Nechama Tec, a Polish Jew who survived the Holocaust by pretending to be Roman Catholic and later became a renowned Holocaust scholar, passed away on August 3 at her home in Manhattan. She was 92 years old. Her son, Roland, confirmed the news of her death.
Dr. Tec’s most well-known book, “Defiance: The Bielski Partisans” (1993), detailed the heroic actions of Tuvia Bielski, who led a resistance group that fought against the Germans and managed to save around 1,200 Jews. The partisans infiltrated besieged ghettos and rescued Jews, bringing them back to the community Mr. Bielski established in the Belarusian forest. “Defiance” provided Dr. Tec with a platform to showcase that Jews actively saved each other during the war and were more involved in resisting the Nazis than commonly believed.
Initially, filmmaker Edward Zwick was hesitant about turning “Defiance” into a movie, labeling it another story about victims. However, a friend convinced him otherwise, describing it as a tale of Jewish heroes akin to the Maccabees but better. As Mr. Zwick put it, “Rather than victims wearing yellow stars, here were fighters in fur chapkas brandishing submachine guns.” This perspective led to the creation of the film, released in 2008, starring Daniel Craig as Tuvia Bielski and Liev Schreiber as his brother Zus.
Following the success of “Defiance,” Dr. Tec wrote “When Light Pierced the Darkness: Christian Rescue of Jews in Nazi-Occupied Poland” (1986). This book, based on her interviews with rescuers, highlighted the actions of Christians who risked imprisonment or death to hide Jews. Dr. Tec deduced that these individuals, marginal figures in their communities, had a history of performing good deeds and did not consider their actions heroic or agonize over helping others.
According to Christopher R. Browning, a Holocaust expert and professor emeritus of history at the University of North Carolina, Dr. Tec’s sociological skills allowed her to present a more nuanced perspective on the interactions during the Holocaust in comparison to those who lacked empirical data collection.
Nechama Bawnik was born on May 15, 1931, in Lublin, Poland. She came from a middle-class family, with her father owning a chemical factory and her mother being a homemaker. When the Nazis occupied Poland in 1939, her father transferred the factory’s title to his foreman and found shelter for the family in the top floor of the building. Nechama hid inside the living quarters, only able to observe the outside world through a hole in the wall facing a convent school’s courtyard.
As the conditions for Jews deteriorated and rumors of deportations spread, Nechama’s family pondered relocating to Warsaw but deemed it too dangerous. In mid-1942, Nechama and her older sister, Giza, were sent to live with a family in Otwock, Poland—a short train ride away from Warsaw. Nechama assumed the false identity of Krysia Bloch and immersed herself in Catholic prayers and a fabricated family history to maintain the ruse. With their blond hair and blue eyes, both sisters easily passed as orphaned nieces of the family they stayed with, allowing them to move around without suspicion. They later joined another family in Kielce, ultimately surviving the war.
After the war, the family briefly returned to Lublin before settling in Berlin. In 1949, Nechama migrated to Israel, where she met her husband, Leon Tec. They married in 1950 and relocated to the United States two years later. Nechama pursued sociology at Columbia University, receiving her bachelor’s degree in 1954 and her master’s in 1955. She worked at the New York State Department of Mental Hygiene before embarking on a teaching career in sociology. She taught at various institutions, including Columbia, Rutgers University, Trinity College, and the University of Connecticut’s Stamford campus. She obtained her Ph.D. in sociology from Columbia in 1965.
Dr. Tec initially intended to leave her Holocaust experiences behind but felt compelled to revisit her past in 1975, leading her to write her autobiography, “Dry Tears: The Story of a Lost Childhood” (1982). In the book, she recounted an encounter with Helena, the grandmother of the family who sheltered them in Kielce, who expressed a reluctance to go out of her way to help Jews. However, she assured Nechama and her family that they were different from other Jews and that she would never let them be taken away.
In another publication, “Into the Lion’s Den: The Life of Oswald Rufeisen” (1990), Dr. Tec explored the life of a Polish Jew who kept his identity hidden while working as a translator for the German police. Rufeisen managed to save around 200 Jews in the Mir ghetto through subtle changes in his translations for his German superiors. After his true identity was revealed, Rufeisen sought refuge in a monastery, converted to Catholicism, and joined the partisan fighters. After the war, he became a Catholic priest and moved to Israel, residing in a monastery on Mount Carmel.
Dr. Tec is survived by her son Roland, daughter Leora Tec, two grandsons, one great-grandson, and a half-sister, Catharina Knoll. Her husband and sister, Giza Agmon, both passed away in 2013. During the filming of “Defiance,” Dr. Tec’s visit to the Bielski partisan camp in Lithuania left her in awe of the faithful recreation of the camp, complete with workshops and other facilities. Daniel Craig, who portrayed Tuvia Bielski in the film, eagerly sought out Dr. Tec on set and spent a significant amount of time questioning her about her experiences.
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