Only two years after Reb Avrohom Yehoshua became Rebbe, Yiddishe life was shattered by the German occupation of Vienna. The Rebbe was seized and forced to clean the streets to the amusement of the jeering Germans. The Yidden tried desperately to free their beloved Rebbe from his humiliating job, but to no avail. Finally, the Nazis agreed to allow one of the Rebbe's chassidim to take his place in exchange for a large bribe. The Rebbe, however, refused to leave his post. He told his family, "What do you think? Should I stop at another Yid's expense? Chas vesholom!" (G-d forbid!)
After a time the Nazis let the Rebbe free, realizing that their plan to degrade and humiliate him had backfired. The Rebbe hadn't felt degraded in the slightest - in his humility he hadn't felt it below his dignity to scrub the city streets.
On another occasion in an attempt to humiliate the Rebbe, the Germans sent one of their officers to cut off his beard. The Rebbe promptly stuck out two fingers and told the officer, "Rather cut off my fingers, but don't touch my beard." The German, startled by the Rebbe's courage, left without carrying out his evil orders.
In a drosho (speech) given many years later in America about Akeidas Yitzchok (the Binding of Isaac), the Rebbe said, "The test of the Akeidah wasn't just to see if Avrohom Ovinu would listen to Hashem, for who wouldn't do so after Hashem had explicitly asked him? Indeed, if Hashem would have asked Avrohom to give away his own life it would not have been a chiddush. Here, however, Avrohom was commanded to offer up someone else. To have to watch how the second person is suffering, that takes true mesirus nefesh (self- sacrifice)." The Rebbe ended his words, adding, "When I was in Vienna under German control, I accepted all my suffering with love, but when I heard about the suffering of others, it was just too much for me to bear."
Despite the pleas of his chassidim that he flee Vienna, the Rebbe stayed put, refusing to leave his followers behind. Tortures and threats did not bother him. Only when it became increasingly difficult to keep the Torah and mitzvos did he finally give in and reluctantly agree to leave Vienna. After intense efforts, a visa was secured for him and his family, but surprisingly, the Rebbe did not leave Austria. The fact was that he simply didn't have the money to pay for the trip. Hearing of his plight, one of the Rebbe's wealthy chassidim gave him money for the journey to America.
The Rebbe later confessed that this money proved to be a test for him. At first he decided to keep the money for himself, to pay for the tickets, but on second thoughts he decided not to change from his usual practice of not keeping money in his possession and he distributed it all to tzedoko. The Rebbe's family was shocked when they found out that he had given all the money away, but the Rebbe remained unperturbed and consoled them, telling them to put their trust in Hashem. They didn't need the money for another few days, until the planned date of their departure, and he was confident that Hashem would help them.
The days passed and nothing happened, but still the Rebbe didn't lose his bitachon (faith, trust). Finally, on the morning of their planned journey, a couple came to bid farewell to the Rebbe. When they heard that he didn't yet have the money to pay for the tickets, the woman took off her jewelry and sold it to raise the money for the trip. (After the war's end, the couple arrived in America and the Rebbe returned to them the exact amount that they had given him.)
