Hannah Szenes (often anglicized as Hannah Senesh or Chanah Senesh; Hebrew: חנה סנש; Hungarian: Szenes Anna; July 17, 1921 – November 7, 1944) was a Hungarian Jewish poet and a Special Operations Executive (SOE) member. She was one of 37 Jewish SOE recruits from Mandate Palestine parachuted by the British into Yugoslavia during the Second World War to assist anti-Nazi forces and ultimately in the rescue of Hungarian Jews about to be deported to the German death camp at Auschwitz.
Szenes was arrested at the Hungarian border by Hungarian gendarmes. She was imprisoned and tortured, but refused to reveal details of her mission. She was eventually tried and executed by firing squad. She is regarded as a national hero in Israel but has largely been forgotten in her birthplace of Hungary according to The Guardian. In Israel her poetry is widely known and the Yad Hana kibbutz, as well as several streets, are named after her.
Hannah Senesh’s poems became Israeli cultural treasures. They evoked images of the beauty of the land as she encountered it, and of the hardships and courage that drove her rescue mission during World War Two. Her short poem “Walk to Caesarea” was turned into Israel’s most famous folk song, “Eili Eili.”
AT THE CROSSROADS
Hannah Szenes
A voice called. I went.
I went, for it called.
I went, lest I fall.
At the crossroads
I blocked both ears with white frost
And cried
For what I had lost.
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BLESSED IS THE MATCH
Hannah Szenes
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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WALK TO CAESAREA
Hannah Szenes
God — may there be no end
to sea, to sand,
water’s splash,
lightning’s flash
the prayer of man