“Mimish” (Yitzchak Herbst) was known as Mr. Underground. He was courageous and nimble, and very resourceful. He also knew how to disguise himself and blend in among the non-Jews, and undertook many operations to rescue Jews in Hungary. At a certain stage he decided to try making Aliyah to Eretz Israel, with his wife Juca. In June 1944, the couple and a friend boarded the train from Budapest to Szeged near the Romanian border, and from there planned to cross the border, with the help of a smuggler.
One stop before the train reached the Szeged station, armed men boarded the train and began examining all the passengers’ documents. The Herbsts’ forged documents, and those of their friend, were checked and returned to them, and the three were able to breathe easily again. The train reached its destination that evening, and the three Jews alighted and began walking along the street, as if they were not together. Suddenly a group of soldiers appeared. “Stop,” one of them ordered. Mimish began to run, but Juca and Hans froze on the spot. A shot rang out and Mimish stopped. “There was nothing we could do,” he said later, in his testimony. “We were detained and I was beaten with their rifle butts for my attempt to flee. We were handed over to the Hungarian counter-espionage unit, where we were interrogated and asked who we were, what we were, who helped us and what we wanted. They used the carrot-and-stick method, beating us and giving us promises.”
After two days, the three were transferred to the Gestapo. A few days later, they were marched through the streets of Szeged, with other prisoners. “I was certain we were being led to the bank of the Tisza River,” recalled Mimish. “to the execution site. Hans, Juca and I marched together. Because of our poor physical condition, there was apparently no fear of our trying to escape. On one of the bends in the river, we slipped out of the line…We ran and suddenly we saw a group of Jews, a forced labor unit, digging a ditch…They wore yellow armbands. I approached them and asked for help. They collected some money for us and we walked toward the train station. I went up to a fruit seller to buy a few apples…we were starving. Out of the corner of my eye I saw people stopping Hans and my Juca. For some reason, they did not notice me…I felt like such a lout.” Mimish lowered his gaze in shame after he finished telling this story to Rafi Friedl (Benshalom), upon returning to Budapest alone.
Juca and Hans were handed back to the Gestapo. They were beaten for days, to force them to reveal where Mimish was hiding, because they already knew that Juca was his wife. She was tortured in unspeakable ways. Her entire body was battered and bruised, and her face became a swollen pulp of blood, flesh and hair. She was forced, again and again, to wipe the rough concrete floor of the detention cell with her naked body, while her interrogators doused her with buckets of cold water. She did not reveal a thing.
The underground Zionist Youth Resistance Movement (ZYRM) leadership in Budapest searched for a way to rescue her. Mimish was beside himself and was gripped with terror. On the one hand he did not want any of the ZYRM operatives to endanger themselves, and on the other hand every fiber of his being trembled at the thought of his wife being tortured and languishing in prison.
Then a man appeared. “I am looking for Mr. Szabó,” said the stranger.
“You too?” asked the guard at the Glass House, where the ZYRM had its headquarters, and sent the man to see Moshe Alpan (Pil), who at the time identified himself by that name, and was sitting with the other members of the leadership in an office on the third floor of the building.
“My name is Milan,” said the man, introducing himself. “I am a Serbian from Topola, and belong to [Josip Broz] Tito’s partisans. I just came from Szeged and I want to offer you a deal for the release of your jailed friend. I work for the Gestapo, in order to gain their trust.”
“How can we trust you?” asked Rafi.
“You have to trust me. That’s your only chance for freeing her. She is in bad shape, and every day could be fateful. You have to hurry.”
“How much money do you need?” asked Mimish.
“I need money and a girl who will join me, whom I will introduce as my sister-in-law who is looking for a housemaid.”
Rafi, Mimish and Pil arranged a meeting with the man in a coffee shop on Kiraly Street. “Tzipi is the best one for this,” said Rafi. “She is daring, knows German and is very pretty, and I have no doubt that she will agree to go.” Efra Agmon paled. Tzipi was his dearest friend and later his wife. Now it was Efra’s turn to worry. This after Tamar, Rafi’s girlfriend – who became his wife – had just returned from a “tiyul” to Oradea a few days before. (Tiyul was the term used to refer to trips to smuggle Jews across the Romanian border).
“What do you think?” Pil asked Mimish.
“I don’t know if we should risk sending Tzipi.”
“And what about Milan’s credibility?” continued Pil.
“My impression is that he is telling the truth,” said Efra.
“I will talk to Tzipi,” said Rafi,… whose girlfriend did not hesitate to say yes to the mission.
Milan and Tzipi arrived together at the prison in Szeged. As “Milan’s sister-in-law,” she explained to the Gestapo officer that she really needed a housemaid. “The Jewish pig who wants to be a housemaid should stand up!” The Hungarian prison guard shouted. Ten women lay on the floor, all beaten beyond recognition. Tzipi looked toward them and suddenly her gaze landed on a woman crumpled in a corner. “Judith” – Juca’s full name – escaped Tzipi’s lips. Milan squeezed her arm tightly.
“Bita (Excuse me)?” the German turned to her, with a raised eyebrow.
“I am trying to figure out which one to choose, but I think I have found a suitable woman,” she explained to the German, who clicked the heels of his boots together. “That one,” said Tzipi, pointing to Juca. Tzipi walked toward her and stopped in front of her. Juca recognized her.
“There are stronger ones than her,” said the prison guard.
Juca stood up, and her tall stature proved her strength. “She’ll do,” said Tzipi.
“Out you go, Jewish pig,” shouted the jailer, and Milan swiftly kicked her behind. “Move!”
When they reached Milan’s apartment the two women embraced one another and cried tears of pain and joy.
“Forgive me for kicking you,” said Milan. “Thanks,” replied Juca.
Mimish and Juca had escaped the Gestapo’s dungeon of death, and Mimish waited worriedly for Juca to recover from the brutal beating she had suffered.
“Not long after,” Rafi later related, “we were happy to hear that a little Mimish had been created, and was shamelessly kicking Juca – this time from the inside.”
