I Remember Etty Hillesum
- I Remember Etty Hillesum
Did she still whisper"Why anticipate trouble"when transported from Westerbroekto Auschwitz in Wagon Number 12,"They should be exterminated like fleas,those petty fears of the future"as her future rushed towards herto exterminate her?Maybe I should pause, retreator at least recite"Why anticipate joy"as I hurry past the yellow squares of lifethat once were far and sealedyet tonight open towards me [End Page 65] to let me in and out as I wishwhile a silly hope for happinesssways like a jar, too large,on my head
Tal Nitzan was born in Jaffa and lives in Tel Aviv. She is a poet, an editor and one of the preeminent translators from Spanish in Israel today. Recipient of the Culture Minister's Prize for Beginning Poets in 2001, Nitzan has published three poetry books: Domestica (2002, rece cipient of the Culture Minister's Prize for First Book), An Ordinary Evening (2006), and Café Soleil Bleu (2007). An ardent peace activist, Nitzan edited the ground-breaking anthology With an Iron Pen: Hebrew Protest Poetry 1984-2004, published in 2005.
Notes
Quotes from An Interrupted Life, the Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943. Originally published in Hebrew, translation by Tal Nitzan, with Vivian Eden [End Page 66]
