"A Walk to Caesarea" הליכה לקיסריה "Eli, Eli"

Learn about the Author - Hannah Senesh





Hannah Senesh was born July 17, 1921 in Budapest, Hungary, The
daughter of an author and a journalist, she demonstrated her own
literary talent from an early age, and she kept a diary from age
13 until shortly before her death on November 7, 1944.

Although her family was assimilated, anti-Semitic sentiment in
Budapest led her to involvement in Zionist activities, and she
left Hungary for Eretz Yisrael in 1939. She studied first at an
agricultural school, and then settled at Kibbutz Sdot Yam. While
there she wrote poetry, as well as a play about kibbutz life.


In 1943, Senesh volunteered to become one of 33 people chosen to
parachutedinto Europe to help establish contact with partisan
resistance fighters in an attempt to aid beleaguered Jewish
communities.


On June 7, 1944, at the height of the deportation of Hungarian
Jews, Senesh crossed the border into Hungary. She was caught
almost immediately by the Hungarian police, and tortured cruelly
and repeatedly over the next several months. Despite these
conditions, Senesh refused to divulge any information about her
mission. Throughout her ordeal she remained steadfast in her
courage, and when she was executed by a firing squad on November
7, she refused the blindfold, staring squarely at her executors
and her fate. Senesh was only 23 years old.

In 1950, Senesh’s remains were brought to Israel and re-interred
at the military cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.


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A Walk to Caesarea


by Hannah Szenes


Original title


הליכה לקיסריה‎


Written   1942


Language


Hebrew