Hannah Szenes (Senesh) was a young Hungarian-born Jewish woman. She was one of 32 Jewish volunteer parachutists from Palestine that the British Army sent behind German lines for resistance and rescue efforts. On June 7, 1944, Szenes tried to infiltrate German-occupied Hungary. Authorities captured her as she was trying to cross the border into the country. They tortured her for several months, but she never betrayed her colleagues. Szenes was eventually convicted of treason and executed. She was 23 years old.
Hannah Szenes, in the garden of her Budapest home before she moved to Palestine and became a parachutist for rescue missions. Budapest, Hungary, before 1939.
Item View
Hannah Szenes on her first day in Palestine. Haifa, Palestine, September 19, 1939.
Between 1943 and 1945, a group of Jewish men and women from Palestine who had volunteered to join the British army parachuted into German-occupied Europe. Their mission was to organize resistance to the Germans and aid in the rescue of Allied personnel. Hannah Szenes was among these volunteers.
Szenes was captured in German-occupied Hungary and executed in Budapest on November 7, 1944, at the age of 23.
Item View
Jewish parachutist Hannah Szenes at Kibbutz Sedot Yam, a communal agricultural settlement. Palestine, 1941.
Item View
Jewish parachutist Hannah Szenes at Kibbutz Sedot Yam, a communal agricultural settlement. Palestine, 1942.
Item View
Jewish parachutist Hannah Szenes with her brother, before leaving for a rescue mission. Palestine, March 1944.
Between 1943 and 1945, a group of Jewish men and women from Palestine who had volunteered to join the British army parachuted into German-occupied Europe. Their mission was to organize resistance to the Germans and aid in the rescue of Allied personnel. Hannah Szenes was among these volunteers.
Szenes was captured in German-occupied Hungary and executed in Budapest on November 7, 1944, at the age of 23.
Item View
We would like to thank Crown Family Philanthropies, Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation, the Claims Conference, EVZ, and BMF for supporting the ongoing work to create content and resources for the Holocaust Encyclopedia. View the list of donor acknowledgement.
