Brothers for Resistance and Rescue 1 - CENDO

Szenes Hanna
Szenes Anikó
Born in Budapest in 1921
Executed on 7.11.1944 in Budapest
Paratrooper
Hanna was the daughter of an assimilated family of writers, poets and
musicians. Her father, Béla Szenes, was a well-known writer in Hungary.
Hanna was an excellent student and her literary talent was discovered
while she was still a child. She wrote poems and a diary. Hanna became
an enthusiastic Zionist and in September 1939 she made aliya. She
studied for two years at the agricultural school in Nahalal and in 1941 she
joined Kibbutz Sdot Yam. In November 1943 she volunteered to
parachute over German occupied Europe. She underwent the necessary
training in the framework of the British army and, on 14.3.1944, five days
before the Germans invaded Hungary, she jumped over Yugoslavia and
stayed with the partisans. On 9.6.1944 Hanna crossed the border into
Hungary and was immediately caught by the Hungarians while still in
possession of her radio and other suspicion casting equipment. She was
taken to the prison in Szombathely, interrogated and tortured. In spite of
the threats to her and her mother’s life (her mother lived in Hungary)
Hanna did not reveal the transmission code or the goals of her mission.
She was taken to Budapest, to the central prison of the Hungarian army
on Margit Boulevard. During her interrogation she was allowed to meet
her mother. Hanna was tried by a military court, convicted and sentenced
to death on charges of treason. She refused to ask for a pardon and on
7.11.1944 she was executed. Before she went on her mission, Hanna
wrote in her diary: “I am going happily, out of my free will and fully aware
of the difficulties. I see this mission as a right and also a duty.”
In her poem “On the Way”, she wrote: “A voice called me and I went/ I
went because the voice called.”
Brothers for Resistance and Rescue 237