Hannah Szenes

Template:Short description Template:Use Oxford spelling Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox person Hannah Szenes (often anglicized as Hannah Senesh or Chanah Senesh; Template:Langx; Template:Langx; 17 July 1921 – 7 November 1944) was a Hungarian-born poet, playwright, and resistance operative trained by the British Special Operations Executive (SOE). In 1944, she was one of 37 Jewish volunteers from Mandatory Palestine parachuted into occupied Europe to support Allied efforts and help rescue Jews facing deportation.

After crossing into Hungary from Yugoslavia, she was captured by Hungarian gendarmes, imprisoned, and tortured but refused to reveal mission details. She was later tried for treason by a court under the fascist Arrow Cross regime and executed in Budapest.

Szenes is remembered in Israel as a national heroine, known for her poetry and for her actions during the Holocaust. Her most famous poem, A Walk to Caesarea ("Eli, Eli"), is frequently recited in commemorations. In Hungary, her legacy has been slower to gain recognition, though she was officially exonerated in 1993.

Early life

Szenes and her brother in Budapest Template:Circa

Hannah Szenes was born in Budapest on 17 July 1921 to an assimilated Jewish family. Her father, Béla Szenes, a well-known journalist and playwright, died when she was young. She was raised by her mother, Katherine, alongside her brother György.<ref name="Senesh Piercy Senesh Grossman 2007 p. 317">Template:Cite book</ref>

She attended a Protestant private school for girls that also admitted Catholic and Jewish students, but where non-Protestant pupils were required to pay higher fees. After being identified as a gifted student, Szenes was permitted to pay the reduced Catholic rate. Amid growing antisemitism in Hungary, Szenes became increasingly aware of the precarious status of Jews in society. She joined the Zionist youth movement Maccabea and began learning Hebrew.<ref name="Senesh Piercy Senesh Grossman 2007 p. 317"/>

Immigration to Nahalal

Szenes graduated in 1939 and decided to emigrate to Mandatory Palestine in order to study in the Girls' Agricultural School at Nahalal. In 1941, she joined Kibbutz Sdot Yam<ref name="Senesh Piercy Senesh Grossman 2007 p. 317" /> and then joined the Haganah, the paramilitary group that laid the foundation of the Israel Defense Forces.<ref name="Scharfstein 1994 p. 103">Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1943, she enlisted in the British Women's Auxiliary Air Force as an Aircraftwoman 2nd Class. Later the same year, she was recruited into the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and was sent to Egypt for parachute training.<ref name="Schweber Findling 2007 p. 198">Template:Cite book</ref>

The parachutists’ mission

Between 1943 and 1944, the Jewish community in Palestine (Yishuv) decided to send Jewish parachutists behind enemy lines to assist both Allied 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. The mission was supervised by SOE’s Middle East Headquarters in Cairo and coordinated with the British army and Haganah leaders in Palestine. The Jewish volunteers were trained in parachuting, sabotage, radio transmission, and survival in enemy territory.Template:Sfn Szenes volunteered and was selected along with 32 others, out of 250 candidates, to be sent on active missions.Template:Sfn

Arrest and torture

On March 14, 1944, she and two colleagues were parachuted into Yugoslavia and joined a partisan group. After landing, they learned the Germans had already occupied Hungary, so the mission was called off as too dangerous.Template:Citation needed

Szenes continued on and headed for the Hungarian border. At the border, she and her two colleagues, Yoel Palgi and Peretz Goldstein were arrested by Hungarian gendarmes, 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.<ref>Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh (2008 film)</ref>

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.Template:Citation needed

Trial and execution

Template:Multiple image She was tried for treason in Hungary on 28 October 1944 by a court appointed by the fascist Arrow Cross regime.Template:Sfn 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 on November 7, 1944.Template:Sfn 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."Template:Citation needed

Her diary was published in Hebrew in 1946. Her remains were brought to Israel in 1950 and buried in the cemetery on Mount Herzl, Jerusalem.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Photo and Timeline of Szene's Life, Reinterment at Mount Herzl, Hannah Sennesh House Website.</ref> Her tombstone was brought to Israel in November 2007 and placed in Sdot Yam.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

During the trial of Rudolf Kastner, who was a controversial figure<ref>Vrba, Rudolf (2020) I Escaped from Auschwitz Skyhorse Publishing, New York</ref> 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."Template:Citation needed

After the Cold War, 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 and playwright, writing both in Hungarian and Hebrew. 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, and Sophie Milman. It was used to close some versions of the film Schindler's List.

Images

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Szenes in Budapest, c. 1937

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  Szenes with members of Kibbutz Sdot Yam. (4th from left)
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  Szenes in a Hungarian army uniform as a Purim costume
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  Szenes in 1940
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  Szenes's gravestone on Mount Herzl

In popular culture

A poster in memory of Szenes

• The Legend of Hannah Senesh, a play about Szenes written by Aharon Megged, was produced and directed by Laurence Merrick at the Princess Theatre in Los Angeles in 1964. Szenes was played by Joan Huntington.
• Hanna's War, a film about Szenes's life directed by Menahem Golan, 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 that recounts the events of Szenes's life. It was released in 2008.<ref name="match">Template:Cite web</ref>
• Darkness (one two three), a musical pilot project of the Association of Global Art, led by the musician and singer Template:Ill, in which Szenes's last poem was composed and sung (English and Hebrew, 2019).
• Romanian composer Serban Nichifor released the song cycle "Four Poems by Hannah Szenes" for soprano and piano (2023).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

• Jewish Parachutists of Mandate Palestine

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. Template:OCLC
• Goldenberg, Linda. In Kindling Flame: The Story of Hannah Senesh, 1921–1944. New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books, 1985. Template:ISBN Template:OCLC
• Hay, Peter. Ordinary Heroes: Chana Szenes and the Dream of Zion. G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1986. Template:ISBN Template:OCLC
• Whitman, Ruth. The Testing of Hannah Senesh Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1986. Template:ISBN
• Maxine Rose Schur, Hannah Szenes: A Song of Light, Philadelphia, 1986. Template:ISBN
• 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. Template:ISBN Template:OCLC
• Senesh, Hannah, and Marge Piercy (foreword). Hannah Senesh: Her Life and Diary. Jewish Lights Publishing, 2004. Template:ISBN Template:OCLC
• Gozlan, Martine, Hannah Szenes, l'étoile foudroyée. Paris: Ed. de l'Archipel, 2014. Template:ISBN Template:OCLC In French.
• Shalom, Avner, Hannah Senesh, Poems within the Depth, שירים מן המעמקים, The Association of Global Art Publishing House, Budapest and Caesarea 2018 Template:ISBN in English and Hebrew, appendix A and B in Spanish and Lithuanian
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Web sources

• Template:Cite web

External links

• Video Lecture by Dr. Henry Abramson on Hannah Szenes
• Teacher's Study Guide Template:Webarchive
• Hannah Senesh Legacy foundation
• Jewish Community Day School, Brooklyn, New York
• Blessed Is The Match, a documentary film about Hannah
• Blessed Is The Match at Women Make Movies
• Hannah Szenes Biography at 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
• The Heroism of Hannah Senesh - Eli, Eli by Sophie Milman