Edith Stein

Edith Stein was born in Breslau. That was in Germany and specifically Silesia. It belongs to Poland now. I was born not too far from there myself. She was a student of Husserl and phenomenology. She was a lecturer for women's groups and, after becoming a Catholic, worked at a Catholic school as a teacher and finally entered a Carmelite convent. After the Nazis came to power she transferred to a Carmelite convent in the Netherlands. Once the Nazis conquered the Netherlands, she tried desperately to move on the Switzerland - to no avail. The Bishops in the Netherlands had an anti-Nazi homily read at all Sunday Masses and the Nazis took their revenge on the church and picked up all the religious who were born Jewish. Both Edith and her sister were picked up from the convent in the Netherlands. Her sister had joined her in the Netherlands and worked as a porter at the convent.