Esther (known as Etty) was the daughter of Levie Hillesum and Riva Bernstein. In 1932 she moved to Amsterdam to study law and Slavic languages. In Amsterdam she met Julius Spier. He became her teacher and great love. During the war she worked for the Jewish Council at Camp Westerbork and other places. She wrote several letters from Westerbork and kept a diary. The collected translated edition of h…