Fire In My Heart

Hannah Senesh came of age as a promising poet in Budapest. Becoming a Zionist, she immigrated to British Mandate Palestine in 1939. Four years later—hoping to aid Hungary’s embattled Jews—the 22- year-old Hannah volunteered to penetrate Nazi-controlled Europe as a British intelligence officer. Following her capture and imprisonment, a Hungarian court found her guilty of treason and executed her. Within months of her death, Hannah Senesh was a national hero to the Jewish community in Palestine. Her poem “A Walk to Caesarea” (popularly known as “Eli, Eli”) was set to music and has become a second anthem for the Jewish State. Through her writings, photographs, remaining possessions, and interviews by friends and colleagues, her remarkable life is revealed here for the first time. Her story illustrates how a person motivated by ideals can act in extraordinary ways and contribute to causes greater than one’s self.

In addition to more than 60 three-dimensional artifacts and documents, the exhibition features photographs, two original films, three digital image presentations, and three audio stations.

Fire In My Heart:  The Story of Hannah Senesh was created and is circulated by the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust.