On this day in 1944, captured paratrooper and poet Hannah Szenes was executed by firing squad, refusing the blindfold and staring her executors in the face. Hannah Szenes was born in Budapest, Hungary on July 17, 1921, to a secular Jewish family. The daughter of an author and a journalist, Szenes took on writing herself, keeping a diary since the age of 13 and writing poems that were later found after her death. A sharp increase of antisemitic sentiment in Budapest, Hungary drove her to become involved with the local Zionist chapter, and by 1939, she was on her way to British-occupied Palestine. Szenes settled at Kibbutz Sdot Yam near Hadera where she continued to write poetry and even a play. World War II quickly broke after her arrival and Szenes volunteered for the British Army, parachuting unit, and the Haganah. In coordination with the Yishuv (the pre-Israel Jewish governing body) and the Haganah, Szenes trained in Egypt and was one of the 33 people chosen to drop into Europe to save Hungarian Jews. By early 1945, 500,000 Hungarian Jews would be rushed and murdered in extermination camps. Szenes dropped into the Balkan region in March of 1944, and upon crossing the Hungarian border, she was caught by Hungarian police. When they found a British radio device, she was questioned and tortured extensively over eight months. Even though they threatened her mother, Szenes never revealed any information other than her name. Ultimately, she was tried and sentenced for treason. On November 7, 1944, Hannah Szenes was executed at age 23. In the early 1990s, a Hungarian military court officially exonerated her. In 1950, Szenes’ remains were brought to Israel and she was re-buried at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem.