Asael Bielski

Asael Bielski
Born	1908
Died	1945 (aged 36–37)
Known for	Bielski partisans
Parent(s)	David and Beila Bielski
Relatives	Tuvia Bielski, brother Alexander Zeisal Bielski, brother Aron Bielski, brother

Asael Bielski (/ˈɑːsɔɪl/ AH-soil; 1908 – 1945) was the second-in-command of the Bielski partisans during World War II.

Asael was the third son of David and Beila Bielski. He was two years younger than his brother Tuvia, who later commanded the Bielski Otriad. The Bielskis were the only Jewish family of Stankiewicze, a small village in pre-war Poland, currently Western Belarus. It was located between Lida and Navahrudak (called Nowogródek in Polish), both of which later housed Jewish ghettos during World War II. Asael was one of 12 children—10 boys and two girls. He was quieter and more reserved than his brothers, and was content to stay on the farm and around those he knew well.

With his older brothers leaving home and his father’s health deteriorating, Asael was becoming the new head of the household. As the male leader of the family, he had to arrange the marriage of his sister Tajba to an upper-class man named Avremale.

Avremale had a sister named Chaja who was a high school graduate, which was rare for the time and place. Hearing that Asael needed help with bookkeeping, Chaja offered to tutor him.

When Operation Barbarossa broke out, Tuvia, Zus, and Asael were called up by their army units to fight against the Nazi German occupiers. Owing to so much chaos the units disbanded. They fled to Stankiewicze, where their parents lived. In early July 1941, a German army unit arrived in Stankiewicze, and Jewish residents were moved into a ghetto in Nowogródek.

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