The small village in Western Belarus is located between towns of Lida and Navahrudak, both of which housed Jewish ghettoes during World War II.

When Operation Barbarossa broke out, Tuvia, Zus, and Asael were called up by their army units to fight against the Nazi German occupiers.

In July 1941, a German army unit arrived in Stankiewicze, and Jewish residents were moved to the Nowogródek ghetto.

Zus, along with his brothers Tuvia, Asael, and Aron, managed to flee to the nearby forest after their parents and other family members were killed in the ghetto in December 1941.

Matthew and Elan, Jay's sons, served in a Special Forces unit within the elite Israeli paratroopers.