Etty Hillesum

Etty Hillesum (1914–1943) was a Dutch Jewish writer and diarist. Born in Middelburg, she studied law and later began studying Slavic languages and literature, a course she had to abandon during the German occupation. In March 1941, she began keeping diaries, which she continued until her deportation. From July 1942, she worked for the Jewish Council in the Westerbork transit camp. On 7 September 1943, she was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau with her parents and one of her brothers, where she died on 30 November 1943. Her diaries are regarded as important literary documents of the persecution of Jews during the Second World War.