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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.
My husband…he was a very, very wonderful human being. He was a very fine man. But everybody…he had nobody – everybody was slaughtered. No brothers, no sisters, nobody at all. So he had one thing in his life: to get revenge. Because his people were all killed – until he found me. And I got…married together in the woods, in the Defiance, in the Bielski Brigade.
We were at that time in the woods with Tuvia Bielski, with our commander. And we had to separate because the German was attacking us, so Tuvia Bielski said we have to separate. Me, my mother, sister and brothers and a few other people felt helpless. We didn’t know where to go so we all just sat under a tree. All of a sudden – I saw two men walking towards us. One of the men came over and asked us why we were just sitting here? He told us that the Germans were not far away. “You have to get–“ my husband said, “You have to keep going -- if we stayed here, we would be surely be killed.” That was my future husband.
The future generation should know one thing. One thing. I will tell you what they should know:
Remember your history. Know who you are and stand for who you are. You are the future. Stand up for what is right. And the most important thing, this is my message to the young generation: Israel needs your very strong support. And never give up.
It was a terrible time, but it was a happy time because we knew that the future will come. If not today, tomorrow. We have to think ahead. We have to live – live our lives of today. You see, we are fighters. We have our energy not to let us down. We have to go. Every day is a beautiful day. We cannot stay and look that “oh, I’m afraid what’s going to happen”. Don’t be afraid. Stand for your rights and fight and fight for your tomorrow.
That feeling means to me that I met these people, we were together – especially our commander, Tuvia Bielski. He always was around us. He wanted only to save Jewish lives. Didn’t want to fight the Germans because we knew that the Germans too long cannot be at war. Another year. But to save lives – if you’re going to save Jewish life, you will multiply. They have today businesspeople, doctors, our children – this is all my children, all the survivors are my children. Professional, doctors, lawyers, even my own children with high educations. It’s not easy for us. But we have to do it. I hope you understood me.
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