Poet, spy. Szenes was born to an assimilated Jewish family in Hungary. As a teenager she became a Zionist and emigrated to Palestine as a young adult. In 1941 she joined the Haganah paramilitary group, then the British Army in 1943. She trained in Egypt with the Special Operations Executive and was parachuted into Yugoslavia in 1944 on the only military rescue mission for Jews during the Holocaust. Captured at the Hungarian border, she was arrested, taken to Budapest and tortured and executed. One of the last poems Szenes wrote was composed in a partisan camp in Yugoslavia:
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.
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.
Poet, spy. Szenes was born to an assimilated Jewish family in Hungary. As a teenager she became a Zionist and emigrated to Palestine as a young adult. In 1941 she joined the Haganah paramilitary group, then the British Army in 1943. She trained in Egypt with the Special Operations Executive and was parachuted into Yugoslavia in 1944 on the only military rescue mission for Jews during the Holocaust. Captured at the Hungarian border, she was arrested, taken to Budapest and tortured and executed. One of the last poems Szenes wrote was composed in a partisan camp in Yugoslavia:
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.
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.
