent the milk from being delivered to the antisemitic partisan group Armia Krajowa (AK) militia. Many of the villagers in the area were supportive of the partisans, supplying them with food and information about the movements of the German troops. 
To reach the partisans in the mountains, Romi forged a German military travel order, sending him to the last German outpost before partisan-controlled territory. “[The Germans] all shook my hand and wished me luck. They thought I was going to go strike a blow for the Reich,” 
Max joined the famous Bielski Brigade, where he met and married his wife in the forest. Taking the initiative, Max began to organize small units and lead missions himself, including masterminding a dangerous attack on a German bunker using an abandoned Soviet tank. 
After the Nazis occupied Turin, Marisa fled into the mountains around Torre Pellice to join the partisans, soon becoming the vice-commander of information for her unit. During the day, she would ride her bicycle around the countryside collecting information from local informers, and would report back to her commander each night. 
After joining the partisans, Bernard sabotaged railroad lines, phone lines, and stole food and supplies from the German army. Bernard and his compatriots once blew up 5 km of train tracks used by the Nazis, in different sections, calling it ‘Hanukkah lights’. 
After Don’s brother Stan convinced him to join the partisans, they sought revenge against the Nazis by dynamiting railroads and ambushing German convoys, killing soldiers and building a reputation for valor. They also took food from the local population and smuggled it back into the ghetto. 
Born Sarika Yehoshua in 1927 in Chalkis, a small town near athens, Greece, Sara Fortis never knew her father, who passed away when she was only two months old. During the war, Sara went from village to village recruiting women who wanted to fight, forming a band of female partisans. They burned down houses, executed Nazi collaborators, and were an asset to the men. Male partisans were often given credit for the missions completed by her group. 
In Milan, Eugenio and his friends tore down the antisemitic propaganda posted, their first act of resistance in that city. Eugenio later joined a partisan unit and kept the mountain trails open for the Allies, preventing German reinforcements from reaching the front lines in France. An artist, he drew scenes from partisan life while still in his unit. 
In the spring of 1943 the Soviets made contact with Jeff’s partisan group, airdropping weapons and explosives and sending in professional Russian paratroopers, well armed and with short wave radios. Jeff assisted in hit-and-run sniper attacks, mining roads, and cutting phone lines. 
After participating in the Warsaw ghetto uprising, Joe made contact with his old POW comrades and joined the antisemitic Polish Home Army, or AK. For a time, he worked as a member of the Polish underground, raiding a German train depot and aiding in the assassination of a prominent SS official. 
As a POW Sam heard about partisans through a sympathetic Pole and convinced 22 other POWs to escape the camp with him and join the partisans. Sam later met Frank Blaichman and joined his Jewish partisan unit, called the Markuszow group. They engaged in sabotage, derailing trains and ambushing German trucks on highways. At its largest, Sam’s group was 400 Jews strong. 
Rose Duman and Joe Holm were born in neighboring villages near Zaliscze, Poland. At 19, Joe entered the forest, where he knew other Jews were gathering. Near Zaliscze, Rose’s family owned a farm, where Joe would often stay overnight on Shabbat. When partisan groups began allowing a few women to join, Joe appeared on Rose's doorstep. He said, “I'm going; you come with me. 
Shortly after the beginning of the German occupation of Greece in 1941, 16-year-old Leon joined a group of partisans. Leon fought and served as communications specialist with the partisans for more than two years, setting up wires that wound through the trees in various villages to enable telephone communication between units. 
Leah Johnson (aka Leah Bedzowski) was only 18 when the Nazis invaded Lida, forcing the town’s Jews into a ghetto. Leah and her family escaped with the help of a guide sent by Tuvia Bielski and joined the Bielski brigade in the Naliboki forest, where they survived until the end of the war – and where Leah met her husband Velvel “Wolf” Yanson. 
In Athens, Jack became involved with the underground movement by bombing factories and writing anti-German slogans on the city streets under the cover of darkness. Jack was later made the commander of a machine gun regiment in the partisan group National Liberation Front, or EAM. 
18-year-old Ben Kamm, born March 21, 1921, had a comfortable life surrounded by family and friends in Warsaw, Poland. Ben joined the Russian partisan group of more than 1,600 fighters led by General Fyodorov. He was trained to place mines under train tracks and disrupt the equipment flow. Ben also led an attack on the Janon Lubelski labor, camp, freeing the 600 Jews held inside. 
In the Vilna ghetto, Vitka and others, including Aba Kovner, successfully organized a resistance movement called the United Partisans Organization, (FPO) and began to arm themselves, smuggling weapons through the sewer system. As a partisan she helped destroy the power plant and waterworks of Vilna. Vitka and Aba Kovner later married. 
In 1941, Abba Kovner galvanized the divided factions of the Vilna ghetto resistance to join together and fight back against their would-be murderers, creating the FPO (United Partisan Organization). Kovner would go on to command the FPO, lead the famed Avengers unit, and help found the state of Israel - becoming one of its most renowned poets. 
Members of a Ukranian partisan group, Joe and other select teenagers began training for the junior secret service. Village by village, they counted men, checked equipment, noted who the ranking officers were and where they were camped, providing information to fellow partisans who mined bridges and railroads to disrupt German military activity. 
After escaping from Novogrodek ghetto, Rae Kushner fought with the Bielski partisan unit. She often stood guard at the Bielski encampment, and also cooked for the camp. She reconnected with Joseph Kushner, whom she knew prior to the war, and after the war became her husband. 
Sam became a part of the resistance in the Baronovich ghetto even before he learned about the partisans. His brigade suffered from a lack of supplies, but in the spring of 1943 they began to receive direct support from Moscow. Sam was chosen as a paratrooper auxiliary, accompanying the Russians on their missions. He also helped design and build zemlyankas-underground bunkers. 
Escaping a slave labor camp, Miles joined a Jewish partisan unit formed by other escapees. The job of his brigade was “to create havoc”: they raided German outposts, destroying food and munitions supplies and continuing to build their arsenal. Unlike more militaristic Soviet partisan units, Miles’ brigade also served as a family camp. 
Samuel was in a band of partisans called La Chevdad that roamed Bulgaria, near the border with Yugoslavia. The group stayed in the high mountains or forests, to avoid capture. These partisan groups helped tremendously to prepare the groundwork for the Soviets, who entered Bulgaria in 1944. 
As a partisan Noah became versed in the arts of sabotage, cutting down telegraph wires, taking apart railroad tracks, mining roads, and conducting sniper attacks against German forces. 
Walter escaped from Luxemburg to Italy where he joined the Italian partisans as an interpreter for the German SS. He provided the partisans with critical information and aided in the capture of an Italian spy sent to locate Jews and partisans hiding in the mountainside. His unit actively engaged the Germans, once stalling a convoy of troops from advancing on a strategic road to France by employing mortar and a small army fire. 
Semyon’s partisan unit constructed makeshift mines out of old bombs found in the forest. They took their food from Nazi collaborators at gunpoint and by 1944, their unit was absorbed by an otriad of several hundred fighters, receiving airdrops from the regular Soviet army. 
Posing as a Catholic at a boarding school, Bernard became a courier for the Sixieme, a resistance group in Rodez, France, and transported falsified papers for those escaping Nazi persecution. At the age of 14, Bernard joined the Maquis and participated in two major battles against the Germans, securing him a position with the French army as a second lieutenant. 
Dora Otulski was born in 1922 in the village of Zgorany, near Luboml, Poland. Dora hid with a non-Jewish farmer for a year before joining her sister and brother-in-law in the forests controlled by the partisans. There Dora worked as a nurse in the makeshift hospital, cleaning and dressing wounds. Due to the lack of supplies, she used home made vodka to numb the pain of the afflicted. 
Sonia escaped into the woods with her family at the age of 16 from the Nazi-occupied town of Lubomi. After hiding in the freezing woods for months, Sonia was able to join a Russian partisan otriad. With little training, Sonia served as a field nurse and hospital aide, treating the wounds of injured partisans, using whatever makeshift supplies were available. 
In Biellese, Silvio became a member of the Fratelli Bandiera. The group spent the winter of 1943 biding their time and gathering their forces. In the spring, they began conducting raids and sabotage missions. Silvio’s group also established Radio Liberta, an underground radio channel that broadcasted anti-German propaganda. 
While hiding at a monastery, Martin found a partisan pamphlet calling on Slovaks to resist the occupation. He decided that it was time to fight back and soon joined a partisan brigade. Hiding his Jewish identity, Martin worked as a spy, scouting the movements of troops and conducting hit-and-run attacks against local German forces. 
As a rebel soldier, Meir learned how to use a gun and helped his countrymen cut off the retreat lines of the fleeing Germans. Meir later secured non-Jewish identity papers and slipped off into the rebel stronghold of the Slovakian mountains. He spent several months fighting alongside the Soviet partisans, conducting sabotage operations and search-and-destroy missions. 
In October of 1942, Norman organized an escape group of 55 people and fled to the surrounding forest. Norman had seven identities throughout the war and by hiding his Jewish identity, he was able to join the antisemitic Polish home army, or AK. While with the AK he was able to save Jews they targeted for assassination. 
On August 14, 1942, the Germans killed 1,850 Jews from the Lenin ghetto. They spared only 26 people that day, among them Faye for her photographic abilities. Faye fled to the forests and joined the Molotava Brigade. During her time as a Partisan, she took over a hundred photographs. She is the only known Jewish partisan photographer. 
After escaping a death camp, and several months in hiding, Brenda connected with a large Soviet-backed partisan unit made up of 1600 people. Brenda learned how to shoot a gun and to ride a horse. She joined the partisan cavalry, and became one of the commander’s bodyguards. 
In 1943, armed with an automatic rifle and a short wave radio, Leon parachuted into the Lithuanian forest to conduct espionage operations. Born in Vilna but trained in Moscow as a radio operator, he worked as the ‘ears and mouth’ of the partisans, acting as a liaison between them and the regular army. 
Mira’s group engaged in sabotage against the Nazis and their Polish collaborators by disrupting communications and transportation to the war front. In Mira’s group, women comprised about a quarter of the partisans. They did the cooking, took care of the laundry and provided other vital support. The leader of Mira’s all-Jewish unit would later become her husband. 
When the Nazis came to take his family away, Allen Small’s mother hid him in the attic, all the while telling him, “you must survive!” He stayed on the run for months until the Stalinskaya brigade mistook him for a brigand. The misunderstanding was cleared up, and Allen Small joined their group, becoming a partisan at age 14. 
In Vilna, Simon joined the United Partisans Organization (FPO) and took part in the failed uprising in the Vilna ghetto. He worked as a spy and a saboteur in liaison with a partisan unit established by the Russian army, gathering information about troop and supply movements, mining roads, and blowing up bridges. 
Alexander escaped a forced labor camp and fled to the mountains, where the Yugoslavian partisans, led by Tito, captured him. An excellent marksman and able to speak several languages, Alexander joined and soon climbed the ranks of the partisan unit, quickly becoming a commander 69 men. 
Eta helped organize an exclusively Jewish partisan unit of close to eighty people. The unit set mines to hinder German movement and to cut off supply routes. Unlike the other seven women in the unit, Eta refused to cook or clean. She was active on missions with the men and made important strategic decisions. 
After spending the cold winter months of 1942 in an underground bunker, Shalom and his comrades sought out the local partisan brigade in hopes to join. When they were sent out on a suicide mission but returned alive, they were denied entry in the partisans because they were Jewish. Shalom then helped to form an all-Jewish unit with over 200 Jews. |
**This is not intended to be a comprehensive list of all Jewish partisans, but rather a small sampling to illustrate various experiences for educational purposes, including short biographies, archival images, and video interviews.