Hannah Szenes

{{Short description|Jewish poet and anti-Nazi fighter in World War II}}

{{Infobox military person

| name = Hannah Szenes

| native_name =

| native_name_lang = he

| image = PikiWiki Israel 7706 Hannah Senesh.jpg

| caption = Szenes in 1939{{cite web|url=http://palmach.org.il/?levelId=38530&itemId=6347&itemType=0&obj=154217&picI=1|title=דף הבית|website=palmach.org.il}}

| birth_date = {{birth-date|17 July 1921}}

| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1944|11|7|1921|7|17}}

| birth_place = Budapest, Hungary

| death_place = Budapest, Hungary

| death_cause = Execution by firing squad

| placeofburial = Mount Herzl Military Cemetery, Israel

| allegiance = {{flagcountry|Britain}}

| branch = {{army|Britain}}

| serviceyears = 1943–1944

| rank =

| unit = Special Operations Executive (SOE)

| commands =

| battles = Second World War{{Executed}}

| awards =

| relations =

| laterwork =

| module = {{Infobox writer

| embed = yes

| genre = Lyric poetry

| subject =

| movement =

| notable_works =

Blessed is the Match
Halikha LeKesariya
(A Walk to Caesarea)
(Eli, Eli)

| years_active =

| website = {{url|www.hannahsenesh.org.il}}

}}

Hannah Szenes (often anglicized as Hannah Senesh or Chanah Senesh; {{langx|he|חנה סנש}}; {{langx|hu|Szenes Anna}}; 17 July 1921 – 7 November 1944) was a Hungarian Jewish poet and a Special Operations Executive (SOE) member. She was one of 37 Jewish SOE recruits from Mandate Palestine parachuted by the British into Yugoslavia during the Second World War to assist anti-Nazi forces and ultimately in the rescue of Hungarian Jews about to be deported to the German death camp at Auschwitz.

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.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}} She is regarded as a national hero in Israel but has largely been forgotten in her birthplace of Hungary according to The Guardian.{{sfn | Walker | 2021}} In Israel her poetry is widely known and the Yad Hana kibbutz, as well as several streets, are named after her.

Early life

File:PikiWiki Israel 7718 Hannah Senesh and her brother.JPG

Szenes was born in Budapest on 17 July, 1921, to an assimilated Jewish family in Hungary. Her father, Béla, a well known journalist and playwright, died when she was a child. She continued to live with her mother, Katherine, and her brother, György.{{cite book | last1=Senesh | first1=H. | last2=Piercy | first2=M. | last3=Senesh | first3=E. | last4=Grossman | first4=R. | title=Hannah Senesh: Her Life and Diary | publisher=Jewish Lights Publishing | series=G – Reference,Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series | year=2007 | isbn=978-1-58023-342-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0_q9ZbC-eZEC&pg=PR4| page=317}}

She enrolled in a Protestant private school for girls that also accepted Catholic 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.

The realization that the situation of the Jews in Hungary was becoming precarious prompted Szenes to embrace Zionism, and she joined Maccabea, a Hungarian Zionist youth movement and learned Hebrew.

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 and then joined the Haganah, the paramilitary group that laid the foundation of the Israel Defense Forces.{{cite book | last=Scharfstein | first=S. | title=Understanding Israel | publisher=KTAV Publishing House | year=1994 | isbn=978-0-88125-428-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UDR6o4JMzlsC&pg=PA103| page=103}}

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.{{cite book | last1=Schweber | first1=S. | last2=Findling | first2=D. | title=Teaching the Holocaust | publisher=Torah Aura Productions | year=2007 | isbn=978-1-891662-91-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mco3ldVWNL8C&pg=PT198 |page=198}}

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. Szenes volunteered and was selected along with 32 others, out of 250 candidates, to be sent on active missions.{{sfn|Laqueur|Baumel|Baumel-Schwartz|2001|p=467}}

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 men decided to call off the mission as too dangerous.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}

Szenes continued on and headed for the Hungarian border. At the border, she and her companions 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.Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh (2008 film)

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.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}

Trial and execution

{{multiple image|perrow = 2|total_width=300

| image1 = Hannah Szenes memorial Budapest07 Park Szenes Hanna.jpg

| image2 = Bust of Hannah Szenes in Budapest (2).jpg

| footer =Memorial and bust of Hannah Szenes in Budapest

}}

She was tried for treason in Hungary on 28 October 1944 by a court appointed by the fascist Arrow Cross regime.{{sfn | Laqueur | Baumel | Baumel-Schwartz | 2001 | p=623}} 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.{{sfn | Baumel-Schwartz | Baumel-Schwartz | 2010 | p=30}}

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."{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}

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.{{cite web |url=https://www.nli.org.il/he/newspapers/dav/1950/03/20/01/article/83?&dliv=none&e=-------he-20--1--img-txIN%7ctxTI--------------1 |title= עצמותיה של חנה סנש למנוחות בהר–הרצל |trans-title=Hannah Szenes' bones are laid to rest at Mount Herzl |newspaper=Dvar |date=March 20, 1950 |lang=he}}[https://hannahsenesh.org.il/%d7%97%d7%a0%d7%94-%d7%a1%d7%a0%d7%a9/#timeline Photo and Timeline of Szene's Life, Reinterment at Mount Herzl], Hannah Sennesh House Website. Her tombstone was brought to Israel in November 2007 and placed in Sdot Yam.{{cite web |url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/927718.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091006031416/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/927718.html |archive-date=October 6, 2009 |title=Tombstone of WWII poet and spy Hannah Szenes arrives in Israel |last=Ashkenazi |first=Eli |newspaper=Haaretz |date=November 25, 2007}}

During the trial of Rudolf Kastner, who was a controversial figureVrba, Rudolf (2020) I Escaped from Auschwitz Skyhorse Publishing, New York 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."{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}

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

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 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 Mount Herzl

In popular culture

File:PikiWiki Israel 9039 A poster in memory of Hannah Szenes.jpg

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.{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0814031/|title=Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh (2008)|work=Internet Movie Database|publisher=IMDb|access-date=January 1, 2015}}
Darkness (one two three), a musical pilot project of the Association of Global Art, led by the musician and singer {{ill|Pazit Nuni|he|פזית נוני}}, 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).{{Cite web|url=https://m.free-scores.com/sheetmusic?p=a01xnlYdOU|title=Free sheet music : Nichifor, Serban – Four Poems by Hannah Senesh – Homage to HANNAH SENESH (1921–1944), Holocaust Martyr (Soprano and Piano)}}

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. {{OCLC|677086}}
Goldenberg, Linda. In Kindling Flame: The Story of Hannah Senesh, 1921–1944. New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books, 1985. {{ISBN|0688027148}} {{OCLC|10302495}}
Hay, Peter. Ordinary Heroes: Chana Szenes and the Dream of Zion. G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1986. {{ISBN|0399131523}} {{OCLC|13395114}}
Whitman, Ruth. The Testing of Hannah Senesh Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1986. {{ISBN|0814318533}}
Maxine Rose Schur, Hannah Szenes: A Song of Light, Philadelphia, 1986. {{ISBN|0827606281}}
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. {{ISBN|0590446770}} {{OCLC|28137831}}
Senesh, Hannah, and Marge Piercy (foreword). Hannah Senesh: Her Life and Diary. Jewish Lights Publishing, 2004. {{ISBN|9781580233422}} {{OCLC|269444258}}
Gozlan, Martine, Hannah Szenes, l'étoile foudroyée. Paris: Ed. de l'Archipel, 2014. {{ISBN|9782809815818}} {{OCLC|897806840}} In French.
Shalom, Avner, Hannah Senesh, ''Poems within the Depth, שירים מן המעמקים, The Association of Global Art Publishing House, Budapest and Caesarea 2018 {{ISBN|9786150033730}} in English and Hebrew, appendix A and B in Spanish and Lithuanian
{{cite book | last1=Baumel-Schwartz | first1=J.T. | last2=Baumel-Schwartz | first2=J. | title=Perfect Heroes: The World War II Parachutists and the Making of Israeli Collective Memory | publisher=University of Wisconsin Press | series=WWII history / Judaica / Cultural studies / Israel | year=2010 | isbn=978-0-299-23483-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3_KNdfB3vrgC&pg=PA204}}
{{cite book | last1=Laqueur | first1=W. | last2=Baumel | first2=J.T. | last3=Baumel-Schwartz | first3=J.T. | title=The Holocaust Encyclopedia | publisher=Yale University Press | series=The Erwin and Riva Baker Memorial Collection | year=2001 | isbn=978-0-300-08432-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NxdYngEACAAJ | access-date=2021-07-17}}
{{cite book | last1=Senesh | first1=H. | last2=Piercy | first2=M. | last3=Grossman | first3=R. | last4=Senesh | first4=E. | title=Hannah Senesh: Her Life and Diary | publisher=Jewish Lights Publishing | year=2007 | isbn=978-1-58023-342-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0_q9ZbC-eZEC}}

=Web sources=

{{cite web | last=Walker | first=Shaun | title=Hungary's forgotten wartime heroine remembered 100 years after her birth | website=the Guardian | date=2021-07-16 | url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/16/hungary-wartime-heroine-hannah-szenes-remembered-100-years-after-her-birth }}

External links

[http://jewishhistorylectures.org/2012/05/17/hannah-szenes-poet-hero-martyr/ Video Lecture by Dr. Henry Abramson on Hannah Szenes]
[http://www.facinghistory.org/resources/publications/blessed-is-the-match Teacher's Study Guide] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090830072521/http://www.facinghistory.org/resources/publications/blessed-is-the-match |date=August 30, 2009 }}
[http://www.hannahsenesh.org.il/ Hannah Senesh Legacy foundation]
[http://www.hannahsenesh.org/ Jewish Community Day School], Brooklyn, New York
[http://www.katahdin.org/films/senesh/intro.html Blessed Is The Match], a documentary film about Hannah
[http://www.wmm.com/filmcatalog/pages/c791.shtml Blessed Is The Match] at Women Make Movies
[https://web.archive.org/web/20080218095250/http://www.j-grit.com/resisters-hannah-szenes.html Hannah Szenes Biography ] at [http://www.j-grit.com J-Grit: The Internet Index of Tough Jews]
[http://jewishhistorylectures.org/2012/05/17/hannah-szenes-poet-hero-martyr/ Hannah Szenes: Poet, Hero, Martyr]: Video lecture on Hannah Szenesh by Dr. Henry Abramson
[https://web.archive.org/web/20130522223037/http://jewish.hu/view.php?clabel=szenes_hanna Hannah Szenes on Jewish.hu's list of famous Hungarian Jews]
[http://web.nli.org.il/sites/NLI/English/digitallibrary/gallery/of-israel/Pages/Hannah-Szenes.aspx Chana Szenes – The Match That Burns Forever]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHAhqfoOHFs The Heroism of Hannah Senesh - Eli, Eli by Sophie Milman]