A Polish Jew born in what is now White Russia, Mira Shelub joined a partisan group that operated in the forest near her native Zdziedciol at the age of 18. With her family, she escaped Zdziedciol’s ghetto in 1942 as the Germans began killing off the population.
Mira’s group engaged in sabotage against the Nazis and their Polish collaborators by disrupting communications and transportation to the war front. They blew up trains, attacked police stations, and stole food that had been provided for the Germans by peasants.
While working with the partisans, Mira met her husband Nochim, who was the leader of the group. Nochim had first been in a mixed group run by Russians. However, antisemitism was common among the non-Jewish resistance fighters, and so he decided to form his own unit though he still continued to coordinate activities with the Russians.
In Mira’s group, women comprised about a quarter of the partisans. They did the cooking, took care of the laundry and provided other vital support. On a few attacks Mira carried extra ammunition for her husband’s machine gun, but usually stayed behind, all the while worrying about his safety. In summer the unit slept on the ground in the open forest and in winter they took refuge in underground huts (zemlyankas) or with sympathetic peasant families. Constant movement was a necessity to avoid detection and when it snowed they had to alter their tracks into confusing patters so that they could not be followed.
Mira recounts “in the forest we did not only fight a physical battle, but also a spiritual battle. We were sitting around the fire, singing songs together, supporting each other and dreaming about betters days and a better future — a better tomorrow.”
