Wiesenthal Should Not Be Forgiven

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

Others may argue forgiveness is not possible without justice.People believe justice is essential because not everyone chooses to do it.Sometimes justice makes it easier to forgive.It creates a safe environment for people to live in.Without justice, there would be nothing to stop genocides and rapes.It will not prevent people from doing things against what has been proved as good.Sometimes forgiveness does not work, justice is all it takes.However, that is not always true, justice does not mean a person is forgiven.The victim can still choose to not forgive him.There is no forgiveness with justice, but there is forgiveness without justice, it is an action between the soul and mind.For example, In the story “Let South Africa show the world how to forgive,”it states,”retribution leads to a cycle of reprisal, leading to counter reprisal in an inexorable movements, as in Rwanda, Northern Ireland, and in the former Yugoslavians.The only thing that can break that cycle, making impossible a new beginning, is forgiveness.Without forgiveness there is no future.” (Page -638.Paragraph 14, Pearson).An analysis of this reveals that forgiveness is a dedication to an individual's life and a new start.It is important to give a person another chance, others every soul in this world would go seek for justice which will lead to a disaster in the society.Another example for this can be found on page 638,”They used to have what people regarded as an intractable problem.They are now resolving

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.

It is in the end of this life that one seeks mercy and absolution for the next. Faced with the choice to absolve,condemn or remain silent, what would you do? This is the question poised to the reader of Simon Wiesenthal's “The Sunflower”. Many answered his question, philosophers,

In Simon Wiesenthal’s The Sunflower, he recounts his incidence of meeting a dying Nazi soldier who tells Simon that he was responsible for the death of his family. Upon telling Simon the details, Karl asks for his forgiveness for what he helped accomplish. Simon leaves Karl without giving him an answer. This paper will argue that, even though Karl admits to killing Simon’s family in the house, Simon is morally forbidden to forgive Karl because Karl does not seem to show genuine remorse for his committed crime and it is not up to Simon to be able to forgive Karl for his sins. This stand will be supported by the meaning of forgiveness, evidence from the memoir, quotes from the published responses to Simon’s moral question, and arguments from

His argument was that if this was true and Karl was not held responsible because he wanted forgiveness. Berger put shame on the Church, murderers and those who ask for forgiveness who could not forgive themselves. I agree with Berger because even though you are sorry and are guilty of do horrible crimes you must still pay for your sins. Also, even though Karl was a dying man and wanted forgiveness as a dying wish, you should not give him what he wants when it involves other groups of people.

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.

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.

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.

An Analysis of The Sunflower 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 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.

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

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

In 1933, one man, with the help of his many troops tried to wipe out an entire religion. This became known as the Holocaust. When Adolf Hitler came into power in Germany, he and his Nazi army tried to destroy the Jews. Over 11 Million people were killed, not just

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.