A place for families of Jewish partisans from World War II to connect and share their stories.
Velvel Yanson 3 Leah and Wolf Velvel in the Bielski Partisans Screenshot 2018-02-05 19.27.07

William (Velvel, Velvke, Wolf) Johnson (Yanson)


Velvel Yanson was born on May 30, 1920, and grew up in Lubcz (Lubscha), Belarus. He was the son of David Yanson and Chasia Yankelowitz Yanson. Velvel had two sisters, Grunya and Henya. When he was 19 years old, his life changed forever. In August 1939, upon hearing that...

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Community Stories

Martin Petrasek


Martin Petrasek was born in Chust, Slovakia in 1926. In 1938, Czechoslovakia became the first victim of Germany’s expansionist plans when the...

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Sam (Jacob Simcha) Goldwasser


Sam Goldwasser (born Jacob Simcha) was born on November 28, 1928, in Parczew, Poland, to Yehuda Leib and Henia Goldwasser. Yehuda Leib...

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Betzalel (Tzalke) Ginsburg


Tzalke Ginsburg and his brother Motke escaped from Ivie to the village of Dokodova where they joined the Iskra Otriad. Together the...

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Luba Wrobel Goldberg


Luba Wrobel Goldberg was born on May 6, 1923, and raised in the shtetl of Ciechanowiec, Poland. She attended the Zionist Tarbut...

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The biographies on this site are compiled from testimonies, recollections, transcripts, memoirs, and biographies of Jewish partisans, their children and their grandchildren.