Hannah Szenes remembered 100 years after her birth

The National Library of Israel on Tuesday uploaded to its website items never before seen from the Hannah Szenes's archive to commemorate her 100th birthday. Among the documents are school notebooks and certificates, her bat mitzvah certificate, a list of books she read, and more.

Although Szenes was only 23 when she died, she left a wealth of important handwritten materials, such as her poems. The archive also includes documents, such as letters exchanged with her family and documents from her trial. There were also photographs of her personal items and her family.

Some of the most important items are a notepad that was found in her pocket when she was executed, the last poem she wrote and a note to her mother.

Hannah Szenes was born in Budapest in 1921 and the antisemitism in Hungary pushed her toward Zionism and she made aliyah in 1939. After spending two years at an agricultural school, she joined Kibbutz Sdot Yam where she farmed as well as writing poetry and a play about life on a kibbutz.

In 1943, Szenes enlisted to the British army and volunteered to join a group of paratroopers who would parachute into Nazi-occupied Europe. The goal was to assist Allied air crews downed in enemy territory to escape. 

On March 9, 1944, Szenes parachuted into then-Yugoslavia with four comrades and in June, she crossed into her native Hungary where she was caught and arrested by the Nazis.

For months, Szenes was subjected to brutal questioning under torture and even though she knew her mother was at risk because of her arrest, she resisted and did not divulge information to her Nazi interrogators.

 

 

Szenes was tried for espionage and, as a Hungarian citizen, high treason. She was sentenced to death and executed on November 7, 1944. In 1950, her remains were repatriated to Israel and she was buried with full military honors on Mount Herzl.

 

The National Library has for years worked to build an archive of Szenes's writings and possessions.