The heroism of Hannah Senesz: an exercise in creating collective national memory in the State of Israel

Examines how it was that Hanna Szenes became a symbol of Israeli heroism. Szenes was born in Budapest in 1921, emigrated to Eretz Israel in 1939, joined a kibbutz, and in 1942 became active in the Palmach. In 1944 she was one of ca. 40 parachutists trained by the British to drop behind enemy lines in order to send wireless transmissions and help rescue RAF pilots. Their "true" mission was to organize Zionist activity, resistance, and escape. Szenes was caught and executed by the Hungarian authorities, following a trial in which she refused to admit her guilt and ask for a pardon. Seven of these parachutists lost their lives, but only Szenes became a symbol in the collective national memory. Analyzes the role of her family and her kibbutz movement (Hakibbutz Hameuchad) in establishing that memory, and the events of the "Kasztner trial" and its echoes in Israeli literature and in the arts (e.g. the 1994 TV film "Kasztner").