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Hannah Senesh in a hungarian uniform costume.

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Hannah Senesh was introduced to the idea of joining the force was in 1943. She joined a Clandestine military group shortly after and began taking courses on wireless operators. About one year later she took a course on paratrooping and was hooked. That year she was dropped in Yugoslavia to help anti-Nazi groups in that territory. Right as she crossed the border into Hungary (her original homeland) with a group of Palestine-Jewish volunteers they were caught by Hungarian enemy troops within hours.

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Hannah had her trial in October of 1944. She was given two options: be executed by a firing squad or beg and plead for their mercy. However, what some see as an obvious choice she would decline, and she would stand true to what she believes in. She refused clemency at her trial and was brought to be executed in the courtyard of the prison. When they offered her a blindfold she refused, she looked the executor in the eye as she was shot. She died at age 23, but her legacy lives on to this day.

Source: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/hannah-senesh

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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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This song represents the fight and the torture Hannah received, however, she refused to give up any information to the enemy soldiers.

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Elton John - I'm Still Standing (Lyrics)

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Hannah Senesh was born July 17, 1921. Since her father was an author and a journalist she was encouraged to do some writing of her own. Her father passed away when she was only eight, leaving her, her brother, and her mother alone. She kept a diary at 13, and having been raised in a wealthy family, she had a thorough Hungarian education. She grew her passion and talent for literature as she continued to mature. She soon discovered a Zionist movement and joined the group, learning Hebrew to prepare to move to Palestine. She finished her high school education and pursued a 2 year course in an all girls agricultural school in Palestine.

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“Blessed is the heart with strength to stop its beating for honor’s sake.”   

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“Blessed is the heart with strength to stop its beating for honor’s sake.”   

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Written in one of Hannah's poems.

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The song made from the poem "Blessed Is the Match" by Hannah Senesh after she died.

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Hannah Szenes's poem "Ashrei HaGafrur" (Blessed Is the Match)

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After her capture Hannah Senesh was sent to a prison in Budapest. Days after her two co-paratroopers were also captured .There she was tortured and tormented by her captors in hopes that she would give up information about wireless codes. There weren't aware of her situation. Hannah was tortured for several months and the entire time she refused to give up any information about the wireless codes or the mission. Even when they threatened her mother's life, she refused to give any information to them.

Later they arrested Hannah's mother and they saw each other for the first time in 5 years. However, they both refused to show any weakness at the moment of their reunion and denied their captors the satisfactions of witnessing their vulnerability.

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Hannah's strength and perseverance inspires people today and people during her time. She had an amazing commitment to her mission and values. She saved the Clandestine military from having important information leaked to enemy soldiers.

She also produced impressive literature that helps people today gauge her perspective on events that happened at the time, and the poems she wrote described her experiences as she endured the hardships.

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Hannah Senesh has a play written after her experiences.

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Hannah Senesh wrote many poems in her time and filled out her pocket diary up until the time she got captured. She wrote "Blessed is the Match", "Toward Caesarea", and other popular poems. "Toward Caesarea" was re-mastered by David Zahavi when she added a melody to the poem and made it a song called "My God, My God". This as well as a play by Aharon Megged. Her literature continues to inspire and impress people today.

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Hannah Senesh is commonly seen as a symbol of bravery and courage, however, most see her as a symbol of revolt and uprising. This is because of her many acts of rebellion and attempts to defy her captors. Hannah was known for drawing a Jewish star on the window of her cell in Budapest. She refused to beg at the feet of her captors and did not allow them to feel triumphant in her surrender. She would have rather died. She would not let herself be seen as an ordinary soldier, she strived to be stronger. Even as a small child she decided this to be true. She explains, "I would rather be an unusual person than just average. When I think of an above-average man, I don’t necessarily think of a famous man, but of a great soul … a great human being. And I would like to be a great soul. If God will permit.”

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One could point out many things that Hannah did that would be considered a "commitment" to her cause, however, when you take a closer look, there are many instances of her showing her unwavering commitment to the Palmah and her anti-Nazi military group. Other than the fact that she gave her life to uphold her beliefs, she also left what she valued most, her family. Her brother had recently arrived back from Europe to Hungary, right before she was going to immigrate to Palestine. However, she continued on to go to Palestine and, eventually, join the military group. This, as well as the fact that she was tortured for several months, without speaking a word about her mission or the wireless codes, even when her beloved mother was at risk of death.

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“I would rather be an unusual person than just average. When I think of an above-average man I don’t necessarily think of a famous man, but of a great soul … a great human being. And I would like to be a great soul. If God will permit.”

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“I would rather be an unusual person than just average. When I think of an above-average man I don’t necessarily think of a famous man, but of a great soul … a great human being. And I would like to be a great soul. If God will permit.”

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A quote from Hannah's diary.