“We left the camp singing” – the interrupted life of Etty Hillesum
These words, written on a postcard thrown from a cattle transport on its way out of Holland to Poland and its ultimate destination, Auschwitz, were some of the very last words written by Dr Etty (Esther) Hillesum. The postcard had been found on the 7th of September 1943 and posted by the farmers who found it a few days later. Dr Hillesum died on the 30th of November 1943. She was 29 years of age. Between 1941 and 1943, she kept a diary of her life in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam, detailing the privations, the fears, the joys, the hopes and her extraordinary inner life.
I’ve been reading it in chunks, often during those frequent occasions when insomnia and pain and worry have driven me from my bed to read downstairs on the sofa. It’s been a true companion to me. Her voice, silenced for many, many years, rings out, true and clear and full of life. Her love of life, her resilience have been an inspiration and not a reproach to me in my own troubles (and believe me, virtually every self-help book I have come across, every nugget of a meme from some guru or other, has left me with nothing but guilt and self-reproach for my own lack of strength and guts) and I finally read the last section of the book today. It’s a collection of the letters she wrote from Westerbork, the camp Dutch Jews were held at before being loaded onto cattle trucks and sent off to Auschwitz. The voice in these letters differs only very little from that of the diaries; her integrity and pure honesty shine out, unmistakably amid the events of those terrible days. Humour, love, gentleness and a lack of bitterness that is almost shocking.
I’d put off reading this book, because the core of the book is something I cannot look at square in the face without feeling the abyss opening. Yet the abyss IS indeed opening. Concentration camps exist again in the so-called civilised world, and the fact that many dispute the use of the word is proof that they have become inured to the concept. But the book brought me some comfort that a voice of sense, reason, justice and love can still ring out across the years since its owner died. It reminded me that we have lessons from the past that can and should be learned from.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Interrupted-Life-Diaries-Letters-Hillesum/dp/095347805X/
Zen and the Art of Tightrope Walking 
How we retain our dignity and integrity in the face of such enormities is valuable and uplifting information. When others treat you despitefully, never descend to their level, seems to be the message.
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One of the messages, indeed.
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Thanks for this Viv, it’s very interesting. I often turn to Frank’s Man’s Search for Meaning for inspiration.
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It’s a very good book, that one by Frankl. I must reread it.
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The first half is the part I go back to again and again, whilst the second one is more about the theory behind logotherapy which is less interesting to me, but that’s a personal opinion
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It’s such a paradox to me. Side by side we see the worst of humanity and the best. It is hard to comprehend the mindset which can conceive, order and carry out such evil as the concentration camps. At the same time, I find myself in awe at the sheer spiritual beauty and raw courage shown by some of the victims. In dark times such as these are becoming, it’s important to remember that these lights can still shine.
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I feel that the American government under Trump is creating its own version of concentration camps, particularly with the internments of the kids seeking refuge in a land that used to welcome ’em with words on the plaque of the Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore.”
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