On the Definition of Right: Personal Perspectives Essay

When it comes to the topic of Simon Wiesenthal not forgiving a dying SS soldier for his crimes, most of us will readily agree that it’s a debatable topic. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of if Wiesenthal should have forgiven the soldier. Whereas some are convinced that he made the right choice in not forgiving the soldier, others maintain that he should have let the soldier die peacefully, guilt free, and forgiven. I agree with Wiesenthal’s decision to not forgive the dying SS soldier because he cannot speak for all the other Jews who have been killed by this man. In Simon Wiesenthal’s book, The Sunflower, he asks the reader what they would have done in his position with the SS soldier. If I was Wiesenthal, I wouldn’t have forgiven the man as I cannot make decisions for others and because the soldier was not sincere in his apology for the crimes he was involved in.

Simon was an architect and many other things before he entered the ghetto. In the ghetto, he was simply just a Jew. Like so many other humans during world war two and the holocaust, Simon was reduced to one word, Jew. Simon paints a scary sadly realistic portrayal of the ghettos from a prisoner perspective with his words. Out of the many moving quotes Simon gives us throughout the sunflower, this one stuck with me the most, he writes “ I once read somewhere that it is impossible to break a man’s firm belief . If I ever thought that true, life in a concentration camp taught me differently. It is impossible to believe anything in a world that has ceased to regard man as man...So one begins to doubt, one begins to cease to believe in a world order in which God has a definite place. One really begins to think that God is on leave” (Wiesenthal, 9). In my opinion, this must have been how most prisoners felt while enslaved in concentration camps. This also makes it difficult to understand why Wiesenthal did not just flat out say he does not forgive the soldier. When you go as far to believe God is not present in your life how does one not be resentful toward forgiveness of a nazi soldier?

To sum things up in the Sunflower Karl wanted to forgive Simon and all the Jews but he didn’t respond to him. If I were Simon I would forgive Karl just to make him feel a little better before death... Then I again changed my opinion, to stage where I thought I would forgive him, but only by words, not actually in my mind. I changed my first opinion because of Josek, in the story he said one can forgive someone else only when the person did wrong to him, not to the

This is a matter of philosophical interpersonal forgiveness. Karl does not ask for God’s forgiveness, he simply asks for Simon’s. He is asking for there to be forgiveness granted between two people. What Simon feels is out of Karl’s control, but he can try his best to have Simon feel sorry for him. Despite who Karl is Simon does subconsciously feel some pity for the man as he waves off an irritating beetle and stays to hear the whole story. He also is able to imagine Karl as more of a real person after visiting Karl’s mother, seeing his photograph, and hearing what she thought of her son. His heart softens for Karl’s mother as he decides to not shatter her illusion of her angelic son, but he still fails to produce an answer for himself after leaving her.

Fist of all what is forgiveness? Many of the contributors to Wiesenthal “The Sunflower” give their own definition, but most agree it is the act of relieving someone of their crimes against

Throughout life everyone has been in a situation where they were offended or they have offended someone else. Therefore, forgiving someone is therapeutic for the victim, and the offended. However, when someone is wronged, justice is what they seek. On the contrary, when people feel pain from being wronged, they experience an “injustice gap.” Worthington defines “injustice gap” as, “the difference between the way the person would like a transgression to be resolved, and the way things are perceived to be currently” (Worthington Jr, 2005, pg. 121).

In all actuality is forgiveness more of a resolution for one person to move forward, or does it fix the situation as a whole. The Sunflower, is a book that presents an idea of forgiveness and others opinions on what should happen in this case of events. Karl a dying SS man, brings in Simon a prisoner in a concentration camp to his hospital room, and asks Simon for forgiveness. Karl is guilt ridden for his killings during his time as a soldier, and wants to die confessing and seeking forgiveness from Simon. Simon however has never known Karl before their meeting, and Karl has never committed anything towards Simon. Simon struggles and is indecisive on whether he should forgive Karl or not. Saying sorry for murdering people during the Holocaust, is impossible given the damage of the event, but for Karl he searched for forgiveness through Simon. Simon being imprisoned in a concentration camp and brought to Karl, a dying SS man, Karl wanted to seek forgiveness for his actions. Being in the position Simon was in he was not entitled to take the apology on behalf of others, when he was not wronged against by Karl.

The soldier had asked the nurse to bring Simon to him because he felt the need to share his crimes with a Jewish person. He tells Simon, “I must tell you something dreadful… something inhuman”(Wiesenthal, 11). He shows remorse by calling his crime dreadful and inhuman, and all he wants is to tell Simon his story and be forgiven. The soldier is heavily wounded, and his face is covered in bandages. He tells Simon about how his own parents didn’t trust him as a child because he joined the Hitler youth. Even if his parents didn’t agree with what he was doing, they should always be able to trust their own son. When the war began, he volunteered for the SS, and the last words he heard his father say were that no good would come of it. He is truly a man deserving of pity in his final days.

He says, “ It is also a question of how much, how quickly, how easily can any individual forgive a mass murderer”(Sven 102). This quote emphasis that it is not that much easy to forgive someone. By forgiving them, they bring down the values of the crimes that were committed. If they bring down the value of the crimes, it would mean it was okay to kill a person’s family or friends. This would result in more crimes, murdering people's family and friends. This was another reason why Simon wouldn't forgive Karl because he didn’t want to make it seem like it was okay to be a part of mass genocide. Moshe Bejski discussed in his essay why people shouldn't be forgiven of their crimes. Forgiving someone is very hard even when regret is involved, “No matter what, regret never pardons crimes…” (Moshe 117). As he says, even after committing the crimes and thereafter regretting it, it’s not okay to forgive someone. Forgiveness is hard because it would betray the memory of millions of innocent victims who were murdered, and it would question the validity of what happen. Forgiving someone who committed the crimes would be a crime

Human rights can be summarized as the activities and freedoms that all human beings are entitled to enjoy and only by virtue of their humanity. These conditions are generally guaranteed in the constitution of the land. They are widely felt in the area as they are divided and not limited to political, social economic and cultural rights. Some of the main principles of human rights include the fact that they are inherent, inalienable and indivisible as well. In this relation, human rights can never be taken away from an individual whereby the enjoyment of one right should not infringe the enjoyment of other. They must all be respected and maintained.

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.

There are many moments in one 's life, where a choice has to be made , but there are only a few times where one collides with a split second decision. Although you only have a few breaths, a minute at most, to decide what to do, your decision, impacts the rest of your life. Simon Wiesenthal 's had many times in his 96 years of life, where he faced difficult choices , yet the one he faced the day he spent at the bedside of a German soldier was undoubtedly a moment which shaped the rest of his life . Dying Karl Seidl, the soldier in question, told Simon of the deeds he committed, towards the Jews, but as the final attempt to cleanse himself of his actions, Seidl asked Wiesenthal for forgiveness. Whatever choice Simon made, would lead

The conversation between Wiesenthal and Bolek is another example of forgiveness is necessary. When Wiesenthal tells Bolek of what he experienced in the dying SS man’s room, Bolek says he describes it as a man who showed signs of “repentance, genuine, sincere repentance” (Wiesenthal 82). He means that Wiesenthal believes the dying SS man’s apology was sincere. He believes that Wiesenthal seen his apology as genuine and that he deserved the “mercy of forgiveness” (Wiesenthal 82). Wiesenthal spots a sunflower behind a bush, he takes it as the sunflower has come to “remind [him]” (Wiesenthal 84) of what he describes as a “feeling of duty” (Wiesenthal 84). Wiesenthal “duty” (Wiesenthal 85) and his planning on visiting the mother of the deceased SS man show that he is beginning to realize that he needs to come to terms with his experienced at the hospital in Lemberg. He visits her for closure and ultimately to decide within himself if he should finally forgive the man responsible for the murder of hundreds of innocent Jewish people.

SS men, the henchmen of Adolf Hitler in WWII, were responsible for two million of six million Jewish deaths in the Holocaust. Now, imagine meeting one of these men and having them ask for forgiveness. In The Sunflower, the main character, Simon Wiesenthal, was faced with this dilemma when he met Karl, a dying Nazi who partook in the killings of at least 300 of these innocent humans. Simon chose to walk away, and faced an internal moral struggle for the rest of his life. However, if I were in Simon’s place, I would not have forgiven Karl.

I see right and wrong as a choice made by a person, let me say a boy for instance. He has a conscience and he knows what he is doing is very bad. He can deceive everybody, and make people think he is a good person, but deep inside of him he knows very well that what he is doing is not right. As the old saying ?what goes up must come down? there is an end to every thing, no matter how long it