Etty En Los Barracones

August 1942. The Nazis have already invaded Holland and the Westerbork refugee camp has become a concentration camp. Psychiatrist Dr. Osias Korman, a widower of Jewish origin, is the camp supervisor. He is the point of liaison with the camp administration and the area’s Jewish Council, which itself is an intermediary between the Nazis and the civilian population in the occupied areas. The Council sends the nurse Esther Hillesum (Etty) to the camp. Osias and Etty soon become friends, and their friendship turns into a deep love that Etty expresses in the letters she sends Osias during his frequent trips away from the camp ordered by the Jewish Council. This love is also manifested in the diary he writes to his son Daniel, who has lived in the United States since the start of the Second World War. At the end of the war, Dr. Korman discovers that Etty was not sent to the camp to be a nurse but, in fact, to help people escape from it. When Holland is liberated, Osias and Etty travel happily to the United States.

José Ramón Allyón is the editor of Nueva Revista. He is a specialist in bioethics, a professor of literature and philosophy, and a finalist for the Anagrama and Martínez Roca essay prizes. His most-translated works are 10 ateoscambian de autobús and Vigo es Vivaldi.