Following the Night of Broken Glass in November 1938, the family succeeded in organizing Meier Schwarz's emigration. He managed to flee in a Kindertransport to Jerusalem. He was one of the early pioneers of Kibbutz Hafetz Hayim and became an active member of the Jewish underground organization, the Haganah. At the age of 22 he was the commander of one of the three Exodus ships, the "Ocean Vigour."