On 19 March, 1944, the Germans took control of Hungary, without a battle. At that time Hungary was home to 900,000 Jews, and on the day of the takeover, the leadership of the Zionist youth movements told their members to go underground; to Aryanize, and use any means possible to thwart the plans of the Germans and their collaborators to exterminate Hungarian Jewry. This decision was a strategic move that marked the beginning of the activities of The Rescue Underground, and thanks to its daring operations thousands of Jews were saved.