The Nyirbátor ken of “Hashomer Hatzair” was established in 1936. The movement operated under the auspices of the rabbi of the “Status Quo” community, who loved the Hebrew language and had Zionist feelings, on the premises of the synagogue under the name of “Hanoar Ha’ivri”.
In 1940 Yeshayahu moved to Budapest and worked as a watchmaker.
He stayed at the Zöldmáli hostel for apprentices and integrated the illegal activities of the movement. At the beginning of 1944 he was sent to Debrecen to operate the local ken and to organize self-defense. On the day the Germans invaded Hungary, on 19.3.1944, he was staying in Budapest. Following the instructions from the movement’s leadership, he obtained for himself authentic Christian documents from the Population Registry. Yeshayahu and his brother, Haim, wearing “Levente” uniforms, traveled in order to release their parents and two sisters from the Nyirbátor ghetto and bring them to Budapest. Their parents and sisters refused to go with them and were deported to Auschwitz.
Yeshayahu was meant to leave Hungary within the framework of the tiyul but in the end he left on the train of the Relief and Rescue Committee and on 7.12.1944 he arrived in Switzerland. In September 1945 he made aliya legally and joined Kibbutz Negba. Later he settled down in Holon.
