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Receiving the Hannah Senesh
Archive at the National Library of Israel

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November - December 2020

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‫We find ourselves now at the end

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of a long journey,
which stretched nearly 100 years,

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and the final stop on the journey
has been reached, just now,

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with the [archive's] arrival in Jerusalem,
at the National Library.

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‫Hannah Senesh's archive

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was very well-preserved

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by her family,

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and we're honored that they felt
we were the right place

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to deposit these documents.

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‫The archive is actually a combination

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of the private family archive, preserved
in Budapest by Hannah Senesh's mother,

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which includes materials
from her childhood,

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along with
the archive in Israel

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from after her death.
After her friends returned to

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Israel from ‫Europe in 1945

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they found her estate
in Kibbutz Sdot Yam,

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her literary estate.

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Her letters, her journals,
and her poems,

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some of which we are all
familiar with,

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and here, today, we are returning
to the original materials.

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This is a truly exciting moment,

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as we open the suitcase,
‫which contained

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Hannah Senesh's entire literary estate,

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which arrived at the
National Library two days ago.

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My God, this is so exciting...

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How wonderful...

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"My God,

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May this never end."
(written with the letter Aleph, so lovely)

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"The sand and the sea...

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The rustle of the water...

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The lightning of the sky...

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The prayer of man.‎"

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‎‎‫On the one hand, we can sense
‎‫history in the making‎ here

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‫but this archive also expresses
‫the pen and the sword

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embodied by Hannah Senesh,
‫who was both

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a young woman, a wonderful writer...

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a woman of letters,
who created exquisite things,

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as well as a paratrooper,
a fighter...

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‫who gave her life

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While we were working, we found
her certificates, her birth certificate,

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‫her matriculation certificate

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This is her fourth grade report card.

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‫1931

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‫Senesh, Hannah

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A letter from Bella Senesh,
Hannah's father,

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for Hannah's fifth birthday

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in 1926. This is
Hannah Senesh's last poem,

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which was found in her clothing,

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her clothing was sent to her mother,
after she died.

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The two notes that were found
in her coat pocket,

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which were received later by her
mother, in Budapest,

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are definitely the most stirring ones.

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"God, show me a sign.
Show a sign on his forehead,

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For in the fire, in the flames,
and in the blood,

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‫I shall, indeed, recognize
‫the pure, eternal spark

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that I sought,
son of man."

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All in all, what we see here is a
fascinating figure.

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Undoubtedly, the complete archive
can shed much light on that figure.

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‫Our goal is that

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anyone who wishes to

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will be able to read the
poems, letters, diaries

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‫and anything else in the archive

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for themselves, directly.

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And, of course, we want to invite
everyone to come

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to see the materials themselves,
inside the library building,

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in better days.

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‫Congratulations to the National Library
‫and the Senesh family

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upon the receipt of this archive.

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I hope the entire Jewish
nation will be able to view it

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and enjoy it, as well as
the entire world.

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Congratulations.

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Video: Udi Alfasi, Tranquilo Productions
Graphics: Amir Percia