Language:
English
Year of publication:
2001
Titel der Quelle:
Cultural Values
Angaben zur Quelle:
5,1 (2001) 79-96
Keywords:
Hillesum, Etty,
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Personal narratives
Abstract:
Presents an interpretation of the letters written by Hillesum in Westerbork in 1943 in light of current trauma theory and in relation to contemporary writing on testimonial. Although the concept "testimony" is usually used to refer to the words of a survivor, Hillesum's letters function as testimony in several ways: they address us in the present, represent an act of witness (about the camp to those outside of it), and express a faith that their message will reach a destination. Notes that, contrary to expectations of Holocaust women's writing, the letters do not express a drive for self-sacrifice or mothering, but rather desire for survival and "creative parting". This is indicated by Hillesum's distancing herself from her parents, both when they arrived at Westerbork and on the transport that took them to Auschwitz. Views as symbolic the survival of a postcard which Hillesum threw out of the train on her way to Auschwitz.
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