The Sunflower

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.

Some say that because he has suffered so much, from the pain of both his injury and his guilt, and shows how he is repentful for his actions, Karl deserves forgiveness, but that is not so, for Simon is in no place to give it. Simon is neither a priest, nor a representative of the Jewish people, and he cannot forgive him for his crimes against an entire group. According to Alan L. Berger, the Director of Jewish Studies and teacher in the Department of Religion at Syracuse University, Judaism teaches that, “[He] may not forgive one who has taken the life of another” (qtd. in Wiesenthal 119). Wiesenthal was not personally affected by Karl. Knowing that how could Wiesenthal rightfully forgive this man, when even his faith gives does not allow him to. Though he does deserve sympathy, simply being remorseful does not necessarily make him deserving of forgiveness. While it holds merit that Karl is truly repentful, Wiesenthal is just in no place to forgive him.

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 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.

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

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

Imagine a world where families, friends, and neighbors that you have known for many years are no longer dependable. They can very well be your enemies. Giving you away to the Nazi’s simply because that was the social norm. Day by day, your loved ones are taken away to concentration camps and never seen again. This was the nightmare that all the Jews had to face on a daily basis during the Holocaust. Hitler understood the power of speaking up, which is why he shot down any means of rebellion with total force. He also brainwashed the German youth; removing the ability to think for one’s self. The end result, was the slaughter of six million innocent Jews by the end of World War Two. I repeat, six million people died in the most horrific and inhumane ways possible. Many of you must be thinking. “The Holocaust occurred a long time ago, how could something that horrible occur today?” And those who think that are truly wrong. The Bosnian Genocide that occurred in 1995, was the cause of 8,373 innocent lives. Not to mention the mental and physical injuries that occurred during this

He continues by stating how good of a person he was before he joined the Hitler Youth at sixteen years of age. Karl emphasizes his goodness by stating that he was church boy before he joined the Youth and did not believe in the idea that others were the cause of the problem. Karl states, “at the army base at Debicka some Jews were still

Simon Wiesenthal was a faced with a hard decision. The Sunflower is a true story of Simon as a Jewish prisoner and his journey through one of history’s most difficult and trying events, the Holocaust. As if life wasn’t already difficult enough for him, especially because he was a jew, he came across a wounded german soldier. The german soldier began confessing his guilt and asking for Simon to hear him out since he was a jew himself. The realm of human forgiveness is incomprehensible. Throughout our difficult and trying lives, we are faced with a number of situations whose full understanding goes beyond our conscious thoughts. Some people in special situations are asked to dig deeper into their hearts, souls, and minds to find solutions or answers to these situations. The act of digging deeper to find solutions begins to define what makes us human.

The Holocaust was one of the most horrendous events ever to take place in our world’s history. It involved people all over the world and affected millions both directly and indirectly. It led to the death of over 11 million people, mostly Jews, and was started and controlled by the infamous German Nazis. Adolf Hitler, the mastermind behind the whole plan, was the chief organizer and began slowly starting to make those he thought were inferior suffer when he became Fuhrer in 1933. The circumstances during the time period leading up to and during World War II manipulated certain people to be controlled by various psychological tendencies. Perpetrators had a mindset that the people they were murdering weren’t actually

He focused on a family with a child, a child that had eyes that could never be forgotten. Karl in he end wanted to ask for forgiveness, to die in peace, forgiveness from any Jew left before his last days of life. Part 2: Response

The Holocaust is a great historical event And brought forth alot moral courage. Before I talk about the main event I should give you a brief history.Hitler is one of the most amazing people ever.. He took his whole country and brought it out of priority I thought burning people and people are still okay with that I mean wow you have to be someone to you do that. The Holocaust of course in most mines is a terrible terrible crisis but you have look through the hole burning people and like such as to choose the homosexuals gypsies the blacks those hearts of people because Hitler he brought his whole country out of property during the world debt. we are still in debt and we can't get out of it. If Hitler was ruling that would help. but like

For every Nazi that died, how many Jews died? How many children died? And Karl wants peace of mind! I would not lie to the man so he could die without guilt. I would tell him that his actions disgusted me to a point that I thought my stomach was going to come up my throat. I have strong sickening emotions in response to this story. Karl made the choice; he’ll face the consequences. But at the same time, he

When you think of the holocaust what do you think of? Hitler and the Nnazis? A perfect race? Or do you think of hurting and killing people? Do you think of the six million people that died? You may read that number and not even know how to imagine that many people. But that was six million grandparents, mothers, fathers, and even children. Every single person that died in the Holocaust had a story, Tthey all were worth something to someone. Many people wonder, “Why even bother to learn about something so tremendously horrible that killed an innumerable amount of people?” If all it does is make you sad thean what's the point? Well, the people that died deserve our respect. Their lives mattered. They mattered to their family, to friends, to God, and now they need to matter to us. Every human life is is important, those living and those who have passed on before us. There are possible threats to have a Holocaust-like event happen again. We need to learn