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Szenes, Hannah (1921-1944)
Haganah
Fighter and Poet
Through her brief but noteworthy life, Hannah Szenes became a symbol
of idealism and self-sacrifice. Her poems, made famous in part because
of her unfortunate death, reveal a woman imbued with hope, even in the
face of adverse circumstances.
Szenes, the daughter of an author and journalist, was born in Budapest.
She demonstrated her own literary talent from an early age, and she kept
a diary from age 13 until shortly before her death. Although her family
was assimilated, anti-Semitic sentiment in Budapest led her to involvement
in Zionist activities, and she left Hungary for Eretz Yisrael in 1939.
She studied first at an agricultural school, and then settled at Kibbutz
Sdot Yam. While there she wrote poetry, as well as a play about kibbutz
life.
In 1943 Szenes joined the British Army and volunteered to be parachuted
into Europe. The purpose of this operation was to help the Allied efforts
in Europe and establish contact with partisan resistance fighters in an
attempt to aid beleaguered Jewish communities. Szenes trained in Egypt
and was one of the thirty-three chosen to parachute behind enemy lines.
With the goal of reaching her native Budapest, Szenes was parachuted in
March, 1944 into Yugoslavia, and spent three months with Tito's partisans.
Her idealism and commitment to her cause are memorialized in her poem
"Blessed is the Match," which she wrote at this time.
On June 7, 1944, at the height of the deportation of Hungarian Jews,
Szenes crossed the border into Hungary. She was caught almost immediately
by the Hungarian police, and although tortured cruelly and repeatedly
over the next several months, refused to divulge any information. Even
the knowledge that her mother was at risk and that she too might be harmed
did not move Szenes to cooperate with the police. At her trial in October
of that year, Szenes staunchly defended her activities and she refused
to request clemency. Throughout her ordeal she remained steadfast in her
courage, and when she was executed by a firing squad on November 7, she
refused the blindfold, staring squarely at her executors and her fate.
In 1950, Szenes' remains were brought to Israel and re-interred in the
military cemetery on Mount Herzl. Her diary and literary works were later
published, and many of her more popular poems, including "Towards Caesarea"
and "Blessed is the Match," have been set to music. She has also been
the subject of several artistic works, including a play by Aharon Megged.
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