Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- Introduction
- Music as Metaphor in Etty Hillesum’s Spirituality
- A “staretz” in Camp Westerbork: The Connections Between Slavic Orthodoxy and the Spirituality of Etty Hillesum
- Etty Hillesum: Humanity as a Task
- Etty Hillesum & Albert Konrad Gemmeker: A Twofold Analysis of the Perpetration of the Westerbork Commander
- “Now is the Time to Put into Practice: Love Your Enemies”: Several Notes on Hillesum’s “Love for Enemies” in Levenskunst
- The Cares of the Pagans: The Reading of Matthew 6:25-34 by Søren Kierkegaard and Etty Hillesum
- Dialogizing Life amidst a Culture of Death: Etty Hillesum, Dostoevsky’s Grand Inquisitor and Nazi Reductionism
- Patience and Hope in the Writings of Julian of Norwich and Etty Hillesum
- The Girl Who Could Not Kneel: Etty Hillesum and the Turn Inward
- Etty Hillesum and Charlotte Salomon: Pregnancy as a Theme in Their Lives and Works
- Wandering Beyond Words: Etty Hillesum and Clarice Lispector
- “Verbalize, Vocalize, Visualize”: Creative Death and Performative Writing in the Testimonies of Hillesum and Levi
- A “No” that Is an Affirmation: Etty Hillesum and Simone Weil Against the Laws of Force
- From Enclosure to Disclosure: Images of the Self in Etty Hillesum’s Diary
- A Story of Individuation in the Writings of Etty Hillesum: A Jungian Perspective
- Mad Midrash in the Diaries of Etty Hillesum
- The Mystery of Encounter: Poetry and Faith After Auschwitz in the Work of Paul Celan and Etty Hillesum
- Can Religion Help Heal a World Broken by Trauma?: Etty Hillesum as Our Ancestor in the Qahal Goyim
- The Contours of These Times:Etty Hillesum as Chronicler of Love Transcending Hate in Her Times, for Our Time, for All Time
- Etty Hillesum’s Hand Analysis: The Prologue to Her Diaries
- Suffering, Silence, and Wisdom in the Life of Etty Hillesum
- Feeding the Soul: Etty Hillesum’s Pedagogical and Spiritual Path
- Am I Really a Woman?: A Question About Female Identity in Etty Hillesum
- A Powerless God: Etty Hillesum and Dietrich Bonhoeffer
- New Light on Etty Hillesum’s Actions in Camp Westerbork
- “My Beloved Desk, the Best Place on this Earth”: Etty Hillesum Says Goodbye to Her Familiar Surroundings
- Etty Hillesum’s Humanism: Ethical, Philosophical and Theological Comments
- Etty Hillesum’s Struggle to See Clearly: A Story of Two Worlds
- Present Traces of a Past Existence: Through the Lens of Photography
- Etty Hillesum Bibliography
- Works on Etty Hillesum
- Index of Names and Subjects
- Index of Citations
The Contours of These Times:Etty Hillesum as Chronicler of Love Transcending Hate in Her Times, for Our Time, for All Time
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 November 2020
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- Introduction
- Music as Metaphor in Etty Hillesum’s Spirituality
- A “staretz” in Camp Westerbork: The Connections Between Slavic Orthodoxy and the Spirituality of Etty Hillesum
- Etty Hillesum: Humanity as a Task
- Etty Hillesum & Albert Konrad Gemmeker: A Twofold Analysis of the Perpetration of the Westerbork Commander
- “Now is the Time to Put into Practice: Love Your Enemies”: Several Notes on Hillesum’s “Love for Enemies” in Levenskunst
- The Cares of the Pagans: The Reading of Matthew 6:25-34 by Søren Kierkegaard and Etty Hillesum
- Dialogizing Life amidst a Culture of Death: Etty Hillesum, Dostoevsky’s Grand Inquisitor and Nazi Reductionism
- Patience and Hope in the Writings of Julian of Norwich and Etty Hillesum
- The Girl Who Could Not Kneel: Etty Hillesum and the Turn Inward
- Etty Hillesum and Charlotte Salomon: Pregnancy as a Theme in Their Lives and Works
- Wandering Beyond Words: Etty Hillesum and Clarice Lispector
- “Verbalize, Vocalize, Visualize”: Creative Death and Performative Writing in the Testimonies of Hillesum and Levi
- A “No” that Is an Affirmation: Etty Hillesum and Simone Weil Against the Laws of Force
- From Enclosure to Disclosure: Images of the Self in Etty Hillesum’s Diary
- A Story of Individuation in the Writings of Etty Hillesum: A Jungian Perspective
- Mad Midrash in the Diaries of Etty Hillesum
- The Mystery of Encounter: Poetry and Faith After Auschwitz in the Work of Paul Celan and Etty Hillesum
- Can Religion Help Heal a World Broken by Trauma?: Etty Hillesum as Our Ancestor in the Qahal Goyim
- The Contours of These Times:Etty Hillesum as Chronicler of Love Transcending Hate in Her Times, for Our Time, for All Time
- Etty Hillesum’s Hand Analysis: The Prologue to Her Diaries
- Suffering, Silence, and Wisdom in the Life of Etty Hillesum
- Feeding the Soul: Etty Hillesum’s Pedagogical and Spiritual Path
- Am I Really a Woman?: A Question About Female Identity in Etty Hillesum
- A Powerless God: Etty Hillesum and Dietrich Bonhoeffer
- New Light on Etty Hillesum’s Actions in Camp Westerbork
- “My Beloved Desk, the Best Place on this Earth”: Etty Hillesum Says Goodbye to Her Familiar Surroundings
- Etty Hillesum’s Humanism: Ethical, Philosophical and Theological Comments
- Etty Hillesum’s Struggle to See Clearly: A Story of Two Worlds
- Present Traces of a Past Existence: Through the Lens of Photography
- Etty Hillesum Bibliography
- Works on Etty Hillesum
- Index of Names and Subjects
- Index of Citations
Summary
Abstract
Etty Hillesum, a young Dutch Jewish woman of twenty-seven, found an inner path to liberation, and “union with the ground of her being” in the face of the horror of her times, the Nazi genocide sweeping across Europe, which ultimately engulfed Etty Hillesum and her family in late 1943. This paper explores aspects of Etty Hillesum's process of transcending the evil and hatred in her time, which may be seen as a model for engaging the seemingly ubiquitous rise of nationalism, neo-fascism, and/or illiberalism throughout much of Europe and the United States in our time, and in a broader sense, the tension that exists between democratic and fascist principles, or open and closed systems in all times.
Keywords: transcendence of evil, rejection of hatred, contemporary nationalism, illiberalism, Carl Gustav Jung, Other
And then, it suddenly happened: I was able to feel the contours of these times with my fingertips. How is it that this stretch of heathland surrounded by barbed wire, through which so much human misery has flooded nevertheless remains inscribed in my memory as something almost lovely? How is it that my spirit, far from being oppressed seems lighter and brighter there? It is because I read the signs of the times and they did not seem meaningless to me…
− Etty HillesumEtty Hillesum, a young Dutch Jewish woman of twenty-seven, found an inner path to liberation, and “union with the ground of her being” in the face of the horror of her times, the Nazi genocide sweeping across Europe, which ultimately engulfed Etty Hillesum and her family in late 1943. The life of Etty Hillesum moved from chaotic family dysfunction, to the healing of her own inner distress, depression, mood swings and somatic complaints, toward a vast inner life of spaciousness and presence, even with the awareness of the Nazi evil that awaited European Jewry. Her mode of resistance was journal writing, and contributing to others, and as Denise de Costa says, “It was with her pen, rather than with her sword that she battled to save humanity.”
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- Information
- Lasting Significance of Etty Hillesum's Writings , pp. 269 - 280Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2019