Abstract
This chapter explores Etty Hillesum's writings and current academic debate centering on placing Etty Hillesum's spiritual existence in the context of the Western-European religious traditions. Hillesum was aware of people's tragic situation under Nazi rule: free thought indeed led to arrests and deportation. In this light, Van den Brandt implores the global 'Hillesum community' to be more intellectually sensitive, and she pleads for a greater awareness of the textual complexities. Hillesum's spiritual search makes us more human, according to Grimmelikhuizen, because it resembles a Buddhist way of life embedded in her remembered Jewish origins. An atypical contemporary perspective on Hillesum's spiritual search is the newly coined term spieritism or spierituality, by Alexandra Pleshoyano. In a subsequent passage from Hillesum's diaries she mentioned Christ in relation to the Jews, by referring to a debate between her friends Julius Spier and Werner Levie, who discussed the significance of Jesus.Keywords: Alexandra Pleshoyano; Buddhism; Christ; Etty Hillesum's writings; Grimmelikhuizen; Jewish origins; spieritism; spierituality; Van den Brandt; Western-European religious traditions
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