(Jewish Group)Over 25,000 Jewish partisans fought back against the Nazis. A new film tells 8 stories

[Behind the Aegis]

Over 25,000 Jewish partisans fought back against the Nazis. A new film tells 8 of their stories.

Documentary filmmaker Julia Mintz has been collecting stories for over 20 years. A little over a decade ago, one stopped her in her tracks.

It was the story of a young girl who encamped in a ditch and exploded a Nazi train heading to the frontlines.

“I thought, ‘Who is this little girl? I want to make a movie about her,’” Mintz said in a phone interview. As she did more research, she learned that this girl wasn’t alone, but a member of a network of Jewish partisans numbering over 25,000 who fought Nazis and their collaborators in the woods of Belarus, Ukraine and Poland.

“I had known about the Bielski brigade – but I knew that was a family camp,” Mintz said. “I had known about Hannah Senesh and a few others, but I had no real understanding of the thousands and thousands of people that were part of the armed Jewish resistance during World War II. And so when I stumbled upon this story, there was no doubt in my mind that I needed to learn more.”

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