{{Short description|Polish-American historian (1931–2023)}} {{pp-blp|small=yes}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}} {{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see :Template:Infobox writer/doc --> | name = Nechama Tec | image = | image_size = 200px | caption = | birth_name = Nechama Bawnik | birth_date = {{birth date|1931|05|15|df=y}} | birth_place = Lublin, Poland | death_date = {{death date and age|2023|08|03|1931|05|15|df=y}} | death_place = New York City, New York, U.S. | alma_mater = Columbia University | spouse = Leon Tec ({{abbr|m.|married}}1919–2013; his death) }}
'''Nechama Tec''' (née '''Bawnik''', 15 May 1931 – 3 August 2023) was a Polish-American historian who was professor emerita of Sociology at the University of Connecticut.<ref name=Stamford>{{cite web |url=http://stamford.uconn.edu/tec-nechama/ |title=Stamford Campus Directory: Tec, Nechama |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |website=University of Connecticut |access-date=18 April 2015 }}</ref> She received her Ph.D. in sociology at Columbia University, where she studied and worked with the sociologist Daniel Bell, and was a Holocaust scholar. Her book ''When Light Pierced the Darkness'' (1986) and her memoir ''Dry Tears: The Story of a Lost Childhood'' (1984) both received the Merit of Distinction Award from the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith. She is also the author of the book ''Defiance: The Bielski Partisans'' on which the film ''Defiance'' (2008) is based, as well as a study of women in the Holocaust. She was awarded the 1994 International Anne Frank Special Recognition prize for it.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-first=David |editor1-last=Patterson |editor2-first=Alan L. |editor2-last=Berger |editor3-first=Sarita |editor3-last=Cargas |year=2002 |title=Encyclopedia of Holocaust Literature |series=Oryx Holocaust Series |page=195 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H195mY-ZB_IC&q=International+Anne+Frank+Special+Recognition+prize&pg=PA195 |publisher=Greenwood |isbn=978-1573562577 |access-date=18 April 2015 }}</ref>
==Biography== Nechama Tec was born in Lublin, Poland to a family of Polish Jews in 1931<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.holocaustsurvivors.org/data.show.php?di=record&da=bibliography&ke=26 |title=Bibliography [Abstract of ''Dry Tears: The Story of a Lost Childhood''] |last=Menszer |first=John |website=Holocaust Survivors |access-date=18 April 2015 |archive-date=28 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828113555/http://www.holocaustsurvivors.org/data.show.php?di=record&da=bibliography&ke=26 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and was 8 years old when Nazi Germany invaded Poland in 1939.<ref name="jta_tec">[https://www.jta.org/2009/01/27/arts-entertainment/author-gains-new-exposure-from-holocaust-film ''Author gains new exposure from Holocaust film''], 26 January 2009 article in JTA.</ref> She survived the Holocaust thanks to her life being saved by Polish Catholics.<ref name="jta_tec"/><ref>[http://wyborcza.pl/1,75478,3034375.html Nechama Tec: Jak ocalałam] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110117150916/http://wyborcza.pl/1,75478,3034375.html |date=17 January 2011 }}, 25 November 2005 article in Gazeta Wyborcza ('''Polish''').</ref> After the war she emigrated to Israel and later moved to the United States, where she earned a doctorate at Columbia University.<ref name="jta_tec"/>
Tec was the mother of film director Roland Tec.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/jan/02/defiance-film-book-nechama-tec | work=The Guardian | location=London | title=My lives in their hands | date=2 January 2009 | access-date=18 April 2015 | first=Nechama | last=Tec}}</ref> Her daughter, Leora Tec, is the founder and Director of Bridge To Poland, an organization she created to break down stereotypes between Jews and non-Jewish Poles.<ref>[https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/regionals/west/2017/12/22/lexington-resident-forges-bridges-poland-and-healing/7pNLRRLRAiAFt51nZuYQ7M/story.html Lexington resident forges bridges to Poland, and to healing], Boston Globe, Cindy Cantrell, 22 December 2017</ref> Her husband, Dr. Leon Tec,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=BAQ2VtfH3awC&dq=%22Leon+Tec%22+%22nechama+tec%22&pg=PA1255 Holocaust Literature: Lerner to Zychlinsky, index], Routledge S. Lillian Kremer, page 1255</ref> was a noted child psychiatrist and author of ''Fear of Success'' and the autobiography, ''Adventure and Destiny''.<ref>[http://www.westportnow.com/index.php?/v2_5/comments/leon_tec_93_noted_psychiatrist_author/ Leon Tec, 93, Noted Psychiatrist, Author], West Port Now, 19 January 2013</ref>{{better source needed|date=July 2018}}
Nechama Tec was initially shocked by the changes made in adapting her book to make the film ''Defiance''. The Bielski partisans, for example, never actually went into battle against German tanks. However, after seeing the film a number of times, she confessed to liking it "more and more."<ref>{{cite news |last=Zychowicz |first=Piotr |date=23 January 2009 |title=Tewje nie był gwałcicielem, kobiety same się do niego garnęły [interview with Nehama Tec] |url=http://www.rp.pl/artykul/55362,252686_Tewje_nie_byl_gwalcicielem.html |newspaper=Rzeczpospolita |language=pl |access-date=18 April 2015 }}</ref>
Tec was appointed to the Council of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and served in 1995 as a Scholar in Residence at the International Institute for Holocaust Research at Yad Vashem, in Israel.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=H195mY-ZB_IC&dq=%22United+States+Holocaust+Memorial+Museum%22+%22Nechama+tec%22&pg=PA195 Encyclopedia of Holocaust Literature], Oryx Press, edited by David Patterson & Alan L. Berger& Sarita Cargas, page 195</ref>
Nechama Tec died in New York City on 3 August 2023, at the age of 92.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/nechama-tec-holocaust-survivor-whose-book-inspired-the-film-defiance-dies-at-92/ |title=Nechama Tec, Holocaust survivor whose book inspired the film 'Defiance,' dies at 92 |website=Times of Israel |first1=Andrew |last1=Silow-Carroll |first2=Ben |last2=Harris |date=10 August 2023 |access-date=10 August 2023}}</ref>
== Works == * ''Resistance: Jews and Christians Who Defied the Nazi Terror''. University Press: Oxford 2013. * ''Letters of Hope and Despair''. University Press: Cambridge 2007. * ''Resilience and Courage: Women, Men, and the Holocaust''. University Press: Yale 2003. * ''Defiance: The Bielski Partisans''. University Press: Oxford 1993. * ''In The Lion's Den: The Life of Oswald Rufeisen''. University Press: Oxford 1990. * ''When Light Pierced the Darkness: Christian Rescue of Jews in Nazi-Occupied Poland''. University Press: Oxford 1986. * ''Dry Tears: The Story of a Lost Childhood''. University Press: Oxford 1984. * ''Grass Is Green in Suburbia: A Sociological Study of Adolescent Usage of Illicit Drugs''. Libra Pub 1974.<ref name=Stamford/>
==Lectures and articles== * [http://www.ushmm.org/m/pdfs/Publication_OP_2005-04-03.pdf ''Jewish Children: Between Protectors and Murderers'']. Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies - US Holocaust Memorial Museum: 2005. * [http://www.ushmm.org/m/pdfs/Publication_OP_1997-02.pdf “Jewish Resistance: Fact, Omissions, and Distortions,”]. Miles Lerman Center for the Study of Jewish Resistance. 1997. * {{cite journal |last1=Tec |first1=Nechama |last2=Weiss |first2=Daniel |date=Winter 1997 |title=A Historical Injustice: The Case of Masha Bruskina |journal=Holocaust and Genocide Studies |publisher=Oxford Journals |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=366–377 |doi=10.1093/hgs/11.3.366}}
==Awards== * 2002 National Jewish Book Award in the Holocaust category for ''Resilience and Courage: Women, Men and the Holocaust''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/awards/national-jewish-book-awards/past-winners?category=30757|title=Past Winners|website=Jewish Book Council|language=en|access-date=21 January 2020}}</ref> *2012 Prakhin International Literary Award "The Truth about Holocaust & Stalinist Repression" for the book'' Defiance: The Bielski Partisans.''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://prakhin.org/node/40 |title= Non-Fiction Works Past Winners |website=Prakhin International Literary Foundation |access-date=18 April 2015 }}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{cite web | last=Ivry | first=Benjamin | title=She survived the Holocaust in Lublin and became a scholar and symbol of Jewish resilience and resistance | website=The Forward | date=2023-08-10 | url=https://forward.com/culture/557149/nechama-tec-obituary-remembrance-lublin-holocaust-survivor-jewish-sociologist-defiance/ | access-date=2023-08-12}}
==External links== * [http://digitalassets.ushmm.org/photoarchives/detail.aspx?id=1138560 ''Studio portrait of Nechama Bawnik taken in the Lublin ghetto''.] Photo Archives of US Holocaust Memorial Museum.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tec, Nechama}} Category:1931 births Category:2023 deaths Category:American sociologists Category:American women sociologists Category:Jewish American social scientists Category:Jewish American historians Category:American historians of the Holocaust Category:Polish Holocaust survivors Category:American memoirists Category:University of Connecticut faculty Category:Columbia University alumni Category:People from Lublin Category:American people of Polish-Jewish descent Category:Jewish women writers Category:Polish emigrants to Israel Category:Israeli emigrants to the United States