Quotes by Etty Hillesum
Etty Hillesum (1914–1943) — Tagebuchschreiberin · Jüdisch · Niederlande
Die niederländisch-jüdische Autorin Etty Hillesum führte während der nationalsozialistischen Besatzung in Amsterdam und im Durchgangslager Westerbork Tagebücher und Briefe, bevor sie 1943 in Auschwitz ermordet wurde. Ihre posthum veröffentlichten Schriften zeugen von einer undogmatischen Gottessuche, dem Verzicht auf Hass sowie dem Entschluss, das Schicksal ihres verfolgten Volkes solidarisch zu teilen. Für Bibelleser veranschaulichen ihre Texte ein Ringen um Glauben, Gebet und Mitmenschlichkeit unter extremen Bedingungen, auch wenn ihre Haltung von Kritikern mitunter als weltfremd diskutiert wurde.
Era: The 20th Century
Recurring topics: Wisdom & Understanding, Meaning & Identity, Courage & Strength, Suffering & the Question of God, Freedom & Truth, Prayer & Silence, Ethical Questions, Love
Quotes by Etty Hillesum
May I be the thinking heart of this barrack. I would like to be it again. I would like to be the thinking heart of an entire concentration camp.
Etty Hillesum
There is a really deep well inside me. And in it dwells God. Sometimes I am there, too. But more often stones and grit block the well, and God is buried beneath. Then He must be dug out again.
Etty Hillesum
The sky is full of birds, the purple lupins stand up so regally and peacefully, two little old women have sat down on the box for a chat, the sun is shining on my face — and right before our eyes, mass murder. The whole thing is simply beyond comprehension.
Etty Hillesum
And if God does not help me to go on, then I shall have to help God. The surface of the earth is gradually turning into one great prison camp, and soon there will be nobody left outside.
Etty Hillesum
Human beings, human beings—do not forget that you are one of them.
Etty Hillesum
The absence of hatred in no way implies the absence of moral indignation.
Etty Hillesum
You have made me so rich, oh God, please let me share Your beauty with open hands. My life has become an uninterrupted dialogue with You, oh God, one great dialogue.
Etty Hillesum
And since, now free, I no longer wish to possess anything, henceforth everything belongs to me and my inner wealth is immense.
Etty Hillesum
Man shapes his destiny from within, that is a rather bold assertion. On the other hand, man is free to choose the welcome he will give within himself to that destiny.
Etty Hillesum
In fact, I am not afraid. Yet I am not brave, but I have the feeling of always dealing with human beings, and the will to understand as much as I can the behavior of each and every one.
Etty Hillesum
What matters in the end is the soul, or the being, as one will, radiating through the person.
Etty Hillesum
I am in search of a shelter for myself, and the house that will offer it to me, I must build myself stone by stone. Thus everyone searches for a house, a refuge. And I am always searching for a few words.
Etty Hillesum
Many people are still true hieroglyphs to me, but very gently I am learning to decipher them. I know of nothing more beautiful than reading life by deciphering human beings.
Etty Hillesum
After the war, alongside a flood of humanism, a flood of hatred will sweep over the world. Hearing these words, I was certain once again: I will go to war against this hatred.
Etty Hillesum
Dear God, these are anxious times. Tonight for the first time I lay in the dark with burning eyes as scene after scene of human suffering passed before me.
Etty Hillesum
Keep your forebodings and your intuition, they are a source from which you draw, but take care not to drown in them!
Etty Hillesum
One is always looking for the liberating formula, the clarifying thought.
Etty Hillesum
Reality does not match an overly inflamed imagination.
Etty Hillesum
We are but hollow vessels, into which the flood of history rushes.
Etty Hillesum
Sources: scholieren.com, protestantsekerk.nl, historiek.net, nieuwwij.nl
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