Hannah Senesh: Her Life And Diary, the First Complete Edition

From Publishers Weekly
On November 7, 1944, a Nazi firing squad in Budapest shot Hannah Senesh, 23, a Hungarian-born Zionist who had spent the previous five years studying and working in Palestine. Hoping to help liberate Jews in her homeland, she had joined the British army, parachuted into Yugoslavia and crossed the border into Hungary. Immediately captured, tortured and jailed, she refused to divulge sensitive information that could compromise her fellow partisans' safety. Since 1946, when her diaries were published in Hebrew, Senesh's story has been told many times, in biographies and film as well as through her own writings. This new edition is similar to a 1972 Schocken book by the same title (out of print). Both include poignant memoirs by Hannah's mother, Catherine, about her gifted daughter's childhood and tragic final months, as well as riveting essays by two of Hannah's fellow soldiers. Both also include Hannah's diary entries from ages 13 to 22 along with a selection of her poems and letters. This Jewish Lights edition adds more diary material, two poems, 12 letters and a handful of photos to those found in the 1972 edition, though curiously for a "complete edition" it has also deleted about 20 diary entries and three letters. For those unfamiliar with the story of Hannah's exceptional courage, this is a moving collection. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Holly Smith
During her brief life, 1921-1944, Hannah Senesh became a national hero in Israel. Her diary begins in 1933 in her native Budapest. In the midst of entries about school, boys, and travel, her growing awareness of herself as a Zionist emerges; while she is learning Hebrew and making plans to move to Palestine, thoughts on the impending war pepper her writing. In 1939, she moves to Palestine to attend the Girl's Agricultural School and work on a kibbutz. That same year, World War II is formally declared. Hannah feels powerless in the face of its horrors: "We can do nothing else; we're forbidden to take action, though there is certainly a difference between passivity and inactivity." But she volunteers, the only female, for a parachute troop with a secret mission to land behind enemy lines in Yugoslavia, sneak into occupied Hungary, and warn the Jewish population, including her mother, of their imminent fate. Tension is strong in her last letter, penned the day she parachutes into Yugoslavia. The next section of the book is written by two fellow parachuters who provide more details about their mission and portray Hannah Senesh as a brave, wise, and compassionate woman. The last section is written by her mother, imprisoned in Budapest when Hannah was captured and brought to the same jail, where Hannah was tortured and died at age twenty-three. -- For great reviews of books for girls, check out Let's Hear It for the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14.



Language Notes
Text: English, Hebrew (translation)


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On November 7, 1944, a Nazi firing squad in Budapest shot Hannah Senesh, 23, a Hungarian-born Zionist who had spent the previous five years studying and working in Palestine. Hoping to help liberate Jews in her homeland, she had joined the British army, parachuted into Yugoslavia and crossed the border into Hungary. Immediately captured, tortured and jailed, she refused to divulge sensitive information that could compromise her fellow partisans' safety. Since 1946, when her diaries were published in Hebrew, Senesh's story has been told many times, in biographies and film as well as through her own writings. This new edition is similar to a 1972 Schocken book by the same title (out of print). Both include poignant memoirs by Hannah's mother, Catherine, about her gifted daughter's childhood and tragic final months, as well as riveting essays by two of Hannah's fellow soldiers. Both also include Hannah's diary entries from ages 13 to 22 along with a selection of her poems and letters. This Jewish Lights edition adds more diary material, two poems, 12 letters and a handful of photos to those found in the 1972 edition, though curiously for a "complete edition" it has also deleted about 20 diary entries and three letters. For those unfamiliar with the story of Hannah's exceptional courage, this is a moving collection. (Dec.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.


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