Nechama Tec was a Holocaust survivor, scholar, and author of the book “Defiance: The Bielski Partisans,” which inspired the 2008 film of the same name.
- Died: August 3, 3023 (Who else died on August 3?)
- Details of death: Died in New York City at the age of 92.
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Nechama Tec’s legacy
Tec was born to a Jewish family in Lublin, Poland, shortly before the Nazis took power in Germany, and was eight years old when Poland was invaded in 1939. She and her family survived the Holocaust after being sheltered by Polish Catholics. Following the war, she emigrated to the United States and earned a doctorate in sociology from Columbia University.
Despite Tec’s experience in Poland, she preferred to focus on an optimistic view of humankind, telling the stories of those who helped her family instead of those who wished them harm. Both her 1984 memoir, “Dry Tears: The Story of a Lost Childhood,” and her 1986 book, “When Light Pierced the Darkness,” won the Merit of Distinction Award from the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith.
Tec was also the author of “Resilience and Courage: Women, Men, and the Holocaust,” and “Defiance: The Bielski Partisans,” which tells the story of Polish brothers who worked to save Jews in Belarus during World War II. The book was adapted into the 2008 film, “Defiance,” starring Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber.
Tec remained a Holocaust scholar for her entire life. In 1995, she served as Scholar in Residence at the International Institute for Holocaust Research at Yad Vashem in Israel, and she was on the Council of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Tributes to Nechama Tec
Full obituary: The New York Times
