Aron Bell, formerly Aron Bielski, gave a talk at Cranberry library Monday. Bell was a member of the Bielski partisan group, a Jewish resistance force that saved more than 1,000 Jews during World War II.

CRANBERRY TWP — A packed room of young and old alike experienced history Monday night when Aron Bell visited Cranberry Public Library.

Bell, formerly Aron Bielski, was a member of the Bielski partisan group, a Jewish resistance force that saved more than 1,000 Jews during World War II. Bell and his three older brothers were featured in the 2008 film “Defiance.”

The floor was open for the 170 audience members to ask Bell questions, who answered them matter-of-factly.

“I don’t think it was hard,” Bell said of his time spent in the forest hiding from Nazis. “It was understood that you had to be in the woods, and the Germans wanted to kill you. It was natural.”

Bell was brought to Cranberry through Classrooms Without Borders, a nonprofit that provides professional development and continuing education to educators in the tri-state area, and Seneca Valley teacher Jim Lucot’s regular “A History Roundtable” program.

Bell’s older brothers Tuvia, Asael and Zus established the group after their parents and two brothers were killed by Nazis in December 1941. They fled to a nearby forest to save remaining family members and lead a resistance.

Eventually their group grew to more than 1,200 Jews who fled nearby ghettos.

The three elder brothers lead the group to shelter fellow Jews and also strike back against the Nazis and Nazi sympathizers through guerrilla warfare. Bell, who was just a teenager, acted as a guide and messenger, leading new refugees through the forest to their encampment, said his wife, Henryka Bell.

“The legend that Jews were docile is not true. There was resistance,” Lucot said. “The magnitude of this is important for students to know.”

Bell said the film “Defiance” was “positively accurate. ... Everything is true and more,” he said.

When asked if his experiences during wartime ever tested his faith, Bell said “God never bothers me and I never bother him.” Without Christians and others to help, Bell said they would not have made it.

For more information or to contribute to Classrooms Without Borders efforts, visit www.classroomswithoutborders.org.