Beauty and Horror in a Concentration Camp: The Story of Etty Hillesum

Etty Hillesum, a beautiful, young emancipated Jewish woman, was incarcerated at the transit camp of Westerbork and murdered at Auschwitz. James Murphy's Beauty and Horror in a Concentration Camp is a powerful analysis of her well-respected but not widely known Diary, a profoundly spiritual depiction of how she wrestled with God and with suffering. Murphy argues convincingly that Hillesum's diary, which conveys her unique ability to appreciate the majesty and vitality of life even in the all-pervasive presence of death, is one of the most spiritually important documents to emerge from the ashes of the Holocaust. Murphy presents a most Catholic and most respectful reading of this Jewish woman's life, who remained with her people to the end. Michael Berenbaum Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies American Jewish University