Monika Shafi

Stories of Jews from the decades previous to and approaching the Holocaust are always interesting to me. Then you hear of their death, such as Kolmar's in Auschwitz along with millions more, and you wonder how such brilliant, gifted, emotional people can be seen as so expendable. Through her poems and other writings, Kolmar's contribution to women's ideas and wishes as well as her more subtle hint towards the life of Jews is significant to history, yet so much of her work was destroyed during the terrible times. It's amazing to me that someone who is a talented person can be seen as such an outsider, and more importantly felt like an outcast because she was a woman, Jew, and poet, none of which put her in high regard during her time period and automatically burdened her for a rough life. I found Shafi's lecture very informative and I enjoyed her enhusiasm and vast knowledge on the topic of Kolmar.