Hanna Szenes

Born in Hungary in 1921, Hanna Szenes left her family for Palestine in 1939, only to return six years later as a member of an elite volunteer parachute corps dropped by the British in an attempt to rescue Jews from the German army. She was caught and cruelly tortured, though never revealed any information. On November 7, 1944 she was executed by a firing squad in a Budapest prison courtyard.
 

                 We Gather Flowers

                                         by Hanna Szenes

                  We gathered flowers in the fields and mountains,
                  We breathed the fresh winds of spring,
                  We were drenched with the warmth of the sun’s rays
                   In our Homeland, in our beloved home.

                  We got out to our brothers in exile,
                  To the suffering of winter, to frost in the night.
                  Our hearts will bring tidings of springtime,
                  Our lips sing the song of light.

                                                                         1944
 

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