The Sunflower: Compassion and Forgiveness A fact which we all have to emit is that humanity existence always creates conflicts and fighting which we call "WAR". In war, people kill each others for many reasons ---- resources, personal benefits, territories, powers, revenge, etc. In war, one becomes a hero for killing human lives and eventually he gets honored and well-known in people 's heart. The Holocaust, according to Germans, was the war between Germans and Jews. Approximately six million Jews included 960,000 innocent children died during Hitler 's regime called Nazism. Unlike the "hero(s)" whom people honor, the Holocaust was a hideous crime and the participants were bloody murderers. Today people are taught about the Holocaust …show more content…
In other words if Karl wanted to be forgiven, he then must ask the Jews, who were killed, for absolution. "But who was to forgive him? I? Nobody had empowered me to do so...I have no power to forgive him in the name of other people..." said Mr. Wiesenthal (The Sunflower 82). However, Karl seemed like treating Mr. Wiesenthal as a representative of Jews. He wished forgiveness from a member of Jews community and that 's enough for him to leave the world in peace. Those Jews who were killed would not be able to answer Karl. So it must depend on people who are still alive to grant forgiveness for Karl. Death is the end; a murderer is human. Let me forgive the dying repented soldier so he could rest in peace. Karl voluntarily joined the Hitler Youth because he was naive and lack of life experience so that he was convinced by false information provided by the Nazis easily. Karl joined the Hitler Youth when he was twenty one years old. Before that he did not care much about the world around him. As he mentioned, "Otherwise all I knew about the Jews was what came out of the loudspeaker or what was given us to read. We were told they were the cause of all our misfortunes...They were trying to get on top of us, they were the cause of war, poverty, hunger, unemployment..." (The Sunflower 40). Radio news, propagandas, newspapers provided false information about the Jews so that the Germans will treat the Jews badly because they all
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.
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 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.
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
Karl’s genuine remorse and sincere apology make him worthy of forgiveness. On his deathbed, Karl asks the nurse to send in any Jew, so he can tell his story and die in peace. He states, “I am resigned to dying soon, but before that I want to talk about an experience which is torturing me. Otherwise I cannot die in peace”(27). Karl asks Weisenthal to forgive him for brutally taking the lives of the Jewish people.
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
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.
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.
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 human race should remember what happened during World War II and the terrible truth behind the war. People have made it out to be the worst and most horrific termination of a certain ethnic group of people, race, sexuality, inadequate physical ability, and/or incapable of mental ability. This had happened to prevent any further extreme termination of human beings. Others do not believe that the Holocaust
Another reason for not forgiving would be the fact that Karl was not asking for Wiesenthal’s forgiveness but for forgiveness from all the Jews. He didn’t commit a crime against Wiesenthal personally, and for Wiesenthal to forgive him would have been an empty phrase with no meaning. Karl asked Wiesenthal for his forgiveness just because he is a Jew, and in the soldier’s mind at this time, all Jews are equal. He wanted to be forgiven for the family he shot, the hundreds he burned, the millions of deaths he contributed to. How could a single human forgive on the behalf of 6 million dead lives? I would not be able to. Wiesenthal was not able to. But what if I were to forgive? I would have forgotten the families falling from the windows and the countless other deaths, just to forgive the man. It would have all been a lie and saving Karl, the man who just want forgiveness to die without guilt, would not be worth a lie.
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
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
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
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.