The Parachutist

The Parachutist: Monument to Enzo Sereni

Daphne Hardy-Henrion
Material
Bronze
Dimensions
Height 94 cm
Date created
1940
Acquisition
On loan from the artist's family, 1999
See Artist's profile

In the summer of 1939 in Paris, through mutual friends Daphne met the Hungarian writer Arthur Koestler and they became close.  In the chaos following the declaration of war and the subsequent harassment and internment of Koestler by the French, she managed to save a copy of the translation and smuggle it to England in 1940, where in the following year it was published under the title Darkness at Noon. The title for the book was her idea.

Enzo Sereni helped organize the Jewish parachute unit of the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) that sent agents into occupied Europe. On 15 May 1944, he was parachuted into Northern Italy but was captured immediately. According to records, he was shot in Dachau concentration camp on 18 November 1944.