Yeshayahu’s parents came from Poland. In 1933 the family moved to Budapest. In 1938 Yeshayahu joined the movement. He engaged in obtaining forged Aryan documents, the planning of bunkers and getting hold of army uniforms. In the first month of 1944 He travelled to Northern Hungary in order to warn the local Jews of what lay in store for them from the fascists and to recruit the young Jews to his movement. He was a liaison person for the underground activists.
In May 1944 Yeshayahu enlisted in a forced labor unit and took advantage of his holiday passes to distribute forged documents. A few days after the 15th of October 1944 he ran away from his unit and hid as a Hungarian soldier. At the end of October, following Dr. Bilitzer’s suggestion, Yeshayahu founded a children’s house under the protection of the International Red Cross on 65, Budakeszi Road where 220 children and about 70 adults found refuge. This children’s house, located in Buda, the hilly part of the capital, was liberated on December 25, 1944 by the Red Army. On that day Yeshayahu was already in the “Glass House” on 29, Vadász Street. He moved to the house next door, where the Hungarian Football Association used to have their office, and was made in charge of one of the resistance groups. He was wounded by a bullet and taken to an Aryan hospital.
After the liberation of Budapest (18.1.1945) Yeshayahu moved to Szeged where he set up a city hahshara and a children’s house.
In 1945 he left Hungary within the framework of Aliya Bet (B’riha) as the instructor in charge of 90 teenagers on their way to Eretz Israel (Palestine). He made aliya and was a kibbutz member for five years. He worked as a teacher, schoolmaster, inspector and researcher in education, and editor of text books published by the Ministry of Education. He resides in Tel Aviv.
