Etty Hillesum, Serving Others

Born to a Dutch father and a Russian Jewish woman who emigrated from Russia to Holland in the early XNUMXth century, Etty Hillesum, the eldest of three children, absorbed both Slavic and European cultures. Perhaps this is what helped her live, work and love in a very difficult time for the whole world. After graduating from the Lyceum in Deventer, Etty leaves her parental home, and the difficult, often dangerous, but always courageous path of her formation begins. In Amsterdam, she first studies Dutch law and Slavic languages, then takes a great interest in Russian language and literature. Later, she would put Dostoevsky’s novel The Idiot and a Russian dictionary in her bag to take with her to the camp, instead of stocking up on groceries.

The fateful meeting at the beginning of the war with Jung’s student, the psychoanalyst Julius Spier, will have a huge impact on Etty’s personality, give her not only love, friendship, a deep understanding of herself and others, but also help to finally decide on the choice of her path – serving people and God. Service will fill her life until her last breath.

Her dates

• January 15, 1914: Etty Hillesum was born in Middelburg (northwest Holland).
• 1932–1939: studies law and languages ​​in Amsterdam.
• March 9, 1941: writes in his diary about his first meeting with Julius Spier.
• 15 July 1942: Begins work in the cultural department of the Jewish Council in Westerbork.
• 30 July 1942: Volunteer to transit camp at Westerbork.
• September 1942: Spier’s death.
• December 5, 1942: Etty leaves the camp and goes to an Amsterdam hospital for six months of treatment. Friends offer her shelter, but Etty refuses.
• 5 June 1942: Returns to camp at Westerbork.
• July 1943: The special status of the EU worker is abolished and Etty becomes an ordinary prisoner.
• September 1943: Mother Etty Rebecca Hillesum writes to the SS Chief of Police in Holland G.A. Reuther in an attempt to save his family.
• September 7, 1943: On Reuther’s orders, the entire family is immediately deported to Auschwitz.
• November 30, 1943: Etty dies in Auschwitz.

Keys to Understanding

Throughout her short, but very eventful life, Etty did not stop learning. Whether it was languages, literature, psychology – in everything she tried to get to the very essence. “Knowledge is power,” she wrote in her diaries, “and, probably, for this reason I strive to accumulate them … out of a desire to be strong, significant … But Lord, give me wisdom, not knowledge.” The ability to deeply analyze helps Etty to feel and understand the events around her and not to merge with the mass, remaining a separate, independent person.

Etty does not recognize cowardice, duality, hypocrisy. Clearly understanding what is happening around her, she nevertheless does not change herself, does not adapt, like many of her contemporaries, but tries step by step to implement her principles and values. He goes to the camp as a volunteer, refusing the help of friends – in fact, he goes to his death. “It’s not that I suffer from a particular kind of masochism that strongly pushes me to go [to the camp] and break away from the foundations of my existence. But will I be happy if I step back from the fate imposed on others? Etty argued.

Witnessing what terrible circumstances of life turn people into, Etty learned not to condemn, but to pity and understand criminals and look for the roots of their vices … in herself. “This is the only solution,” she wrote, “in fact, the only one, I see no other way … it is necessary that each of us turn to himself and uproot and destroy everything in himself that he considers necessary to destroy from others. You can be sure that the slightest atom of hatred that we add to this world makes it even more uncomfortable than it was.

In a crazy time of war, Etty relies not only on his knowledge of human psychology, but also on internal forces. The more terrible what is happening around, the more terrible the reality, the more often she turns to the depths of her own soul for an answer. “There is a very deep well within me. And God lives in this well. Sometimes I am there too. But too often the well is covered with sand and stones, and God is buried under them. And then my task is to dig it up again.”