Author Description

The complete letters and diaries of Etty Hillesum are now available in this comprehensive English edition, allowing readers all over the world to fully appreciate the life of this remarkable woman. In the midst of the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust, Etty's writings reveal a young Jewish woman who celebrated life and remained an undaunted example of courage, sympathy, and compassion. Etty began her diary in 1941, nine months after Hitler invaded her home country of the Netherlands. The record she kept for the next two years contains arresting personal reflections and chronicles her intellectual and spiritual development. Letters that she wrote to friends during her internment at the Westerbork transit camp poignantly describe the day-to-day horrors that the Jewish prisoners faced. Etty's courage and determination remained strong, however, allowing her to rise above the hate around her and express her undying faith in humanity. As she wrote in her last letter, thrown from the train that took her to her death at Auschwitz, "We left the camp singing." Through this splendid translation by Arnold J. Pomerans, commissioned by the Etty Hillesum Foundation, readers everywhere will resonate with the spirit of this amazing young woman.