Letter Handwritten and Signed by Enzo Chaim Sereni – A World War II Jewish Parachutist of Mandate Palestine – Givat ...

Letter Handwritten and Signed by Enzo Chaim Sereni – A World War II Jewish Parachutist of Mandate Palestine – Givat Brenner, 1930
A letter handwritten and signed by Enzo Chaim Sereni, one of the thirty-seven Jewish Parachutists sent across enemy lines during World War II. Givat Brenner, 1930.
The letter, sent while Sereni headed the founding group of Givat Brenner, contains a short message to a woman named Rachel Avish from Ben-Shemen – permission to come and stay in the Kibbutz on the authority of the Council. Although the message in the letter is short, it is telling of Sereni's character; that year he donated his entire inheritance and parents' savings to the kibbutz in order to prevent its financial collapse (and therefore, presumably, every guest needed the special permission of the Council). Signed at bottom (Hebrew): "Chaim Sereni, on behalf of the Rechovot company of the United Kibbutz".
Enzo Chaim Sereni (1905-1944), a writer, pioneer and intellectual, of the thirty seven Jewish Parachutist of Mandate Palestine who infiltrated Europe during World War II. Sereni was born to an Italian family in Rome, one of the most distinguished and ancient Jewish families in Italy (his father, Shmuel Sereni, was physician to the King of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele III, and his uncle was the leader of the community for about 35 years). In 1921, he visited Karlsbad when the 12th Zionist Congress was held, and, taken up with the new movement's vision, he became a Zionist activist. In 1927, he immigrated to Palestine, joined the "Gedud HaAvoadh" cooperative organization of pioneers (labor battalion) and was one of the founders of Kibbutz Givat Brenner.
Sereni was acutely aware of the danger facing the Jews of the world and during the 1930s went on several missions to Germany, the USA, Egypt, Iraq and elsewhere to encourage immigration, arriving at some destinations shortly before they fell into the hands of Germany. In 1944, when he was 39, he decided to volunteer for the most courageous operation of the forces of the Yishuv against Nazi Germany – sending Hebrew paratroopers across enemy lines in occupied Europe. Thirty seven Hebrew paratroopers were trained for the mission by the Palmach, the Haganah and the British Army, in order to make first contact with the Jews of Europe and in the second phase establish a Jewish resistance force. Sereni was parachuted on May 15, 1944 into Northern Italy; however, he was captured immediately by the Germans. He was sent to the Dachau concentration camp where he was executed by special orders.
The operation of parachuting Hebrew paratroopers into the heart of the German Empire had special significance in the Zionist historical memory and several of its members became cultural heroes in Israel – Hannah Szenes, Haviva Reik, Abba Berdichev and Enzo Sereni himself.
[1] leaf, 13X22 cm. Good condition. Fold lines, a few stains and minor blemishes.