SZENES, HANNAH

SZENES, HANNAH
SZENES, HANNAH (1921–1944), poet and haganah fighter who parachuted into Nazi-occupied Europe. Hannah was born in Budapest of an assimilated family, daughter of the writer Béla Szenes . She early revealed a remarkable intellect and literary talent; at 13 she began to write a diary, which she kept up until 1944. Under the impact of the antisemitic atmosphere in Budapest she became an ardent Zionist, and in September 1939 she went to Palestine and began her studies at the Nahalal agricultural school. Two years later she joined kibbutz Sedot Yam, where she wrote some of her most poignant poems (e.g., Toward Caesarea). At the end of 1942, deeply concerned with the fate of European Jewry and of her mother in Budapest, she joined the group of parachutists organized by the Haganah to rescue Allied prisoners of war and organize Jewish resistance. In March 1944 she was parachuted over Yugoslavia, where she stayed among Tito's partisans. In Srdice she wrote the poem Ashrei ha-Gafrur (Blessed is the Match). On June 7, at the peak of the deportation of Hungarian Jewry (see hungary , Holocaust) she crossed the border into Hungary but was arrested by the Hungarian police. Though cruelly tortured, she did not reveal any information, and after the fascist takeover in Hungary, a secret court hastily condemned her to death. On November 7, 1944 she was executed by a firing squad in a Budapest prison courtyard. Her remains were taken to Israel in 1950 and interred on Mt. Herzl. In Israel and in the Zionist movement her name became a symbol of devotion and self-sacrifice. Various books were written about her as well as a play by aharon megged . Her diary was published in 1971 (in English). -BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Syrkin, Blessed is the Match (1948); D. and P. Bar-Adon, Seven who Fell (1947), 81–124; N. Braslavski (ed.), Hannah Szenes, Ḥayyeha, Sheliḥutah u-Motah (196610); Y. Palgi, Ru'aḥ Gedolah Ba'ah (1956), passim; Y. Lewy (ed.), Das Leben von Chana Szenes 19211944 nach ihren Tagebuechern (1960); O. Besser, Ha-Ẓanḥanit she-Lo Shavah (1969). (Livia Rothkirchen)

Encyclopedia Judaica. 1971.

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  • Szenes, Hannah — (1921–1944)    A prime example of Jewish resistance during the Holocaust, Hannah Szenes was a poet who was a parachutist in the Jewish commando unit of the British army. Szenes was born in Budapest, Hungary, and moved to Palestine in 1939 where… …   Historical dictionary of the Holocaust

  • Szenes, Hannah — (1921 44)    Palestinian poet and resistance fighter. She was born in Budapest, and moved to Palestine in 1939. She joined Kibbutz Sedot Yam, and began to write poetry. In 1942 she became one of a group of parachutists organized by the Haganah to …   Dictionary of Jewish Biography

  • Hannah Szenes — in a Hungarian army uniform as a Purim costume. Hannah Szenes (Hebrew: חנה סנש‎) (Hungarian: Szenes Anikó), often anglicized as Hannah Senesh (July 17, 1921 – November 7, 1944) was a Hungarian Jew, one of 37 Jews from the British Mandate for… …   Wikipedia

  • Hannah Szenes — ou Chana Senesh (1921 1944), d origine hongroise, fut l’une des 37 personnes juives vivant en Palestine, maintenant Israël, qui ont suivi l’entraînement spécial britannique pour être parachutées ou infiltrées en Europe en vue d’aider à sauver les …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Senesh (Szenes), Hannah — (1921–44)    Haganah parachutist in Nazi occupied Europe. Hannah Senesh was born into an assimilated Hungarian Jewish family but became a Zionist under the influence of the strong anti Semitism existing in Hungary in the late 1930s, which found… …   Who’s Who in Jewish History after the period of the Old Testament

  • Hannah Szenes — con un uniforme del ejército húngaro como disfraz de Purim. Lealtad Judaísmo Participó en …   Wikipedia Español

  • Hannah Szenes — in ungarischer Armee Uniform, getragen als Purim Kostüm …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • SZENES (originally Schlesinger), BÉLA — (1894–1927), Hungarian author. Szenes was born in Budapest. He joined the editorial boards of various newspapers, and was noted for his feuilletons (known as Szenes ember, which, in Hungarian, has the additional meaning of coalman ). Szenes wrote …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Szenes — ist der Familienname von: Árpád Szenes (1897–1985), ungarisch französischer Maler Hannah Szenes (1921–1944), jüdische Widerstandskämpferin Ina Bauer Szenes (* 1941), deutsche Eiskunstläuferin Diese Seite ist eine …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Hannah (given name) — For other uses, see Hannah (disambiguation). Hannah Gender Female Origin Word/Name Hebrew Meaning Grace , He (God) has favoured me/favours me …   Wikipedia

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