Brothers for Resistance and Rescue 1 - CENDO

any secrets of the underground. The torture left her with scars and
irreversible damage to her health which she lived with until her last day.
In 1944 she married “Mimish”, Yitzhak Herbst.
Judith made aliya in 1948 and joined Kibbutz Ha’ogen. Later she left the
kibbutz and moved to Tel-Aviv. She was an art teacher, an artist and
displayed her creative work in various exhibitions.
Herbst Yitzhak 'Mimish'
Herbst Imre
Born in Eperjes (Prešov) in 1916
Died on 8.2.1978 in Israel
Member of “Hashomer Hatzair”
Yitzhak joined the movement at an early age. In 1935 he started to study
medicine in Prague but in 1938 he had to discontinue his studies due to
the worsening of the conditions for the Jews.
Yitzhak’s older brother, Jenø, who was a communist activist, was
arrested and deported in 1942. Yitzhak was also in danger and had to
escape to Hungary. When he arrived in Budapest, Mimish joined the aid
and rescue operations for the refugees from Slovakia and Poland. In
1943 Mimish was caught, arrested and brutally tortured. His health was
damaged by the torture. He was released and resumed his rescue
operations.
After the German invasion of Hungary on 19.3.1944, he was one of the
main activists of the Zionist youth movements underground. In June
1944, together with his wife Judith, he was supposed to cross the border
into Romania within the framework of the tiyul in order to make aliya.
They were both caught by the Hungarian gendarmerie and were detained
in the Szeged prison. Mimish managed to escape but Judith remained in
the custody of the Gestapo and was cruelly tortured. Mimish succeeded
in liberating her in a daring operation with the help of Tzipi Schechter
(Agmon) and Milan, a Serbian.
Mimish continued his underground activities until the end of the war.
According to his friends he got the nickname of “Mr. Underground”. After
the liberation Mimish was active in the Aliya Bet.
He made aliya in 1948 and joined Kibbutz Ha’ogen.
In 1950 he moved to Tel-Aviv with his family. He worked as a
photographer. Of the many films he made, one of the first Israeli films,
“Burning Sands”, is famous.
For many years Mimish suffered from the physical damage caused by his
arrest in 1943.
Brothers for Resistance and Rescue 132