Laura Levitt's Talk

I find myself having a difficult time deciding what to write as a response to this week. Loss is something that I am all too familiar with. I am 20 years old, and I need more than my two hands in order to count the number losses that I consider "personal". I am 20 years old, and I have to actually sit down and almost write out a list of the number of people who have died in my recent past because there are so many that I can't readily think of them. Some died from natural causes. Some were taken prematurely. Many actually took their own life.
I guess I don't see how being Jewish has anything to do with loss. And if anyone has ever been envious or felt left out that they didn't have anyone in their past who died in the Holocaust, then I feel sorry for them. I feel sorry for them because if they even remotely have the nerve to be upset that someone in their family didn't DIE, then they obviously need to seriously re-evaluate their view of life and loss. Death is about being human; it is not about being Jewish. It is basic human nature, and while it brings relief to some, it brings grief to all.
I don't need to have someone in my family who died in the Holocaust. My papa was a doctor in WWII, and that's the closest that I have. But when I lost my papa, I cared more than I possibly could if I had never met him. Sure, he may have died in the war, he may have died a hero for his people. But he didn't die in the war--he died when he did, and he was a hero to me and everyone who knew him. I may not be able to identify with the others of current generations who lost someone in the Holocaust, but I can identify with those of the past. I can identify with those who were only 20 years old and needed more than their two hands to count the number of loses they considered "personal". I can identify with those who were only 20 years old and had to actually sit down and almost write out a list of the number of people who had died in their recent past because there were so many that they couldn't readily think of them. Some died from natural causes. Some were taken prematurely. Many actually took their own life. I can identify with them because I am one of them. Not because I'm Jewish, not because I'm not-Jewish, but because I'm human.
What have I learned from personal loss? I've learned that I need to keep going. I've learned that you only have one life, and even when all you want to do is make it end, you can't. You can't and you won't. So you say a little prayer, you go to sleep, you wake up in the morning, and you keep going. And it gets better. You will start to form a new spirituality, a new reason for living. You will start to teach others about what loss really is, so that they can be ready for it when the time comes. And you start to realize that yes, being given this position is not fair, but it's what you've got, and it was given to you for a reason, and so you make the best of it.
I don't know if this was really the response you were looking for, but I guess Laura's discussion just provoked a part of me that's been waiting to release its frustration. I don't know if I'm completely disagreeing with what she has to say, but I know that there are some areas of life which transcend any possible religious, cultural, national, or spiritual identity, and one of those areas is death.

Not All Losses Are Morally Equivalent:A Response To Dr. Levitt

How does one persons' loss,whatever it may be, enable him/her to understand the mass losses of the Holocaust when not all losses are the same? And if all losses are not the same,how can one persons' loss possibly be compared to that of someone who experienced loss from the Holocaust?These were some of the questions floating in my head after hearing Dr. Laura Levitt's lecture.

Overall, she spoke beautifully of the significance of telling stories about ordinary people.All the while she spoke, I found myself wondering about my own family's background and how little I really know.This is precisely what she wanted to ignite in us.For her, the way to "never forget" is to delve into our own losses,feel their pain,then link the events back to the Holocaust to understand .Quite far-fetched I'll say! Also,she didn't share much about her own personal familial losses-I would have like to hear the circumstances surrounding the death of her paternal grandmother. Still, she had some good insights.For example, I liked what she said about each person having their own, particular emotional response to the Holocaust.While reverence and respect are customarily the feelings attached to the Holocaust,she spoke about engaging the feelings of inner city kids who had seen Schnidler's List.

Finally,I do not believe all losses are or should be placed on the same level.I think a measure of morality needs to be incorporated into any loss.For example,the loss of life in a concentration camp is not morally equivalent to to the loss of life by natural cause.Yet,Dr.Levitt did not attach any moral repercussions to the losses of the "ordinary people" she spoke about.Instead, she said all losses touch at the core.Indeed Holocaust discourse is emotional,but what we must "never forget" are the senseless acts of immorality perpetrated against the Jews.Anyway,I think as the generation of the Holocaust passes away,we are less likely to remember these individual stories because as Director of the American Committee,Steve Bayme writes,"the Holocaust is no longer central to identifying as a Jew.The Holocaust occupies a rightful place as a dominant event of our time,[however]constructing a Jewish identity upon a narrative of Jewish destruction [is not]who and what the Jews are."

Monika Shafi

I always have a great interest learning about people. I felt that Shafi spoke passionately and intelligently about Gertrud Kolmar. I enjoyed learning about her life and how her isolation and differences allowed her to create poetry. 

I see a lot of strange connections in her life. The fact that she was a woman poet makes her an ousider, as well as the fact that she was a Jewish woman in Nazi Germany. She lived on the outskirts of society by never marrying and writing about women. She took a different role in society and the world saw her as a different type of person in many aspects. She wrote about animals such as vermin and rodents which is ultimately what she paralleled herself to be like. 

One of the last points that Shafi made was that Gertrud Kolmar experienced a triple burden. She was a woman, a poet, and a Jew. I found this to be interesting and somewhat unsettling. Of course in todays society a Jewish, woman, poet would not be looked at as a burden, but maybe more of a minority. 

Monika Shafi

I am skipping this week.

Gertrud Kolmar

Monika Shafi spoke about German-Jewish poet Gertrud Kolmar. Kolmar came from an assimilated, upper-class family but understood herself as being an outsider. It was very interesting to see how someone so well-off and absolutely brilliant as Kolmar would feel this way. The three main reasons she felt so different were 1. her Jewishness, 2. her Femaleness and 3. her being an artist. A Jewish presence was felt in many of her works, and this Jewish identity was always intertwined with her female identity. Kolmar, living in the time when Nazi Germany came to power, never underestimated the danger of the Nazi’s. One poem cycle of hers, “The Words of the Silenced,” (Das Wort der Stummen) was about the situation of Hitler’s victims. In it, Kolmar identifies with them and speaks as one of them. It deeply saddened me to hear how Kolmar made many references to her knowing she would die at the hands of the Nazi’s. Kolmar was published very little in her lifetime but wrote close to 800 poems. Because it was hard to women to break into the industry and because Kolmar wrote very traditionally, very few of her works made it to print. I thought the combination of hearing about Kolmar’s life and the influence of her Jewish roots on her works was very interesting.

Amy Zitelman response to Monika Shafi

Professor Shafi gave a really nice overview of the life and significance of Gertrud Kolmar.  I really enjoyed the lecture.  Kolmar's writing is really beautiful. 

However, this lecture made me quite and upset and very frustrated.  I still cannot get over how much the world has had to lose on account of the Nazi destruction.  So many with such potential and greatness were murdered.  Kolmar's poetry and writing is so beautiful, yet so much of it was lost.  So many others (doctors, lawyers, poets, singers, etc.) were taken away from the world too soon.

My mom just forwarded me an email that was very interesting.  It spoke about the fact that there are 14,000,000 Jews in the world- about 0.02% of the world's population.  And from this small, small number Jews have received 129 Nobel Prizes through the year 2000.  To put this into perspective there are 1,200,000,000 (1.2 BILLION) members of the Islamic community.  That is 20% of the world's population.  Muslims have received 7 Nobel Prizes.

The Jews have given so much to this world.  Imagine if half of our people had not been taken away.

Laura Levitt

Laura Levitt’s lecture put a heavy emphasis of understanding the Holocaust as a collection of many tales rather than one uniform story. This idea is compelling in that when you think of the Holocaust you tend to think of the struggle of the Jewish people as a whole. But, thinking about the personal struggle of a family really puts a relatable emphasis on their experiences. She said to relate this to our own family and our own personable experiences, but I’m not sure what she meant it. If it’s comparing what our families have gone through and those that experienced the Holocaust, it’s a very striking point that can really put things in perspective. Personally, my family has experience nothing on that caliber, but I’m sure analyzing you families past can give someone new direction and inspiration for the future. I did not really follow the rest of her lecture. Her stories about her family were interesting, but seemed out of place in the overall theme.