Hannah Senesh

Hannah Senesh (Chana Senesh) in British UniformHannah Senesh  (or Chana Szenes) (Born: July 17, 1921; Executed: November 7, 1944 ) was a Palestinian Jew born in Hungary, who volunteered to parachute into occupied Hungary for the British army. Senesh came from an assimilated Hungarian Jewish family and studied at a Protestant school open to Catholics and Jews. Meeting anti-Semitism there, she joined the Maccabea group while in high school. After she graduated  in 1939, she came on Aliya to mandate Palestine. She trained in an agricultural school in Nahalal and then joined Kibbutz Sdot Yam in 1941. She also joined the Haganah.  In 1943 she enlisted in the British army. The Jewish Yishuv in Palestine had been aware, since 1942 of the ongoing murder of European Jewry and had been pleading with the British to set up rescue commandos. In particular, Enzo Sereni played a role in convincing the British of the need for such units. 

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