The National Library of Israel recently unveiled a collection of rare photos of World War II-era Jewish paratrooper and poet Hannah Szenes to commemorate 80 years since her execution by the Nazi forces at the age of 23.

The newly released photographs are part of the Hannah Szenes Archival Collection that was passed on to the National Library in Jerusalem in 2020 by Ori and Mirit Eisen, Jewish entrepreneurs from Scottsdale, Arizona.

For the past four years, the library has worked to catalog, preserve and digitize the archive’s manuscripts, notebooks, photos, documents, personal items and more.

Matan Barzilai, head of Archives & Special Collections at the National Library of Israel, said that Szenes was not only a brave paratrooper and a gifted poet, but also a talented photographer, who documented various events, and enjoyed having photos taken of herself.

Zionist hero

Szenes was born in Budapest in 1921 and immigrated to pre-state Israel in 1939 with her family amid rising antisemitic sentiments in Hungary.

For two years, she studied at an agricultural school in the northern village of Nahalal before becoming a member of Kibbutz Sdot Yam, where she worked and wrote poetry, including a play about life on the kibbutz.

In 1943, at the peak of WWII, Szenes enlisted in the British army as a paratrooper with the hope of helping Jewish communities in Europe under Nazi occupation.

In 1944, Szenes was one of 32 soldiers, out of 250 candidates, selected for a Special Operations Executive mission.

On March 14, 1944, Szenes and two other colleagues were parachuted into Yugoslavia (modern-day Slovenia) and joined partisan forces.

After reaching the Hungarian border, Szenes was arrested by the occupying Nazi forces in June 1944.

Imprisoned in Budapest, Szenes suffered months of brutal interrogation and torture, but refused to cooperate with her captors. Szenes was ultimately charged with spying and treason. She was executed on November 7, 1944.

A Hungarian military court exonerated Szenes of all charges posthumously in 1993.

After her death, a suitcase containing letters, diaries, photo albums and other personal belongings was discovered under Szenes’ bed in Sdot Yam.

Years later, a notebook of poetry written by Szenes, which she had entrusted to a friend before going on her last mission, was published in Hebrew.

Szenes’ story and poems made her an icon of modern Jewish, Israeli, and Zionist culture. In 1950, her remains were transferred to Israel and laid to rest on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.