Etty Hillesum

Esther "Etty" Hillesum (15 January 1914 – 30 November 1943) 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. In 1943, she was deported and murdered in the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Life

Esther Hillesum was born on 15 January 1914 in her family home in the town of Middelburg, the oldest of the three children – she had two brothers: Jacob, or "Jaap" (1916–1945), and Michael, or "Mischa" (1920–1944) – of Levie Hillesum (1880–1943) and Riva Bernstein (1881–1943). After completing school in 1932, she moved to Amsterdam to study law and Slavic languages. There, she met Hendrik (Hans) J. Wegerif, with whom she had a relationship that she describes in her diaries.

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. Although his patient, Etty also became his secretary, friend, and, eventually, his lover. His influence on her spiritual development is apparent in her diaries; as well as teaching her how to deal with her depressive and egocentric episodes, he introduced her to the Bible and St. Augustine, and helped her develop a deeper understanding of the work of Rilke and Dostoyevsky.

Her diaries record the increasing anti-Jewish measures imposed by the occupying German army, and the growing uncertainty about the fate of fellow Jews who had been deported by them. As well as forming a record of oppression, her diaries describe her spiritual development and deepening faith in God.