Jack Sutin (born Izik Sutin) was born on December 4, 1923 in Stolbtsy (Belorussia) to Julius and Sarah Sutin. His mother worked as a dentist and his father was an art student who also worked as a dental technician. Shortly after Izik's birth, the family moved to nearby Mir, where Julius and Sarah separated after a few years. Izik was educated at a gymnasium in Baranowicze and became a committed Zionist. During the first years of the war, Izik attended a Soviet school in Stolbsty, where he met his future wife, Rochel Szleif. In the summer of 1941, the Sutins were forced to move into the Mir ghetto. Izik was pressed into forced labor repairing roads. The Sutins escaped a German action that took place in Mir in the fall of 1941 by hiding temporarily in the home of a sympathetic Polish farmer, who had been a former dental patient. Following the action, the remaining Jewish community was moved into a nearby castle (Mirski Zamek). A group of Zionist youth members planned to escape. A Jew, Oswald Rufeisen, had infiltrated the local German military police and warned the group about the impending liquidation of the Mir ghetto, which was set for August 13, 1942. On August 9, 1942, Izik escaped along with others from the castle. The following day, his father escaped. In total, approximately 300 Jews escaped from the Mir castle. Once in the forest, Izik organized a small band of partisans. Jack Sutin organized a small band of Jewish partisans and lived in a small bunker where he was eventually reunited with Rochelle Szleif. Rochelle found Jack after fleeing a ghetto when her mother and sisters were shot, swimming across the Niemen River, and working for abusive Russian partisans. The couple remained in the forest until the end of the war and were married in a Jewish ceremony in the Soviet Union. They then lived in the Neu Freimann DP camp, where Jack worked as both camp administrator and photojournalist for the Yiddish newspaper "Jidisze Cajtung." Their daughter Cecilia Sutin was born in the camp. The family immigrated to the United States in August 1949
Rochel (Rochelle) Szleif was born in 1925 to Lazar and Cila Szleif in Stolbtsy. Rochel had two younger sisters, Sofka Szleif and Miriam Szleif. In August 1941, Stolbtsy was occupied by SS units. Shortly thereafter prominent Jewish residents, including Rochel's father, were stoned to death in a mass grave. Soon after, a ghetto was established in the town. Rochel was sent to work as a forced laborer at a sawmill on the outskirts of Stolbtsy. In the autumn of 1942, Rochel's mother and sisters were shot during an action which targeted the ghetto's non-working population. After, Rochel and a friend fled the ghetto. They swam across the Niemen River and ran into the woods on the opposite shore, where they met a group of Russian partisans who agreed to shelter them in exchange for housework. The Russians, however, abused the girls and they ran away. While on the run they met a Jewish partisan named Fania who belonged to Izik Sutin's partisan unit. Izik Sutin (now Jack Sutin) had met Rochel while attending school in Stolbtsy. Rochelle reunited with Jack and the couple remained in the forest until the end of the war and were married in a Jewish ceremony in the Soviet Union. They then lived in the Neu Freimann DP camp, where Jack worked as both camp administrator and photojournalist for the Yiddish newspaper "Jidisze Cajtung." Their daughter Cecilia Sutin was born in the camp. The family immigrated to the United States in August 1949.
