Louis Hillesum

Diagnoses

Personal

Vocation

Dutch Gymnasium rector and teacher of classical languages, the father of the famous diary writer Esther "Etty" Hillesum. He was the son of the merchant Jacob Samuel Hillesum and Esther Loera. He had a talent for music, and preferred a career as a violinist, but after an eye disease, he became short-sighted, so that he could not see the conductors. He got a classical Jewish education at home and obtained a scholarship to go the seminary for rabbi's. As he needed an academic study for this, he also studied classical languages at the University of Amsterdam. The last study interested him so much, that he left the training for rabbi's. In 1902 he took his bachelor's degree and in 1905 his master's degree in classical languages, twice cum laude. On 10 July 1908 (11 AM) he dissertated cum laude as Ludovicus Jacobus Hillesum with "De imperfecti et aoristi usu Thucydideo (pars prior)". On 7 December 1912 he married the Russian pianist Rivka (Rebecca) Bernstein (23 June 1881, Potchev - 10 September 1943, Auschwitz). She had fled in 1907, shaved bald 700 kilometres West to Holland after pogroms in Russia. He was a teacher of classical languages in Middelburg at the time his daughter named after the Bible book Esther heroin (Esther meaning "hidden") was born. Because of Berufsverbote for Jewish citizens (Nov 1940), he was fired as the rector of the Stedelijk Gymnasium in Deventer: "ter bevordering van de openbare rust en veiligheid" wrote the letter he received on Friday 29 November 1940. On 7 January 1943 the family was forced to move from their large house in Deventer to a small house in Jewish ghetto in Amsterdam (Retiefstraat). During the Amsterdam raids of 20 and 21 June 1943, they were arrested and sent a week later to the Durchgangslager Concentration camp Westerbork. On 7 September 1943 the family, except Jaap, was transported from Westenbork like cattle to Auschwitz. Hillesum and wife died during the inhuman transport or were gassed on arrival (10 September 1943).