ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the coming of age in 1940s Amsterdam of Els Eilers (best known as Els Borst, 1932-2014), examining how the city’s sociocultural spaces shaped her identity and life choices. She grew up as an only child in a middle-class family in Rivierenbuurt but entered a more privileged world at the famous Barlaeus Gymnasium in Amsterdam Zuid. Apart from a small travel diary, she did not keep a diary. But, as a teenager, she did write many letters to the Langereis family in Anna Paulownapolder, with whom she lived during the Hunger Winter at the end of World War II. These letters reveal the contrast between her city life and rural experiences, highlighting how Amsterdam influenced her self-image and expectations.
