National Library of Israel reveals Hannah Szenes' last letter - Holocaust Remembrance Day - Israel Hayom

National Library of Israel reveals               Hannah Szenes' last letter            Holocaust Remembrance Day

Israel Hayom  April 28, 2014

Letter written by iconic World War II-era paratrooper Hannah Szenes six months before her execution unveiled on Holocaust Remembrance Day • "Szenes was an inspiration and one of the Jewish community's greatest symbols," says National Library curator.

Yori Yalon

Hannah Szenes  |  Photo credit: No credit

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The National Library of Israel has unveiled the last letter written by iconic World War II-era paratrooper Hannah Szenes, just prior to her execution in 1944. The letter was donated to the library by Szenes' mother, Catherine, in 1951, and was released as part of various artifacts unveiled for the first time on this year's Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Born in Budapest in 1921, Szenes was the daughter of journalist Béla Szenes. An avid Zionist, she immigrated to then-British Mandate Palestine in 1939. In 1941, she joined the Haganah and in 1943 she enlisted in the British Army's Women's Auxiliary Air Force. She was trained as a paratrooper and later became one of 37 Jews sent by the British Army to assist in the rescue of Hungarian Jews who were scheduled to be transported to Auschwitz.

In March 1944, Szenes and her comrades parachuted into Yugoslavia and joined a partisan group. In June 1944, soon after crossing into Hungary, she was captured by Hungarian soldiers.

Szenes was imprisoned and tortured, but refused to reveal details of her mission. She was charged with espionage and treason and in Nov. 7, 1944, at the age of 23, she was executed by firing squad.

The letter, dated May 20, 1944, was written in English to Szenes' brother, George, and was sent from Yugoslavia.

"My dear George," she wrote, "I send you again a short letter to make you know that I am quite OK and that's all. I guess all my acquaintances and relations are cross with me, that I never write. Please try to explain the situation, if possible. If not they will forgive me later.

"To mother I do not write now either and your letters must replace mine. For this reason I give you the right even to forge my signature, hoping you will not make use of it for any 'financial obligations.'

"I hope you know that I get your letters with great delay but sooner or later they reach me and I am always ever so glad to hear about you. I love you and kisses to you and warm greetings to friends. Yours, Hannah."

"This letter is important because Hannah Szenes wrote it when she was clearly in danger and about to cross the border into Hungary," Dr. Hezi Amior, who serves as Israel Collection curator at the National Library, said. "It illustrates her acceptance of her mission and her sense of responsibility."

According to Amior, the letter "also reflects the atmosphere among the Jewish community in those days, as many of them volunteered to serve in the British Army out of concern for the fate of the Jews in Europe."

Szenes was a poet, writing in both Hungarian and Hebrew. "Her fate has turned her poems into staples of Hebrew poetry," Amior said. "Teenagers have been singing her songs for 70 years. She was one for the Jewish community's greatest symbols.

"When you read her letters you understand her personality, where the poems came from and why she became a role model. She was an inspiration and her struggles are a link between the Holocaust and resurrection, between the fight against the Germans and the fight for Israel's inception."