
23/04/2025
Tonight I shared the stories of powerful Jewish women with a thousand English speakers in Tel Aviv, Israel in honor of Yom HaShoa, Israel’s Holocaust commemoration day. I read the poem of Hannah Szenes, a young female Zionist like myself. Hannah was murdered by firing squad in 1944. She left behind her poetry and her legacy.
In 1943 Jewish agency officials asked Szenes to join a high risk military operation, learned to be a paratrooper and In March 1944 was dropped into Yugoslavia in order to aid anti-Nazi forces and rescue Jews. Szenes was captured in June after entering Hungary, was sent to a prison, tortured and yet maintained silence. Given the chance to beg for a pardon in November 1944, Szenes chose death by firing squad. She was 23.
After reading her work aloud, keeping her memory alive (thanks to her mother who published her journals and poems) I had the honor to bring Holocaust survivor Wanda Albinska to the stage. Her kickass mother, Dr. Halina Rotstein, a dedicated doctor, graduated from medical school in 1930 and saved Jewish children until she was taken to her death at Treblinka death camp. We honored her today with a film that Wanda produced about her life.
Like and comment your thoughts here to honor Israel’s special Holocaust commemoration day.