Yirmi’s family lived in Eperjes (Prešov) where he graduated from high school. In 1941 he was conscripted into the Slovak labor army and served in the 6th Battalion. Yirmi escaped from the army with the help of Egon Roth, from his hometown, and crossed the border into Hungary intending to continue traveling to Romania and from there to make aliya. During his stay in Hungary he took advantage of his knowledge of Hungarian and his Aryan appearance to take part in the underground activities. In the summer of 1944 he succeeded in crossing the border into Romania and reaching Bucharest. In the port of Constan†a he boarded the ship “Mafkora” that was sunk by an unidentified submarine and Yirmi drowned in the sea. His friend, Johanan Gárdos in Kibbutz Haogen, gave his eldest son the name of Yirmi in his memory.
