The Bielski family were millers and grocers in Stankiewicze (Stankievichy) near Nowogródek. At the beginning of WWII, this area belonged to the Second Polish Republic. It was taken over by the Soviet Union in September 1939 (cf. Polish September Campaign and Soviet invasion of Poland) as part of an agreement between Nazi Germany and Josef Stalin's Soviet Union that they would not fight each other.