- Szenes, Hannah
- (1921–1944)A prime example of Jewish resistance during the Holocaust, Hannah Szenes was a poet who was a parachutist in the Jewish commando unit of the British army. Szenes was born in Budapest, Hungary, and moved to Palestine in 1939 where she joined a kibbutz. In 1943, she volunteered to join parachutists, along with 36 other Hungarian-Palestinian Jews, who planned to infiltrate occupied Hungary to help save Jews who were about to be deported to Auschwitz. After being parachuted into Yugoslavia and spending time with a partisan band, Szenes crossed over into Hungary where she was arrested at the border, imprisoned, and tortured, but she refused to reveal details of her mission and was eventually tried and executed by firing squad. She is regarded as a national heroine in Israel, where several streets and a kibbutz are named after her, and her poetry is widely read. Her best-known poem is “Blessed Be the Match,” which was written while she was in the partisan camp in Yugoslavia and includes the memorable lines,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.
Historical dictionary of the Holocaust. Jack R. Fischel. 2014.