Hannah Senesh: Her Life and Diary, the First Complete Edition [Hardcover]

Hannah Senesh (Author), Abba Eban (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2004

Hero • Martyr • Poet The inspiring story of a remarkable life cut short. “I don’t think Hannah wanted to die for the sake of having her memory exalted in history or to prove herself equal to a romantic image she conceived for herself. Her heroism wasn’t a fashion. She made a choice to be heroic, but to be heroic in order to be true. Her purpose wasn’t to die. She died for her life’s purpose.” —U.S. Senator John McCain, in Why Courage Matters Hannah Senesh, poet and Israel’s national heroine, has come to be seen as a symbol of Jewish heroism. Safe in Palestine during World War II, she volunteered for a mission to help rescue fellow Jews in her native Hungary. She was captured by the Nazis, endured imprisonment and torture, and was finally executed at the age of twenty-three. Like Anne Frank, she kept a diary from the time she was thirteen. This new edition brings together not only the widely read and cherished diary, but many of Hannah’s poems and letters, memoirs written by Hannah’s mother, accounts by parachutists who accompanied Hannah on her fateful mission, and insightful material not previously published in English. Behind the diary and writings stands an extraordinary human being. Described by a fellow parachutist as “a spiritual girl guided almost by mysticism,” Hannah’s courage and nobility will inspire a new generation of people to follow their own inner voice just as she followed hers. “A powerful book by a young woman who was and remains a true hero to many people. She had much to teach the world when she lived. She has even more to teach it now.” —Deborah E. Lipstadt, PhD, Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies, Emory University “Her life is an offering, her words a poem, her story an inspiration.” —Elie Wiesel Eitan Senesh is Hannah Senesh’s nephew and chairman of The Hannah Senesh Legacy Foundation, whose aim is to perpetuate the memory of Hannah Senesh and her comrades. Marge Piercy is the author of sixteen novels including Gone to Soldiers; He, She and It; Three Women; and most recently The Third Child. Her memoir is called Sleeping with Cats. She has also written sixteen volumes of poetry including The Art of Blessing the Day: Poems with a Jewish Theme and most recently Colors Passing Through Us. She received an honorary doctorate degree from Hebrew Union College for her contributions to Jewish culture and liturgy.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

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.
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Review

“A powerful book by a young woman who was and remains a true hero to many people. She had much to teach the world when she lived. She has even more to teach it now.” —Deborah E. Lipstadt, PhD, Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies, Emory University “Her life is an offering, her words a poem, her story an inspiration.” —Elie Wiesel --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 450 pages
• Publisher: Jewish Lights Publishing (October 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580232124
• ISBN-13: 978-1580232128
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,616,131 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A star that lights the way for mankind, January 22, 2005

By 

Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Hannah Senesh: Her Life and Diary, the First Complete Edition (Hardcover)

The story of Hannah Senesh is the story of a heroine of the Jewish people. This volume contains her diary including a record of her early years in Hungry and her time in Eretz Yisrael, two chapters about her by her mother, and chapters by fellow soldiers in the British Army from the Yishuv who served with her when they were dropped behind enemy lines during the War. Hannah Senesh was the daughter of a well- known Hungarian playwright who died when she was six. She and her older brother were raised by a very caring and devoted mother . In her school where she was outstanding she suffered from Anti- Semitism. And as Nazi power grew in Europe she moved toward a deeper connection to her own Jewishness, at one point announcing that she had become a Zionist. Her diary records her decision to go to Eretz Yisrael, and her years of education there at Nahalal. It is the diary of a spirited, intelligent and idealistic person. She volunteered to serve in the British Army Unit which was to be dropped behind enemy lines in the hope of helping rescue Jews. She and her fellow soldiers from the Yishuv were connected with the Partisans' struggle against the Nazis in Yugoslavia. The day before she was about to enter her native Hungry where she most hoped to help the Nazis entered and took control of Hungry. Upon hearing this news she cried. A friend asked her if this was because she was thinker of her mother. She said ' That the entrance of the Germans to Hungry doomed one - million Hungarian Jews to death. She was not wrong. The greatest share of Hungarian Jews were eventually murdered by the Nazis. She entered Hungry was captured, and was placed in prison. The Nazis brought her mother to the prison , and told Senesh that if she did not give them the information that they wanted the secret radio codes she had they would torture her mother before her eyes. She begged her mother's forgiveness, and she herself was tortured. But she did not give away the information. Eventually she was taken out and shot to death . All those associated with her admired her tremendous courage and integrity .
Her ambition was to be like her father a writer, but not a playwright but a novelist. Her love and dedication to the Jewish people in the land of Israel that she came to love so much are strongly apparent in the work.
Perhaps the best tribute to her is her own words,
"There are stars whose radiance is visible on earth though they have long been extinct.There are people whose brilliance continues to light the world though they are no longer among the living. These lights are particularly bright when the night is dark. They light the way for Mankind.'

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The making of a heroine, July 19, 2009

By 

Rose Lee "admirer of heroes" (Arkansas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hannah Senesh: Her Life and Diary, the First Complete Edition (Paperback)

I was very pleased with this book and the ease with which it could be read. I am glad to see that such a work is available to help inform those of us who knew nothing about Hannah Senesh. I have great respect for people who see their destiny and unflinchingly follow through. God has raised up people in the past to serve as examples and I believe that in many ways Hannah represents just such an example not just for the Jewish people but for all of us everywhere.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hannah Senesh, another remarkable woman, January 9, 2007

By 

Judy L. Rogers-lavigne "Judy R" (Olympia, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hannah Senesh: Her Life and Diary, the First Complete Edition (Hardcover)

I had never heard of Hannah Senesh until I planned to go to Israel and was looking at possible places to visit. After I heard about her I wanted to know more. This book tells the story, in her own words of how a young Jewish woman came to be an Israeli hero. It makes me wonder if I too would have the courtage of conviction to stand up for something even to death. A very remarkable story indeed.