The diaries and letters of Etty Hillesum have a special place among the Jewish-Dutch testimonies of the Shoah (Holocaust). They contain not only a description of Camp Westerbork during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, but also a reflection of Hillesum's important, though unfortunately interrupted, existential search for spiritual, philosophical and literary fulfilment. Since her death in the extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1943, the diaries have received worldwide attention and inspired hundreds of thousands of readers.

We have the honour to present in this volume the proceedings of the Third International Etty Hillesum Conference held in September 2018 meeting in Middelburg, Zeeland, the city where Etty Hillesum was born in 1914. The Etty Hillesum Research Centre in cooperation with University College Roosevelt invited scholars from around the world to exchange insights and to discuss problems that arise when studying Etty Hillesum's writings. Forty speakers presented papers and there was a wonderful performance of the theatre play Blazing Harmonies written by Stephen Cherry, Dean of King's College, Cambridge, and performed by him and the gifted English actress Rosie Hillal. In this volume, most of the papers presented at the conference have been included in revised and annotated versions.

Looking back at the conference with gratitude, we would like to thank the various people and organisations who made the meeting possible. First of all, we thank those who presented their papers and all others who accepted our invitation to attend the conference and through their enthusiasm and interest in Etty Hillesum's literary heritage made it an unforgettable experience. We especially thank Rosie Hillal for her most impressive performance, Bert van den Brink, Dean of University College Roosevelt Middelburg, for his cordial welcome, Han Polman, King's Commissioner in the province of Zeeland, for opening, and Harald Bergmann, Mayor of Middelburg, for closing the conference. Special thanks also to Ms. Michael Strange and Caroline Diepeveen, whose assistance in editing the texts has proven most helpful and whose dedication we appreciate very much.

A number of organisations and institutions provided us with indispensable aid, enabling us to carry out the conference in the beautiful surroundings of the ancient Town Hall of Middelburg. In alphabetic order, they are: the Etty Hillesum Foundation, Amsterdam, the Municipality of Middelburg, the Province of Zeeland and the University College Roosevelt. We express our sincerest thanks for their support.