The Sunflower

So if Karl cannot be forgiven, should he be condemned for his actions? Others say he should be. They say he should be condemned because the deeds he committed are far too heinous to be forgiven. According to Moshe Bejske, an Israeli judge and President of "Yad Vashem”'s Righteous Commission, “Had [Karl] not been mortally wounded, he would almost certainly have continued to commit these crimes, along with his comrades, who had volunteered for these assignments of their own free will and in large numbers, never

People say that the reason we study history is to learn from our mistakes. The Holocaust was a very big mistake. The genocide that happened in and around Germany killed over eleven million innnocent humans, and was one of the worst of its kind. It is also imfamous for how well it was concealed from the the those outside of Europe. Tens of thousands of people were being killed daily, and the world was oblivious.

The Holocaust was one of the first giant acts of genocide. It brought light to the horrific acts of racism that the world still faces today. The Nazi’s were not only trying to destroy Jewish people, they were trying to kill all of the Polish and Roman people as well (HARFF 6). They believed that these types of people were evil and did not deserve to live on the same earth with them. Acts of hate have steamed from the Holocaust and still continue to be an issue today. The Holocaust is often compared to civil rights movements, terrorism, and other acts of hate against a certain group of people or a race of people.

In The Sunflower by Simon Wiesenthal, a wounded soldier asks Simon for forgiveness for a terrible crime he committed during the Holocaust. He is on his deathbed, and asks a nurse to bring a Jewish person to him. The nurse brings Simon and Simon doesn’t forgive him, instead walking out without saying anything. After reading The Sunflower by Simon Wiesenthal along with multiple essays responding to it, I believe Simon should have forgiven the man because he was manipulated into thinking what he was doing was right.

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

The Holocaust was a bad event from our history that leaves scars all over on humanity due to the results of so much loss. The Holocaust should be acknowledged so we can learn from our mistakes and analyze what we can do differently to prevent this from happening again. One thing we can teach kids today is to collect more knowledge by getting opinions of others, and trying to get different perspectives on things before acting on just your opinion. One great example that we need to take a look at is the people. The people of Germany. Well, was he right? Did they think he was right? A lot of people did for they let him reign over them and let him move forward with the plans. The people that followed him had a biased opinion about the topic of the Jews because of Hitler. People can be wrong sometimes. Even if you think they are right about everything, they aren’t. But the people

The Holocaust was a genocide that occurred from 1933-1945, and one of its survivors was Simon Wiesenthal. After he was set free from the concentration camp, he dedicated his life to finding Nazi war criminals and persecuting them in court. Later on in his life, he wrote a memoir, The Sunflower. It was about one of his many experiences at the Lemberg concentration camp where he got roped into listening to a dying SS soldier, Karl. Right before Wiesenthal left Karl’s room, Karl asked Wiesenthal, on behalf of all the Jews he persecuted, for forgiveness. Wiesenthal left Karl’s room without forgiving him, and then asked his readers, “What would I have done?” At the end of The Sunflower, people who Wiesenthal picked to respond to his question, had their answers published. The most interesting response was Jose Hobday’s. Hobday believed that Wiesenthal should have forgiven to Karl because it would have given Karl a sense of peace, making it easier for him to pass on. Hobday had the correct answer to Wiesenthal’s question because even though all of the Jews that Karl persecuted are dead and will not be able to forgive him in person, Karl just wanted someone to know that he was sorry for his actions.

The Holocaust was one of, if not the worst mass murder in history. The Nazis did one of the most horrifying things you could think of, killing so many innocent people. Many different groups of people other than jews were also victims of this tragic event. Some of those other groups were: LGBTQ individuals, the physically and mentally disabled, slavs, and members of opposing political groups. These groups of people were ripped from their homes and put into concentration camps. The Nazis would either separate them from their family or they would keep them together and they would have to watch the Nazis torture their family and friends. During this very tragic point in history, more than six million Jewish lives were taken, in total there were over 12 million victims of the Holocaust. Not only did this affect the survivors it also affected families of the victims, survivors and anybody else that was connected through this tragedy. The Nazis, came to “power” in January 1933, which was during a time Germany was going through an economic hardship. They believed that Germans were "racially superior" and that the Jews, were "inferior.” Adolf Hitler played a very big factor in everything that went down. Adolf Hitler was a German politician who was the leader of the Nazi Party and was also known as the dictator of the Holocaust. The Nazis did have others that were Hitler’s “army” and they took orders from Hitler to do awful things to the victims and they were commonly known as

For the past 300 years, the world’s society has displayed lots of unbelievable human cruelty. For example, slavery in the 18th and 19th century, African Americans were forced into harsh work labor because of their skin color. Then in the 20th century, a determined dictator, Adolf Hitler, murdered and tortured eleven million lives. This horrifying event was called the Holocaust, it occurred in 1933 but ended in 1945. Adolf Hitler was angered about the result of World War 1, so he blamed Jewish people, the disabled, and other groups. During the holocaust, the eleven million lives were forced into harsh work labors or was put into gas chambers and was killed instantly. People described the Holocaust as inhumane act, and the people that survived it, could really say it was a scarring memory.

The Holocaust was a genocide that occured from 1933-1945, and one of its survivors was Simon Wiesenthal. Wiesenthal was an architect before he was captured by the Nazis. After he was set free, he dedicated his life to finding Nazi war criminals and persecuting them in court. Later on in his life, he wrote a memoir, The Sunflower. It was about one of his many experiences at the Lemberg concentration camp where he got roped in to listening to a dynig SS soldier, Karl. Right before, Wiesenthal leaves Karl’s room, Karl asks for Wiesenthal, on behalf of all the Jews he persecuted, for forgiveness. Wiesenthal left Karl’s room without forgiving him, and then asks the readers, “ What would I have done?” At the end of The Sunflower, people who Wiesenthal picked to respond to his question, had their answers published. The most interesting response was Jose Hobday’s. Hobday believed that Wiesenthal should have apologized to Karl because it would have given Karl a sense of peace, making it easier for him to pass on. Hobday has the correct answer to Wiesenthal’s question because even though all of the Jews that Karl persecuted are dead and will not be able to apologize to him in person, Karl just wants someone to know that he is sorry for his actions.

If someone were to partake in the murdering of your own kind, would you be able to forgive them? That is the question that Simon Wiesenthal must ask himself in the story The Sunflower , a book about pain and forgiveness. The Sunflower follows Simon as he listens to Karl, a former SS officer, confess and ultimately beg for forgiveness for the war crimes he committed. It pits Simon against a very difficult situation and even makes the reader consider what they would do. So, from reading The Sunflower and all of the supplemental essays, I can come to the conclusion that I do believe that the Soldier should be forgiven because he was brainwashed by propaganda and felt strong regret for his actions.

The word Holocaust evokes negative thoughts in people's minds. If it does that now imagine how it was like living through that torment, and thinking I'm better off dead than alive, and watching yourself slowly dying as each day goes by.The Holocaust took place in the midst of a world war automaticity increasing its significance to people in the world. Around 11 million innocent lives were taken majority targeting the people of the Jewish religion, but Hitler's overall goal was to exterminate everyone

First off, Karl should not be forgiven because Wiesenthal had no right to forgive him. Wiesenthal wasn’t affected by the crimes Karl committed, “ then another truck came full of more Jews and they too were crammed into the house with the others”. (Wiesenthal,41). Wiesenthal was not one of these Jews that was thrown into the house to burn. Therefor, he has no right to forgive Karl because he didn’t feel the pain the Jews did. Also, Wiesenthal isn't in position to forgive Karl because he has not “suffered nothing because of him, and it follows that what he has done to other people you are in no position to forgive”.(Wiesenthal,65). Wiesenthal has no right to forgive Karl because he wasn't the one that was affected by his actions. He has no rights

The Nazi slaughter of European Jews during World War II, commonly referred to as the Holocaust, occupies a special place in our history. The genocide of innocent people by one of the world's most advanced nations is opposite of what we think about the human race, the human reason, and progress. It raises doubts about our ability to live together on the same planet with people of other cultures and persuasions.

Around seventeen million people perished in the Holocaust, of no fault of their own. The cause? Hate and intolerance. When most people think of the cause of the Holocaust, they think of Hitler. The true cause of the Holocaust, however, wasn't just Hitler. It was the Germans' hate and intolerance for the Jewish population. Hate and intolerance have caused many problems throughout the world, including the Holocaust and persecution of the Jewish people. Literature and film of the Holocaust can show that anyone can fight against hate and intolerance; examples being spreading hope by stealing books to read to others, collecting items to remind everyone of the Holocaust, passing on the