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This Poem was found after Hannah Senesh's 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. "

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Eli Eli - Hannah Szenes Senesh - Sang in Hebrew & English - Holocaust Remembrance

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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.

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"On the morning of 17 June 1944, a man in civilian garb knocked on the door… He had a warrant for my arrest… They interrogated me... They asked about the children, especially about Hannah. The investigator asked me where Hannah was, and smiling, I answered that she was in an agricultural settlement near Haifa. He shook his head and said: 'She is here, in the next room.' The door opened. I was dumbstruck. Aniko [Hannah] was standing in the doorway, held by four men. Her disheveled hair did not conceal the blue contusions above her eyes. She escaped their grip and jumped on me, sobbing: 'Mother, forgive me!' "

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Hannah Senesh was born on July 17 of 1921, in Budapest, Hungary. Ever Since she was younger she has shown her talents in Literacy. Hannah became a Zionist and immigrated to Palestine in 1939. In 1943 Jewish agency officials asked Senesh to join a clandestine military operation – she became a member of the Palmah and participated in a course for paratroopers. In March 1944, she was dropped into Yugoslavia in order to aid anti-Nazi forces. She was captured in June after entering Hungary, and sent to a prison in Budapest, where she was tortured. Since Senesh would not talk, Hungarian authorities arrested her mother. Both women remained silent. Given the chance to beg for a pardon in November 1944, Hannah chose death by firing squad. Katherine, Hannah's mother, decided to keep her Hannah Senesh's memory alive – she published her daughter's diary, poetry and plays. In 1950, Hannah Senesh's remains were buried in the military cemetery on Mt. Herzl, in

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More About Hannah

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Hannah Senesh (originally Szenes) was a paratrooper trained to rescue Jews during the Holocaust. Captured and killed by the Nazis, she is still a national heroine in Israel.

Senesh dresses up in costume as a Hungarian soldier

Through her brief but noteworthy life, Senesh 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.

Senesh was born on July 17, 1921, in Budapest, Hungary as the daughter of an author and journalist. 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, Senesh 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. Senesh trained in Egypt and was one of the thirty-three people chosen to parachute behind enemy lines. With the goal of reaching her native Budapest, Senesh parachuted into Yugoslavia in March 1944 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, Senesh crossed the border into Hungary.

She was caught almost immediately by the Hungarian police and tortured cruelly and repeatedly over the next several months. Despite these conditions, Senesh refused to divulge any information about her mission. Even the knowledge that her mother was at risk and that she too might be harmed did not compel Senesh to cooperate with the police. At her trial in October 1944, Senesh 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. Senesh was only 23 years old.

The following poem was found in Hannah's death cell after her execution:

Senesh's grave stone in Israel

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.

In 1950, Senesh's remains were brought to Israel and re-interred at the military cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.

Her diary and literary works were later published, and many of her more popular poems have been set to music. The best known of these is "Towards Caesarea," more popularly known today as "My God, My God" with a melody created by David Zahavi and sung by artists including Ofra Haza, Regina Spektor, and Sophie Milman.

Senesh has also been the subject of several artistic works, including a play by Aharon Megged.

Sources: The Pedagogic Center, The Department for Jewish Zionist Education, The Jewish Agency for Israel, (c) 1997-2007, Director: Dr. Motti Friedman, Webmaster: Esther Carciente.

Photo: Gravestone courtesy of Valley2city.

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Encyclopedia of Jewish and Israeli history, politics and culture, with biographies, statistics, articles and documents on topics from anti-Semitism to Zionism.

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More About Hannah

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Baumel, Judith Tydor. "The Heroism of Hannah Szenes: An Exercise in Creating Collective National Memory in the State of Israel." In Double Jeopardy: Gender and the Holocaust, edited by Judith Tydor Baumel, 155-180. Portland, OR: Vallentine Mitchell, 1998

Hay, Peter. Ordinary Heroes: Chana Szenes and the Dream of Zion. New York: Putnam, 1986

Palgi, Y. And Behold, A Great Wind Came (Hebrew). Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1977

Masters, Anthony. The Summer That Bled: The Biography of Hanna Senesh. London: St. Martin's, 1972

Breslavski, M., ed. Hannah Szenes: Her Life, Mission and Death (Hebrew). Tel Aviv: N.p., 1966

Gilad, Zerubavel. Secret Shield (Hebrew). Jerusalem: Jewish Agency, 1952

Senesh, Hannah. At Levadekh Tavini: Hanna Szenes Letters 1935-1944. Edited by Szalai, Anna. Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 2014

Syrkin, M. Blessed Is the Match: The Story of Jewish Resistance. New York: A.A. Knopf, 1947

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Hannah Szenes (Senesh) | Jewish Women's Archive

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Hannah Szenes has attained legendary status in the pantheon of Zionist history. After immigrating to Israel, Szenes agreed to participate in a military operation as a paratrooper. Hungarian authorities captured her and tortured her, but Szenes refused to talk. She was killed by a firing squad in 1944.

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Senesh refused to divulge any information about her mission. Even the knowledge that her mother was at risk and that she too might be harmed did not compel Senesh to cooperate with the police. At her trial in October 1944, Senesh 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.

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(Where the Quote is from)

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Hannah Szenes: Zionist, Paratrooper and Poet

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"On the morning of 17 June 1944, a man in civilian garb knocked on the door… He had a warrant for my arrest… They interrogated me... They asked about the children, especially about Hannah. The investigator asked me where Hannah was, and smiling, I answered that she was in an agricultural settlement near Haifa. He shook his head and said: 'She is here, in the next room.' The door opened. I was dumbstruck. Aniko [Hannah] was standing in the doorway, held by four men. Her disheveled hair did not conceal the blue contusions above her eyes. She escaped their grip and jumped on me, sobbing: 'Mother, forgive me!'"

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Hannah's writings have been brought to public knowledge through her diary, poetry, and plays after her death, that have since been published in Hebrew. One of her well known work, Eli Eli, has been made into a song.

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"Even if they catch me – the Jews will be notified.  They will know that at least one person tried to reach them."