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.

Etty Hillesum’s diary, which she kept between 1941 and 1943, is the only extant source about her. Hillesum’s diary reflects a mature, nonconformist Dutch woman attempting to grapple with the changing landscape of her internal world.

Mar 7, 2025 · What begins for a young Dutch Jewish woman, Etty Hillesum as part of her therapy ― recording her thoughts in a diary — evolves into one of the most harrowing, moving, beautifully written documents to emerge from the Holocaust.

Many Jews have read The Diary of Anne Frank, but much fewer have heard of the extraordinarily gifted Etty Hillesum, a Dutch Jew who also wrote diaries during the Holocaust and perished in Auschwitz.

Etty, Ettie or Etti is a feminine given name, often a short version of Esther or Elizabeth. [citation needed] It is also a surname. It may refer to the following people:

Born in January 1914, Etty Hillesum 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 social, intellectual, and - most significantly - …

Mar 16, 2016 · Etty Hillesum was born in the Netherlands in 1914 to Jewish parents. She died on November 30, 1943, in Auschwitz. She experienced unimaginable loss and hardship, and her life was cut cruelly short.

Jan 17, 2013 · This book explores Etty Hillesum's life and writings, seeking to understand what it was about her that was so remarkable, how her journey developed, how her spirituality was shaped, and what her profound reflections on the roots of …

May 17, 2023 · A disarming one-woman play, Etty invites the audience to be part of her intimate struggle to find a freedom within herself as the world closes in around her. Music from …

Etty Hillesum’s life ended at Auschwitz when she was only 29 years old. In the play, Etty, drawn entirely from Hillesum’s diaries and letters of 1941 - 1943, we meet a remarkable young Dutch woman: insightful, determined, poetic, sensual.