16 Facts About Etty Hillesum

Esther "Etty" Hillesum was a Dutch Jewish author of confessional letters and diaries which describe both her religious awakening and the persecutions of Jewish people in Amsterdam during the German occupation.

Etty Hillesum began writing her diary in March 1941, possibly at the suggestion of her analyst Julius Spier, whom she had been consulting for a month.

When round-ups of Jews intensified in July 1942, Etty Hillesum took on administrative duties for the "Jewish Council", voluntarily transferring to a department of "Social Welfare for People in Transit" at Westerbork transit camp.

Etty Hillesum worked there for a month, but returned in June 1943, by which time she had refused offers to go into hiding, much to the consternation of her non-Jewish friends.

Only Jaap Etty Hillesum did not go with them; he arrived in Westerbork after their removal, and in February 1944, he was sent to Bergen-Belsen, dying shortly after its liberation in April 1945.

Etty Hillesum's parents are recorded as having died on 10 September 1943, suggesting they died in transit or were murdered immediately upon their arrival.

Mischa Etty Hillesum remained in Auschwitz until October 1943, when he was moved to the Warsaw Ghetto, where, according to the Red Cross, he died before 31 March 1944.

Etty Hillesum's youth was chaotic and turbulent, possibly resulting from her emotionally unstable family, to which she herself referred as a "madhouse".

Etty Hillesum's diaries reflect the inner turmoil that she experiences during her young adulthood, as well as the healing and growth during the years before her murder.

Etty Hillesum did not strive for ecstasy, but longed to meet the depth of her own interior and life itself.

Etty Hillesum's spirituality was not confined to her intellectual understanding of a greater power and is reflected in her diaries.

Etty Hillesum neither denies the horror of the Nazi terror, nor identifies with her victimhood.

Etty Hillesum suffered great inner turmoil during her young adulthood, but increasingly transforms into a woman of maturity and wisdom.

Etty Hillesum saw it as her duty to assist her people in preserving their human dignity in the face of Nazi attempts to not only murder Jews but take away their humanity.

Etty Hillesum's letters were sent to friends and Hillesum's final postcard was thrown from the train in Westerbork, where it was discovered by Dutch farmers after her death.

Rowan Rheingans has drawn on Etty Hillesum's writing, particularly on the coexistence of beauty and horror, and on allowing room for sorrow, in her album "The lines we draw together".