[Book review of:] Klaas A.D. Smelik, Marja Clement, Gerrit Van Oord, Jurjen Wiersma eds. (2020) Etty Hillesum en de receptie van haar dagboeken. Cahiers Etty Hillesum 1.Oud-Turnhout: Gompels & Svacina: 2020. 165 pp. ISBN 9789463711975

The pragmatic Christian appropriation in the various contributions seemssuitable for an overarching discussion. A comparative reflection on thisphenomenon, which would have improved the significance of this volume,is sadly lacking. Several authors are clearly marked by their reverence for theintellectual protagonist, creating the impression of being too close to thesubject matter while studying their subject in a certain isolation – whereasbroader contextualization is desirable. No serious attempts are made tocompare the reception to that of other Holocaust authors, whether creatorsof ego documents written during the war, such as Anne Frank, or authorsof postwar work such as Primo Levi. Despite the lack of focus and excessivediversity, this collection contains interesting starting points for furtheranalysis, but a broader and more detached approach is vital to fulfillingthe promise of future cahiers in this series