The thinking heart: Etty Hillesum

“A day will come, and we will have to build a new world for us, and we must respond to every crime and every atrocity with love and kindness... We are allowed to suffer, but not submit to suffering.”

These words, full of hope and determination, were written by Etty Hillesum, a 29-year-old intellectual who continued to marvel at the beauty of the world and explore the human soul even when she was imprisoned in a transit camp on the way to Auschwitz and experienced one of the darkest periods in human history.

In the third episode of “Muses”, Maya Kosover turns to the words and life of the writer who sought to be “the thinking heart of the camp” and became a source of inspiration for future generations.

Credits:

Photos and manuscripts courtesy of the Jewish Museum Collection, Amsterdam

Portrait of Etty Hilsum (F304403): Edited image

Image (FL62844113): Dan Hadani Collection, CC BY-SA 4.0

Video clips courtesy of Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld & Geluid

The quotes from the book “The Sky Within” courtesy of Keter Publishing