Enzo Sereni
{{Short description|Italian-Jewish Zionist and SOE agent (1905–1944)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{infobox person
| name = Enzo Sereni
| image = ENZO SIRENI PHOTOGRAPHED IN POTSDAM, GERMANY. אנצו סירני . צולם בפוטסדם בגרמניה .D2-009.jpg
| caption = Sereni in Potsdam, Germany in 1934
| birth_name = Enzo Sereni
| birth_date = 17 April 1905
| death_date = {{death-date and age|18 November 1944|17 April 1905}}
| death_place = Dachau concentration camp, Nazi Germany
| nationality = Italian
| occupation = Co-founder of Givat Brenner, Jewish Brigade Officer
| known_for = Captured parachuting behind enemy lines into Nazi-occupied Italy
}}
File:1944- סרני מצטלם לפני יציאתו לשליחות באירופה- מימין לשמאל- דניאל עדה ה btm4779.jpeg
Enzo Sereni ({{Langx|he|אֶנְצוֹ חַיִּים סֶרֶנִי}}, 17 April 1905{{spaced ndash}}18 November 1944) was an Italian Labor Zionist and one of the co-founders of kibbutz Givat Brenner. He was involved in promoting Jewish-Arab co-existence in Mandatory Palestine and served as an officer in the Jewish Brigade during World War II. In 1944, he was parachuted into Nazi-occupied Italy, where he was captured by German forces and later executed at the Dachau concentration camp.
Early life
Sereni was born in Rome to an assimilated Italian Jewish family."[https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/enzo-sereni Enzo Sereni (1905–1944)]". Jewish Virtual Library. jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 19 August 2023. His father was physician to the King of Italy. At the age of eighteen he attended the 13th Zionist Congress in Carlsbad (Karlovy Vary), and subsequently became a Zionist; he was one of the first Italian Zionists.Castel, Calev (2007). "[https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/sereni-enzo-hayyim Sereni, Enzo Hayyim]". Encyclopaedia Judaica. 2nd ed. Retrieved via Encyclopedia.com 19 August 2023. He married his high school sweetheart Ada Sereni in 1926, who would continue his work after his passing.{{Cite web |title=enciclopedia delle donne: Ascarelli Sereni Ada |url=https://www.enciclopediadelledonne.it/edd.nsf/biografie/ada-ascarelli-sereni |access-date=2024-03-29 |website=enciclopediadelledonne.it |language=it}} {{Cite web |title=La Scuola per i 150 anni dell'Unità d'Italia – Dalla prima guerra mondiale al secondo dopoguerra (1915–1950) – Sereni Ada |url=https://www.150anni.it/webi/index.php?s=59&wid=2090 |access-date=2024-03-29 |website=www.150anni.it}}
Zionist activity
After obtaining his PhD in philosophy from the University of Rome, he along with his wife and infant daughter, emigrated to Mandate Palestine in 1927. He worked in orange groves in Rehovot and soon helped found kibbutz Givat Brenner. As an enthusiastic Labor Zionist, Sereni was also active in the Histadrut trade union. He was a pacifist, who advocated Jewish co-existence with the Arabs,Cashman, Greer Fay (16 April 2015). "[https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/grapevine-remembering-enzo-sereni-398356 Grapevine: Remembering Enzo Sereni]". The Jerusalem Post. jpost.com. Retrieved 19 August 2023. and integration of Jewish and Arab society.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}
Sereni was sent to Europe in 1931–1934 to help bring people to Palestine through the Youth Aliyah, and was briefly detained by the Gestapo. He helped to organize the Hechalutz movement in Nazi Germany and was also involved in helping to smuggle money and people out of Germany. Sereni was also sent to the United States to help organize the Zionist movement there.
During World War II, he joined the British Army, and was involved in disseminating anti-fascist propaganda in Egypt. The British sent him to Iraq, and Sereni spent part of his time organizing clandestine Jewish immigration to Palestine. In 1942, Sereni became one of the first Jewish emissaries from Palestine to Iraq and visited Sandur, a Jewish village in northern Iraq and described it in detail. The village was located an hour and a half's drive from Mosul, in a valley between two walls of rock. It was completely green and "full of gardens of fruit, pears, grapes, plums, pomegranates, apples". Sereni got in trouble with his British superior officers for his Zionist views and was imprisoned briefly for forging passports.
Sereni then helped organize the Jewish parachute unit of the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) that sent agents into occupied Europe. Of about 250 volunteer trainees, about 110 were selected for training, and 33 were actually parachuted into Europe, including Sereni, despite his relatively advanced age. On 15 May 1944, he was parachuted into Northern Italy but was captured immediately. According to records, he was shot in Dachau concentration camp on 18 November 1944.[https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/75199747/serini,-enzo/ Enzo Serini Cenotaph CWGC memorial] Other famous martyrs who parachuted into Europe with this unit include Hannah Szenes and Haviva Reik. Kibbutz Netzer Sereni is named after him, as are many streets throughout Israel.Hareuveni, Imanuel (2010). [https://kotar.cet.ac.il/KotarApp/Viewer.aspx?nBookID=93576566#701.8960.6.default Eretz Israel Lexicon] (in Hebrew). Matach. p. 701.
Sereni wrote several books and numerous articles.
References
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External links
- [http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/sereni.html Biography of Enzo Sereni]; at JewishVirtualLibrary.org
- [http://www.zionism-israel.com/dic/Parachutists.htm Zionist Parachutists] (in World War II); at zionism-israel.com
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Category:Special Operations Executive personnel killed in World War II
Category:Spies who died in Nazi concentration camps
Category:Italian Jews who died in the Holocaust
Category:Italian emigrants to Mandatory Palestine
Category:People from Givat Brenner
Category:Italian people who died in Dachau concentration camp
Category:Mandatory Palestine military personnel killed in World War II