Overview
- The six-part series dramatizes two years of Etty Hillesum’s diaries from 1941–1943 and began streaming on Arte on May 13 with free-TV broadcasts scheduled for May 21 and May 28.
- Levi stages the story in modern-looking Amsterdam with contemporary clothes and trains to underline the writings’ claimed timeless moral and human questions.
- The show emphasizes Hillesum’s inner and spiritual development rather than a straight biography and shows persecution through signs, restrictions and atmosphere instead of graphic violence.
- The German–French–Dutch co-production is directed and written by Hagai Levi and stars Julia Windischbauer, who learned Dutch for the role, with Sebastian Koch portraying Julius Spier, the influential therapist figure.
- Hillesum’s journals were published decades after they were written and translated widely, and the series aims to renew public engagement with her ideas and raise contemporary questions about compassion and moral choice.