Producers Receive Film Rights to Make a Film About Hannah Senesh

The Legacy of Hannah Senesh. 

We are looking for supporters, donors, investors and film studios to make an extraordinary film about this true Jewish hero!

Hannah Senesh sacrificed herself for not only the Jewish people but for mankind as well. She was and is a true hero; a true Jewish hero.

We are Maurice and Attila who, after 3.5 years of not giving up, were able to obtain the film rights to make a film about Hannah Senesh. Attila, representing both of us, actually traveled to Israel to try the impossible. There, he met one of the nephews of Hannah. 

Earlier this year, we secured the film rights with three phases with an additonal option to extend.  

The screenplay has been written and is solely based on Hannah’s diaries, letters and witness’ testimonies. But what more intriguing is that one of the nephews of Hannah assured us that he would share some additional details with us whatever he finds appropriate. The other great news is that he wishes to be fully involved in the project. We think that it is absolutely amazing!

Some say Hannah was a British parachuter, others say she was a radio officer.  First, she was not British; she was Hungarian. Her first name in Hungarian is Aniko. She was born on July 17, 1921, in Budapest, Hungary. And she had a brother, George. 

After we read her entire diaries, letters and poems, we quickly found out that she was an extrordinary person with extraordinary qualities. One of them was that she always finished her classes as a top student, and she did everything with perfection. 

In 1939, after graduating from highschool in Budapest, she was accepted at the Nahalal Agricultural School in Palestine. Her life goal at that time was to continue to build a Land for future generations. So, she was among the first ones who put down the fundamentals of a country we know today as Israel.

She graduated from that school, but the horrors of the WWII made her realize that her life had an ultimate mission.  And that mission was completely different from why she went to study in Palestine.

During those times, her brother, George (Gyuri) was studying in France, and her mother, Katalin remained in Budapest.  Seeing the Nazi regim overthrowing the Hungarian government and having the Hungarian Jews being rounded up, she decided to make every effort in the world to do something about it.

It wasn’t easy for her first to get accepted into the Palmach, but she pulled it off.  From there, she was able to get signed by the British Army to act as a spy to gather information on the British captives in Hungary.  When the crossing from Yugoslavia to Hungary was postponed, she decided to take on her own mission. (Later her friend, Yoel Palgi crossed over to Hungary, too).

It was then when she handed a piece of paper to her commander, the Yugoslavian Rueven Daphne who almost threw that paper away. When he opened it, he saw a writing.  That was Hannah’s most famous poem: Blessed is the Match (and she wrote it in Hebrew).

Hannah’s way of viewing life was that if one can give one’s life to save thousands, it’s worth the sacrifice.  She tried and went for it because she wanted to save the last Jewish people of Europe.

But before she left Palestine, she arranged everything for her brother’s arrival.  Just one day before leaving for training in Cairo, Yoel helped Hannah to meet her brother in Haifa who arrived from France.  Hannah and her brother George were able to see each other only for a brief time… 

After she was captured, she was imprisoned, and the Nazis beat her up to give up her radio code; but they didn’t succeed.  Later, her interrogater, the Gestapo leader Seifert  completely gave up on getting the radio code.

In the prison, where her mother was placed, too, she was making paper dolls for all the matrons.

Then there was a trial.  She had a lawyer who was thrown out of the court room, so temporarily she faced the panel of judges alone.  Her defense turned into a heated debate.

The court could not come to a resolution, so her case was postponed – with the Soviets coming closer to Budapest, it was the most logical thing to do.  All the prisons were evacuated with only very limited staff remaining.  But in the panel of judges was a judge advocate who also happened to be the commander of the prison Hannah was transfered to.  His name was captain Simon… 

In the meantime, Hannah’s mother tried to find out in which prison Hannah was when she finally found Captain Simon.  Captain Simon told her nothing but lies.  Finally, Katalin found some of Hannah’s clothing.  From one of the pockets, she pulled out her daughter’s last letter addressed to her… 

After the war, captain Simon was brought to justice and was convicted of judicial murder.

On November 7, 1944, Hannah was only 23.

In 1951, her body was transfered from Budapest to Haifa where she was reburied with full military honor, and where she rests today…

We truly hope that Hannah’s story is not going to be overlooked as she was and remains one of the greatest heroes of all time, and the hero of Israel and all the Jewish people around the world.  She did something remarkable not many of us would be brave enough to even just think about. 

Let’s pay her a tribute with this film for her life, for her cause, for her sacrifice, for what she did for the Jewish people and for mankind.  And it wouldn’t be a better time than the 80th anniversary of the moment she left the world: on November 7, 2024.

Please help us make a remarkable film about this remarkable person.  But we should say instead: let’s make this film together!

We are trying to shoot this film in Israel and Hungary with an American A listed director and cinematographer. 

We thank you very much for spending time and reading!  We thank you for your generous support!