In Israel, even elementary school students know the name of Hannah Szenes, but in her birthplace Hungary She was basically forgotten.
Szenes was born in a Jewish family in Budapest on July 17, 1921 100 years ago. In 1944, at the age of 22, she bravely traveled to Hungary occupied by the Nazis. Later that year, she was arrested and executed after refusing to be tortured.
On Sunday, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of her birth, more than 140 Israeli soldiers will parachute into the same place in Yugoslavia, which is now Slovenia, before she and other Jewish fighters were on duty in 1944. Then they will continue to Budapest to learn more about Szenes and her background.
Israel’s Ambassador to Hungary, Yacov Hadas-Handelsman, said: “Her story is a myth. It is deeply rooted in the history of Israel and the Jews.”
Szenes graduated from high school in Budapest and joined the Zionist Student Organization, and then went to Britain to take charge of Palestine in 1939, when Hungary’s restrictions on Jews became more and more strict.
She lives in Kibbutz, writes songs and poems in Hungarian and Hebrew, and in 1943 voluntarily joined the Jewish commando formed with the support of the British army. She is the only woman in the force, which was sent to Yugoslavia in mid-March 1944.
For Szenes, the goal is to continue to Hungary, where she knows that the fate of nearly 1 million Jews, including her own mother, is hanging in the balance. A few months after Hungary was officially occupied by the Nazis, she crossed the border in June and was arrested almost immediately.
She was imprisoned in Budapest. Despite prolonged interrogations including beatings and torture, she refused to give up the code for the radio transmitter, even if the authorities took her mother to her cell. She was convicted of treason and executed in November.
The National Library of Israel recently opened the Szenes collection as part of its archive, which includes diaries, poems and songs written by Szenes, and a farewell letter to her mother found on her clothes after she was executed.
“She only lived for 23 years, but she accomplished a lot in such a short time, as if she knew it would be her destiny,” said Hadass-Handelsman.
Some Hungarians will also remember Szenes this weekend. “She is a martyr and a hero,” said Laszlo Anjar, who organized a vigil on Saturday, which he has done every year for the past ten years. The authorities in the second district of Budapest plan to erect a small monument on the site of the prison where Senes was previously imprisoned.
However, in most cases, she is not easy to integrate into the historical memory of Hungary.
“She is absolutely unknown to the Hungarian public,” said Zsuzsanna Toronyi, director of the Hungarian Jewish Museum and Archives. She cited the post-war communism period, when Jewish themes were considered taboo and the masculinity of Hungarian society often pushed female heroes aside.
Budapest scholar Attila Novák has written a large number of articles on the history of Hungarian Jews during and after World War II. He said that Hungary’s historical memory is still vague to the war years and pointed out that Szenes was a soldier of a country. Enter this country to fight Hungary.
“Only when everyone learns the lessons of World War II and the politics of commemoration changes accordingly, can Hannah Senes’ complex legacy be included in Hungary’s national memory,” he said.
