Etty Hillesum
1914-1943 20th century Feast day: November 30
Prayer in the midst of darkness. Keeping the heart large.
Who was Etty Hillesum?
Dutch Jewish woman, literature student in Amsterdam, she begins at 27, in 1941, a diary that will become one of the great spiritual texts of the 20th century. Volunteer at the Westerbork transit camp to accompany those being deported, she refuses to flee. Deported to Auschwitz in September 1943, died there in November. Her discovery of God happens without religious affiliation, through writing, friendship, and the refusal of hatred.
In their own words
My God, I am going to help You not to be extinguished within me.