Hanna Szenes

Born in Budapest to an assimilated Jewish family, Hanna Szenes was initially educated in a Protestant school. However, a dose of good old-fashioned antisemitism soon disabused her of any notions of fitting in, prompting her to embrace her Jewish identity and Zionism with an intensity that would put many a modern-day influencer to shame. After all, what's a little discrimination if it leads to profound self-discovery and a lifelong commitment to a cause?

By 1939, she’d packed her bags for Mandatory Palestine, enrolling in an agricultural school and proving that she was just as adept at farming as she was at penning heartfelt verse. When WWII turned the world upside down, Szenes, with an astonishing lack of concern for her own safety, volunteered for a British special operations mission, parachuting into Yugoslavia in 1944. Her goal? To aid Allied efforts and, more importantly, to rescue Hungarian Jews from the clutches of the Nazis. Because apparently, risking your life behind enemy lines was just another Tuesday for Hanna.

Captured almost immediately upon crossing into Hungary, Szenes endured months of brutal interrogation and torture. Despite the horrors, she refused to betray her comrades or divulge any information. She faced a firing squad with the same steely resolve she brought to her poetry, cementing her place not just as a martyr, but as a genuine, bona fide hero. Her final words,