Hannah Szenes (often

anglicized Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influenc ...

as Hannah Senesh or Chanah Senesh; he, חנה סנש; hu, Szenes Anna; 17 July 19217 November 1944) was a poet and a

Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its p ...

(SOE) member. She was one of 37 Jewish SOE recruits from Mandate Palestine parachuted by the British into

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

to assist anti-Nazi forces and ultimately in the rescue of

Hungarian Jews The history of the Jews in Hungary dates back to at least the Kingdom of Hungary, with some records even predating the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin in 895 CE by over 600 years. Written sources prove that Jewish communities lived ...

about to be deported to the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

death camp Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (german: Vernichtungslager), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocaust. The v ...

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed int ...

.Hecht, Ben. ''Perfidy'', first published by Julian Messner, 1961; this edition Milah Press, 1997, pp. 118-133. Hecht cites Bar Adon, Dorothy and Pessach. ''The Seven who Fell''. Sefer Press, 1947, and "The Return of Hanna Senesh" in ''Pioneer Woman'', XXV, No. 5, May 1950. Szenes was arrested at the Hungarian border by Hungarian gendarmes. She was imprisoned and tortured, but refused to reveal details of her mission. She was eventually tried and

executed by firing squad Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French ''fusil'', rifle), is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are us ...

. She is regarded as a national heroine in Israel but has largely been forgotten in her birthplace of Hungary according to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

''. In Israel her poetry is widely known and the

Yad Hana Yad Hana ( he, יַד חַנָּה, ''lit.'' Hannah's Memorial) is a Community settlement and former kibbutz in central Israel. Located in the Sharon plain near Highway 57 and north of the country's center, it falls under the jurisdiction of H ...

kibbutz, as well as several streets, are named after her.

Early life

PikiWiki Israel 7718 Hannah Senesh and her brother

Szenes was born on July 17, 1921, to an

assimilated Jewish Jewish assimilation ( he, התבוללות, ''hitbolelut'') refers either to the gradual cultural assimilation and social integration of Jews in their surrounding culture or to an ideological program in the age of emancipation promoting confor ...

family in Hungary. Her father, Béla, a journalist and playwright, died when she was six years old. She continued to live with her mother, Kathrine, and her brother, György. She enrolled in a

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

private school for girls that also accepted

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and Jewish pupils; however those of the Catholic and Jewish faiths had to pay double and three times the amount Protestants paid. After her mother thought it was too expensive, Szenes was declared a "gifted student" and allowed to only pay double the usual amount. This, along with the realization that the situation of the

Jews in Hungary The history of the Jews in Hungary dates back to at least the Kingdom of Hungary, with some records even predating the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin in 895 CE by over 600 years. Written sources prove that Jewish communities lived i ...

was becoming precarious, prompted Szenes to embrace

Zionism Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after '' Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...

, and she joined ''Maccabea'', a Hungarian Zionist students organization.

Immigration to Nahalal

Szenes graduated in 1939 and decided to emigrate to what was then the

British Mandate of Palestine British Mandate of Palestine or Palestine Mandate most often refers to: * Mandate for Palestine: a League of Nations mandate under which the British controlled an area which included Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan. * Mandatory P ...

in order to study in the Girls' Agricultural School at

Nahalal Nahalal ( he, נַהֲלָל) is a moshav in northern Israel. Covering 8.5 square kilometers, it falls under the jurisdiction of the Jezreel Valley Regional Council. In it had a population of . Nahalal is best known for its general layout, as ...

. In 1941, she joined

Kibbutz A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming h ...

Sdot Yam Sdot Yam ( he, שְׂדוֹת יָם, ''lit.'' Sea Fields) is a kibbutz in the Haifa District of Israel. Located on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof HaCarmel Regional Council. In it had a population of ...

and then joined the

Haganah Haganah ( he, הַהֲגָנָה, lit. ''The Defence'') was the main Zionist paramilitary organization of the Jewish population ("Yishuv") in Mandatory Palestine between 1920 and its disestablishment in 1948, when it became the core of the I ...

, the paramilitary group that laid the foundation of the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

. The scholar of

Jewish Mysticism Academic study of Jewish mysticism, especially since Gershom Scholem's ''Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism'' (1941), distinguishes between different forms of mysticism across different eras of Jewish history. Of these, Kabbalah, which emerged in ...

Joseph G. Weiss was in love with her and parts of their correspondence were published after his death. In 1943, she enlisted in the British

Women's Auxiliary Air Force The Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), whose members were referred to as WAAFs (), was the female auxiliary of the Royal Air Force during World War II. Established in 1939, WAAF numbers exceeded 180,000 at its peak strength in 1943, with over 2 ...

as an Aircraftwoman 2nd Class. Later the same year, she was recruited into the

(SOE) and was sent to

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

for parachute training.

The parachutists’ mission

Between 1943 and 1944, the Jewish community in Palestine (

Yishuv Yishuv ( he, ישוב, literally "settlement"), Ha-Yishuv ( he, הישוב, ''the Yishuv''), or Ha-Yishuv Ha-Ivri ( he, הישוב העברי, ''the Hebrew Yishuv''), is the body of Jewish residents in the Land of Israel (corresponding to the ...

) decided to send Jewish parachutists behind enemy lines to assist both

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

forces and the Jews in occupied Europe. The mission was a cooperation between the Yishuv and British forces to create a Jewish commando unit within the British army. Szenes volunteered and was selected along with 32 others, out of 250 candidates, to be sent on active missions.

Arrest and torture

On March 14, 1944, she and two colleagues were parachuted into

and joined a partisan group. After landing, they learned the Germans had already occupied Hungary, so the men decided to call off the mission as too dangerous. Szenes continued on and headed for the Hungarian border. At the border, she and her companions were arrested by Hungarian

gendarmes Wrong info! --> A gendarmerie () is a military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to "men-at-arms" (literally, " ...

, who found her British military transmitter, used to communicate with the SOE and other partisans. She was taken to a prison, stripped, tied to a chair, then whipped and clubbed for three days. She lost several teeth as a result of the beatings. The guards wanted to know the code for her transmitter so they could find out who the parachutists were and trap others. Transferred to a Budapest prison, Szenes was repeatedly interrogated and tortured, but only revealed her name and refused to provide the transmitter code, even when her mother was also arrested. They threatened to kill her mother if she did not cooperate, but she refused.

Trial and execution

She was tried for

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

in Hungary on 28 October 1944 by a court appointed by the fascist

Arrow Cross A cross whose arms end in arrowheads is called a "cross barby" or "cross barbée" in the traditional terminology of heraldry. In Christian use, the ends of this cross resemble the barbs of fish hooks, or fish spears. This alludes to the Icht ...

regime. There was an eight-day postponement to give the judges more time to find a verdict, followed by another postponement, this one because of the appointment of a new Judge Advocate. She was executed by a

firing squad Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French ''fusil'', rifle), is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are ...

on November 7, 1944. She kept diary entries until her last day. One of them read: "In the month of July, I shall be twenty-three/I played a number in a game/The dice have rolled. I have lost," and another: "I loved the warm sunlight." Her diary was published in Hebrew in 1946. Her remains were brought to Israel in 1950 and buried in the cemetery on

Mount Herzl Mount Herzl ( he, הַר הֶרְצְל ''Har Hertsl''), also ''Har ha-Zikaron'' ( lit. "Mount of Remembrance"), is the site of Israel's national cemetery and other memorial and educational facilities, found on the west side of Jerusalem beside ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

. Her tombstone was brought to Israel in November 2007 and placed in

. During the trial of Rudolf Kastner, who was a controversial figure involved in negotiating with the Nazis to save a number of Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust, Szenes's mother testified that during the time her daughter was imprisoned, Kastner's people had advised her not to obtain a lawyer for her daughter. Further, she recalled a conversation with Kastner after the war, telling him, "I don't say that you could have saved my daughter Hannah, but that you didn't try – it makes it harder for me that nothing was done."Hecht, Ben. ''Perfidy''. 1961, p. 132 After the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

, a Hungarian military court officially exonerated her. Her kin in Israel were informed on November 5, 1993.

Poetry, songs and plays

Szenes was a

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or w ...

and playwright, writing both in Hungarian and Hebrew. The following are four of her better known poems. The best known of these is " A Walk to Caesarea", commonly known as ''Eli, Eli'' ("My God, My God"). The well-known melody was composed by David Zahavi. Many singers have sung it, including Ofra Haza,

Regina Spektor Regina Ilyinichna Spektor (russian: Регинa Ильинична Спектор, ; born February 18, 1980) is a Russian–born American singer, songwriter, and pianist. After self-releasing her first three records and gaining popularity in ...

, and

Sophie Milman Sophie Milman (born 1983) is a Russian-born Canadian jazz vocalist. After emigrating from Russia in the early 1990s, Milman, who is Jewish, spent most of her childhood years in Israel where she listened extensively to jazz. Her family later emigr ...

. It was used to close some versions of the film ''

Schindler's List ''Schindler's List'' is a 1993 American epic historical drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg and written by Steven Zaillian. It is based on the 1982 novel ''Schindler's Ark'' by Australian novelist Thomas Keneally. The film f ...

''.

Hannah Szenes memorial Budapest07 Park Szenes Hanna

Images

File:PikiWiki Israel 7708 Hannah Senesh.jpg, Szenes in Budapest, c. 1937 File:Hannah Szenes.jpg, Szenes with members of Kibbutz Sdot Yam. (4th from left) File:HannahSzenes1.jpg, Szenes in a Hungarian army uniform as a

Purim Purim (; , ; see Name below) is a Jewish holiday which commemorates the saving of the Jewish people from Haman, an official of the Achaemenid Empire who was planning to have all of Persia's Jewish subjects killed, as recounted in the Book ...

costume File:חנה סנש - אחת מצנחני לוחמי הישוב ושליחי הפדות לנדחי המלחמה-JNF035634.jpeg, Szenes in 1940 File:Chana Senesh grave.JPG, Szenes's gravestone on

In popular culture

PikiWiki Israel 9039 A poster in memory of Hannah Szenes

* ''The Legend of Hannah Senesh'', a play about Szenes written by

Aharon Megged Aharon Megged () (10 August 1920 – 23 March 2016) ( Hebrew year 5680) was an Israeli author and playwright. In 2003, he was awarded the Israel Prize for literature. Biography Aharon Greenberg (later Megged) was born in Włocławek, Poland. I ...

, was produced and directed by Laurence Merrick at the Princess Theatre in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

in 1964. Szenes was played by Joan Huntington. * ''

Hanna's War ''Hanna's War'' is a 1988 film co-written and directed by Menahem Golan. The film is based on ''The Diaries of Hanna Senesh'' and the biographical novel ''A Great Wind Cometh'' by Yoel Palgi. It is a biopic detailing the true story of Hannah Sz ...

'', a film about Szenes's life directed by

Menahem Golan Menahem Golan ( he, מנחם גולן; May 31, 1929 – August 8, 2014, originally Menachem Globus) was an Israeli film producer, screenwriter, and director. He was best known for co-owning The Cannon Group with his cousin Yoram Globus. Cannon ...

, was released in 1988. Szenes was portrayed by Maruschka Detmers. * ''Blessed is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh'', directed by Roberta Grossman, is a

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

that recounts the events of Szenes's life. It was released in 2008. * ''Darkness (one two three)'', a musical pilot project of the Association of Global Art, led by the musician and singer , in which Szenes's last poem was composed and sung (English and Hebrew, 2019).

References

Bibliography

* ''חנה סנש: חייה, שליחותה ומותה'', in Hebrew. 1952. * ''Diario, cartas, iniciación literaria, misión y muerte, memorias de la madre'', 1966. in Spanish. 396 pages. * ''Hannah Senesh, Her Life & Diary'', Schocken Books, 1972. * Masters, Anthony. ''The Summer That Bled; The Biography of Hannah Senesh''. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1972. * Goldenberg, Linda. ''In Kindling Flame: The Story of Hannah Senesh, 1921-1944''. New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books, 1985. * Hay, Peter. ''Ordinary Heroes: Chana Szenes and the Dream of Zion''. G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1986. * Whitman, Ruth. ''The Testing of Hannah Senesh'' Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1986. * Maxine Rose Schur, ''Hannah Szenes: A Song of Light'', Philadelphia, 1986. * Betzer, Oded. ''The Paratrooper Who Didn't Return''. World Zionist Organization, 1989. * Ransom, Candice F. ''So Young to Die: the Story of Hannah Senesh''. Scholastic, 1993. * Senesh, Hannah, and Marge Piercy (foreword). ''Hannah Senesh: Her Life and Diary''. Jewish Lights Publishing, 2004. * Gozlan, Martine, ''Hannah Szenes, l'étoile foudroyée''. Paris: Ed. de l'Archipel, 2014. In French. * Shalom, Avner, Hannah Senesh, ''Poems within the Depth, שירים מן המעמקים, The Association of Global Art Publishing House, Budapest and Caesarea 2018 in English and Hebrew, appendix A and B in Spanish and Lithuanian * * *

Websites

External links

Video Lecture by Dr. Henry Abramson on Hannah Szenes

Teacher's Study Guide

Hannah Senesh Legacy foundation

Jewish Community Day School
Brooklyn, New York

a

about Hannah
Blessed Is The Match
at

Women Make Movies Women Make Movies is a non-profit feminist media arts organization based in New York City. Founded by Ariel Dougherty and Sheila Paige with Dolores Bargowski, WMM was first a feminist production collective that emerged from city-wide Women's Li ...

Hannah Szenes Biography
a
J-Grit: The Internet Index of Tough Jews

Hannah Szenes: Poet, Hero, Martyr
Video lecture on Hannah Szenesh by Dr. Henry Abramson
Hannah Szenes on Jewish.hu's list of famous Hungarian Jews

Chana Szenes – The Match That Burns Forever

Sophie Milman Version of Eli, Eli
{{DEFAULTSORT:Szenes, Hannah Hungarian people of World War II Hungarian Jews Female resistance members of World War II Jewish parachutists of Mandate Palestine Women in World War II Jewish poets Women diarists Kibbutzniks Executed spies Military personnel who died in the Holocaust Jewish resistance members during the Holocaust 1921 births 1944 deaths Burials at Mount Herzl Torture victims Spies who died in the Holocaust Executed military personnel 20th-century women writers 20th-century poets 20th-century executions for treason People executed by Hungary by firing squad People executed for treason against Hungary Overturned convictions Women's Auxiliary Air Force airwomen British Special Operations Executive personnel Jewish women writers Royal Air Force personnel killed in World War II 20th-century diarists Hungarian emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Special Operations Executive personnel killed in World War II