Forgiving but Not Forgetting

Simon Wiesenthal could have not forgiven for the six million that died. Karl could have never “put a Jewish survivor in the impossible moral position of offering forgiveness implicitly in the name of the 6 million” (Fisher,132). Karl (the dying nazi) couldn't have asked Simon for forgiveness because he's only one out of the 6 million that died. That’s like Donald Trump asking 1 Mexican for forgiveness for all the Mexicans. Also “placing a jew in this position further victimizes him or her” (Fisher). Putting a Jew in this position makes them weaker than what they already are. Karl asked Simon for forgiveness but “only the victims were in position to forgive; and they are put to death” (Fleischner 140). Karl shouldn’t have asked Simon for forgiveness because he didn’t do anything wrong. Karl should have asked the people that he had murdered but it was too late.

Victims in large scale crimes have observed that most perpetrators show no remorse or regret for their evil actions when they are carrying them out, even justifying them at times. This attitude can drastically change when the person is on their deathbed. Harry James Cargas is a scholar and author best known for his research on the Holocaust and Christianity, and he wrote an essay in response to Wiesenthal’s questions in The Sunflower. He touches on this subject of repentance coming too late, saying, “Deathbed conversions are dramatic but in many instances they are too easy” (Cargas 125). In other words, Cargas is saying that a person can participate in horrible crimes in their lifetimes, and then quickly have a change of heart on their deathbed. Some say that sort of conversion is too easy and does not show genuine remorse. Moshe Bejski is another author who responded in The Sunflower and would agree with Cargas on this matter. Bejski was an Israeli judge and a Holocaust survivor himself. At one point in his essay, he is discussing some of the crimes that Nazis committed against humanity, using methods of extermination that had never been thought of before. He then speaks directly of the SS soldier that asked Weisenthal for forgiveness, writing, “Only the awareness of imminent and certain death induced Karl to think that his actions had been crimes against both humanity and God” (Bejski 113). In this passage, Bejski is explaining his belief that only fear of impending death moved Karl to confess his sins and seek forgiveness. He even goes on to say that had Karl not been wounded, he would have continued to participate in murdering millions of innocent people, just as his fellow soldiers did. When faced with the prospect of death, it is natural for many people to desire forgiveness for the wrongs they have committed in order to find inner peace

Wiesel claims that his faith is destroyed and denies the existence of God, but also refers to God in the last line. It is clear that Wiesel is struggling with his faith in God. When Wiesel sees the crematory and smells the horrible stench of human flesh he revolts against his faith. This is because he does not believe that if there is a god, such terrible things could happen. He is in disbelief and falters with his religion, “The Almighty, the eternal and terrible Master of the Universe, choose to be silent” (33). Wiesel starts to resent the God that he once was fond of and rebels against his beliefs, “And in spite of myself, a payer formed inside me, a prayer to this god in whom I no longer believed” (91). Wiesel falters back to believing in God to try to control himself, and keep sane. The second example of Wiesel losing his faith is when he arrived at Auschwitz. A prisoner informs him and his dad that they are heading to the crematory, and Wiesel’s father recites the Kaddish, the

In the book, Sunflower, by Simon Wiesenthal, Simon is a Jewish prisoner receiving new duties at the military hospital. Suddenly, a nurse came by and took him to an SS soldier, Karl, who was bandaged up from harsh wounds. Karl told Simon his stories of becoming an SS soldier and how he regretted the choice of choosing to be a soldier. Simon does not want to hear his story yet he stayed anyways just to hear what Karl had to say to him. It’s as if Karl was confessing his sins to a Jew than a Catholic priest.

He doesn’t look like one but the guys that bully him found out somehow. In this book there is a lot of action that makes you want to keep reading. In the book a lot of stuff happened but 3 of the main points was Karl taking boxing classes, the Nazi finding out he is Jewish, and Karl and his family escaping to America. Karl was going through a lot and seeing stuff no body his age should have seen or experienced. He would see cut open bodies outside on the way home, most of the bodies would be people he knew.

According to the Archbishop of Vienna Cardinal Franz König, “Even though an individual cannot forgive what was done to others, because he is not competent to do that there is still a question of where one may forgive” (König 182-183). In other words, you can still forgive that person who has inflicted so much pain in your life. Reading about Simon’s experience left me shocked and heartbroken, it made me see how much hate people can come about in this world all because one is different. However, on responding to the question on whether to forgive or not forgive the dying Nazi soldier, deep inside me I would forgive. Although, I know some people may not agree and say, how can you forgive a monster who has killed thousands of people or put yourself in Simon’s shoes, but after reading the Cardinal’s response it made me realize that not being able to forgive someone for the pain caused is torture against yourself, and by torture I mean regretting something not being able to say right then and there also not being able to find peace within you because Marianne Williamson once said, “Forgiveness is not always easy. At times it feels more painful than the wound we suffered, to forgive the one that inflicted it.

Karls family were troubled by the Nazi’s throughtout the text. Their troubles gave us an insight into what it was like to be a Jew in Nazi

The Nazi soldier accepts that he did a bad thing and want forgiveness. This forgiveness is not for those in their deathbed seek to put their minds at ease, but for those who truly feel a collective guilt for the heinous crimes ethnic/ political/ religious.(Alkalaj, 104) Furthermore, the Nazi soldier was haunted of what he did. Forgiveness set both free. According to Harold S. Kushner, “To be forgiven is to feel the weight of the past lifted from our shoulders, to feel the stain of the past wrongdoing washed away. To be forgiven is to feel free to step into the future unburdened by the precedent of who we have been and what we have done in previous times.” (Kushner, 184) In other words, the Nazi soldier want to feel free. He want a light to guide him and he want simon. Forgiveness frees the forgiven. One should forgive the person or persons who have committed atrocities against oneself and mankind. (Lama, 129) In other words, showing remorse and that releasing what done wrong should be forgiven. The Nazi soldier was truly a shame about what he done. That one family and a boy make him realise what he was doing. According to The Sunflower, “Behind the windows of the second floor, I saw a man with a small child in his arms. His clothes were alight. By his side stood a woman, doubtless the mother of the child. With his free hand the man covered the child's eyes . . . then he jumped into the street. Seconds

To become a member of the Hitler Youth or the German SS, one must willfully sign up and sign their lives over to the cause. In order to give forgiveness one must ask the question of what the initial intent of the harmful action was, and if there is something that could have been done to avoid it. At 6:10 in the Milgram Obedience Study video, the authority figure tells the teacher “you have no other choice teacher “ to which the teacher responds “Oh I have a lot of choices, my number one choice is that I wouldn’t go on if I thought he was being harmed". While he found many people willing to defy their conscience and go with authority, 40% actually walked away willingly from the experiment with no problem at all. In this case we have Karl, who was a good church boy, who signed up to the army in knowing of the situation that was going to unfold. The following events may not have been as bad as he presumed, but Hitler’s motives were pretty clear and hateful in their ways while recruiting. Had he been courageous enough to remove himself from the situation, it could have been more lives that were saved.

“There is still much work to be done, but we have made very good progress,” Herbert replied. Ashamed, I turned away, knowing exactly what “The Final Solution” was. I never truly believed in the Nazi philosophy, in fact, I despised it. Of course I could never mention this, for uttering any words in outcry against the Nazis was a crime punishable by torture and often death. I couldn’t believe that his own brother Karl was in the Gestapo. The men of the Gestapo were some of the most foul scum that walked the earth at that time. Evil, hate-filled, murderers who roamed the streets beating and dragging innocent people from their homes. Despite all of this, I have to say I did a fine job of hiding my true feelings. Herbert Kappler, Karl’s fellow Gestapo officer, was the only one who seemed to ever think something was amiss with my loyalty to the Nazis.

After his silence Weisenthal has guilt dreams and forgiveness can help bring the closure he needs. After seeing Karl’s mom, Weisenthal writes a book just because he feels as if he had made cruel decision at the time. Karl states, “but her son had not lied to me; his home was just as he had described it”(94). This demonstrates Karl’s true honesty when he confessed. Which means that everything he said and felt at the time of the confession was genuine and this later haunts Weisenthal because he wished he had something that contradicted it. Weisenthal states, “but was I not secretly hoping that I might hear something that contradicted it? It would certainly make things easier for me”(87). Make things easier for him, for him to believe that his

Helmuth was torture interrogated for 2 days, after that he confesses that Karl and Rudi helped him. Helmuth’s trial is held at the People’s Court of Berlin, the most feared court in Germany. In Helmuth’s final letters to his family, his last wish, he wrote that he knows he will not die in vain. He says that he spoke out about the truths of Nazism and that he allowed other people to know it. He told his mother that he knows he lived a life that stood for something. The truth. Karl and Rudi, who were later granted clemency for their crimes, they both say due to Helmuth efforts, saw each other on a bus to the trial. Both boys describe that they were all smiling and winking at each other, even Helmuth, through his swollen eyes and lips. They recall seeing Helmuth forgive the man who told the Gestapo all the information to incriminate Helmuth. Helmuth’s defense lawyer worked for the Nazi government.There is no jury. When the judges announced that he will be sentenced to death, even though he is a minor, he states, “All I did was tell the truth, and you have sentenced me to die, just for telling the

Do people change after forgiving ? I believe it's true because people would be happier and more accepting towards people. And it's a more healthier way to solve problems than holding the anger and the grudge . An example of this would be the book Tell me three things because Jessie couldn't even focus in school neither talk to anyone in school. But when she forgive her dad she give her new life a chance and the people that are in it. We need to give things a chance in rather for us to see the type of person they are. Because when we forgive we let them know that we are willing to start fresh and that there is no problem between you and the person.

It is hard to say you forgive someone, but it even harder to actually forgive them and mean it. True forgiveness, I would have to say, is extremely rare. To truly forgive someone, you almost have to forget whatever it is that they may have done. In my personal Opinion would have to say that when most people say that they forgiven, they have not actually done so. People would tend to forgive, and then hold a grudge. “Can we as humans forgive people who have caused us such grief.”(Simon Wiesenthal 230) I saw many Cambodian people forced into being a killer and they had no other way to go because they would be killed themselves if they didn’t go by the rules. From what has asked, on the contrary believe you can always forgive for what a person has done, such as the soldiers during the Holocaust. I think you can forgive them because to me most of these soldiers were trapped or forced. They had no other choice or they had the chance to also be killed. When talking about specific individuals we always have the opportunity to forgive but forgetting about it is always the hard part! Forgiveness is not just about saying the words. “It is an active process in which you make a conscious

What do you think is the purpose of forgiving and how it affects others? I think the purpose of forgiving is to restore the broken relationship and sometimes it could dramatically change someone’s life. For example, the book “Cry the Beloved Country” shows James Jarvis and Stephen Kumalo’s relationship was restored through forgiveness. Forgiveness has a strong power to restore the healthy relationship. Sometimes it could help restore a relationship with a family who killed your son. Forgiving can benefit you and others because you also learn through forgiveness and strengths the bond between you and the person or the whole group of people.