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Hannah Szenes
Hannah Szenes

Hannah Szenes (or Chana Senesh) (Hebrew: חנה סנש‎) (July 17, 1921 – November 7, 1944) was a Hungarian Jew, one of 37 Jews living in Palestine, now Israel, who were trained by the British army to parachute into Yugoslavia during the Second World War in order to help save the Jews of Hungary, who were about to be deported to the German death camp at Auschwitz. Events 180 - Twelve inhabitants of Scillium in North Africa are executed for being Christians Year 1921 ( MCMXXI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1921 calendar of the Gregorian calendar Events 1492 - The Ensisheim Meteorite the oldest Meteorite with a known date of impact strikes the Earth around noon in a Wheat Year 1944 ( MCMXLIV) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Hungary (Magyarország 'mɔɟɔrorsaːg) officially in English the Republic of Hungary ( Magyar Köztársaság, literally Magyar (Hungarian Republic PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ Palestine is a name which has been widely used since Roman times to refer to the region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. Paratroopers are Soldiers trained in Parachuting and generally operate as part of an airborne force. See also Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Yugoslavia ( Serbo-Croatian World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including History of the Jews in Hungary concerns the Jews of Hungary and of Hungarian origins "Auschwitz" redirects here For the town see Oświęcim Auschwitz-Birkenau () was the largest of Nazi Germany [1]

Szenes was arrested at the Hungarian border, imprisoned and tortured, but she refused to reveal details of her mission, and was eventually tried and executed by firing squad. Capital punishment, the death penalty or execution, is the Killing of a person by judicial process as Punishment. [1] She is regarded as a national heroine in Israel, where streets are named after her and her poetry is widely known.

Contents

Early life

Szenes was born on July 17 1921 to an assimilated Jewish family in Hungary. Hungary (Magyarország 'mɔɟɔrorsaːg) officially in English the Republic of Hungary ( Magyar Köztársaság, literally Magyar (Hungarian Republic Her father, Béla, a journalist and playwright, died when she was six years old. She continued to live with her mother, Katrina, and her brother, György (Giora).

She enrolled in a Protestant private school for girls, that accepted Catholic and Jewish pupils. As a Christian Ecclesiastical term Catholic —from the Greek adjective, meaning "general" or "universal"—is described She had to pay triple the tuition fees because she was Jewish. This, along with the realization that the situation of the Jews in Hungary was becoming precarious, prompted Szenes to embrace Judaism. Judaism (from the Greek Ioudaïsmos, derived from the Hebrew יהודה Yehudah, " Judah " in Hebrew יַהֲדוּת Yahedut She announced to her friends that she had become a Jew,[1] and joined Maccabea, a Hungarian Zionist students organization. A Zionist Youth movement is an organization formed for Jewish children and adolescents for educational social and ideological development

Move to Nahalal

Szenes graduated in 1939 and decided to immigrate to what was then the British Mandate of Palestine in order to study in the Girls' Agricultural School at Nahalal. Year 1939 ( MCMXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Palestine Mandate, was a set of protocols or articles that formed a multilateral legal and administrative agreement Nahalal-12jpg|thumb|right|250px|The main square of Nahalal in the 1930s]] Nahalal (נהלל is a Moshav in northern Israel. In 1941, she joined Kibbutz Sdot Yam and then joined the Haganah, the paramilitary group that laid the foundation of the Israel Defense Forces. Year 1941 ( MCMXLI) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (the link will display 1941 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. A kibbutz ( Hebrew: קיבוץ קִבּוּץ lit "gathering clustering" plural kibbutzim) is a collective community in Sdot Yam (שדות ים lit Sea Fields) is a Kibbutz in the Haifa District of Israel on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Haganah ( Hebrew: "The Defense" ההגנה was a Jewish Paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine The Israel Defense Forces ( IDF) (צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, lit In 1943, she enlisted in the British army and began her training in Egypt as a paratrooper for the British Special Operations Executive (SOE). This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. The Special Operations Executive ( SOE) (sometimes referred to as "the Baker Street Irregulars " after Sherlock Holmes ' fictional group of helpers

Arrest and torture

In March 1944, she and two male colleagues, Yoel Palgi and Peretz Goldstein,[1] were parachuted into Yugoslavia and joined a partisan group. See also Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Yugoslavia ( Serbo-Croatian The Yugoslav Partisans, or simply the Partisans, ( Serbo-Croatian, Croatian, Serbian, Macedonian, Slovene: Partizani After landing, they learned the Germans had already invaded Hungary, so the men decided to call off the mission as too dangerous. [1] Szenes continued and headed for the Hungarian border. At the border, she was arrested by Hungarian gendarmes, who found the British military transmitter she was carrying, which was to be used to communicate with the SOE and with other partisans. She was taken to a prison in Budapest, tied to a chair, stripped, then whipped and clubbed for several hours. The guards wanted to know the code for her transmitter so they could find out who the other parachutists were. She did not tell them, even when they brought her mother into the cell and threatened to torture her too. [1]

While in jail, Szenes used a mirror to flash signals out of the window to the Jewish prisoners in other cells, and communicated with them using large cut-out letters in Hebrew that she placed in her window one at a time, and by drawing the Magen David in the dust. The Star of David or Shield of David ( Magen David in Hebrew with nikkud or מגן דוד without academically transcribed Māḡēn Dāwīḏ by She tried to keep their spirits up by singing.

Trial and execution

She was tried for treason on October 28, 1944. In Law, treason is the Crime that covers some of the more serious acts of disloyalty to one's sovereign or Nation. Events 306 - Maxentius is proclaimed Roman Emperor. 312 - Battle of Milvian Bridge: Constantine There was an eight-day postponement to give the judges more time to find a verdict, followed by another postponement, this one due to the appointment of a new Judge Advocate. She was executed by a firing squad before the judges had returned a verdict. Execution by firing squad is a method of Capital punishment, particularly common in times of war She kept diary entries until her last day, November 7, 1944. Events 1492 - The Ensisheim Meteorite the oldest Meteorite with a known date of impact strikes the Earth around noon in a Wheat Year 1944 ( MCMXLIV) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. 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. "[1]

Szenes's gravestone
Szenes's gravestone

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. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. Mount Herzl, (הר הרצל Har Hertzel; also Har HaZikaron, הר הזכרון lit Jerusalem (יְרוּשָׁלַיִם, he-Latn Yerushaláyim; Arabic: ar القُدس, ar-Latn al-Quds) is the Her tombstone was brought to Israel in November 2007 and placed in Sdot Yam. Sdot Yam (שדות ים lit Sea Fields) is a Kibbutz in the Haifa District of Israel on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea. [2]

After the Cold War, a Hungarian military court officially exonerated her. Cold War is the state of conflict tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR and their respective allies from the Her kin in Israel were informed on November 5, 1993. Events 1499 - Publication of the Catholicon in Treguier ( Brittany) Year 1993 ( MCMXCIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar)

Poetry and plays

Szenes was a poet and playwright writing both in Hungarian and Hebrew. The following are four of her better known poems or songs. The best known of these is Halikha LeKesariya ("A Walk to Caesarea"), commonly known as Eli, Eli ("My God, My God"). Many singers have sung it, including Regina Spektor and Sophie Milman. Regina Spektor (Регина Спектор born February 18, 1980) is a Soviet -born Jewish- American Singer-songwriter and Sophie Milman is a Russian born Jazz vocalist who currently lives in Canada. It was used to close some versions of the film Schindler's List:

My God, My God, I pray that these things never end,
The sand and the sea,
The rustle of the waters,
Lightning of the Heavens,
The prayer of Man. Schindler's List is a Biographical film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Steven Zaillian.
אלי, אלי, שלא יגמר לעולם
החול והים
רישרוש של המים
ברק השמים
תפילת האדם
The voice called, and I went.
I went, because the voice called.

The following lines are the last song she wrote after she was parachuted into a partisan camp in Yugoslavia:

Blessed is the match consumed in kindling flame.
Blessed is the flame that burns in the secret fastness of the heart.
Blessed is the heart with strength to stop its beating for honor's sake.
Blessed is the match consumed in kindling flame.

The following lines were found in Hanna's death cell after her execution:

One - two - three. . . eight feet long
Two strides across, the rest is dark. . .
Life is a fleeting question mark
One - two - three. . . maybe another week.
Or the next month may still find me here,
But death, I feel is very near.
I could have been 23 next July
I gambled on what mattered most, the dice were cast. I lost.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g 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.
  2. ^ Tombstone of WWII poet and spy Hannah Szenes arrives in Israel Haaretz, 25 November 2007

Bibliography

External links

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