Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness. Simon Wiesenthal
Elocution on importance of forgiveness
The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness. Simon Wiesenthal
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
In The Sunflower, Simon Wiesenthal wrote of an incident of the time he was a concentration camp inmate. He described life in the concentration camp, the continuous humiliations, the hunger, the illness, and the constant threat of death. Death was fearful, but death was not his only worry. When he was asked by a dying Nazi soldier for forgiveness, this tore him down, ultimately killing his heart and tearing him mentally apart. Having heard the first confession of a dying SS man, Weisenthal continued to be troubled by his refusal to give forgiveness. In the end of the book when he asked his readers what they would do in his situation, Weisenthal not only bore witness to a horrible event, but he invited all people to participate in the discussion of justice and forgiveness. Father Augustine - Catholic Perspective …show more content…
There is no limit to God’s mercy or forgiveness. When we sincerely are sorry and ask for forgiveness, God forgives. We are all born with original sin, therefore, nobody is perfect and we all make mistakes. Since we are all human and make mistakes, there are no limitations on our ability and willingness to forgive like God, for he is our true role model of forgiveness. Just as God forgave, we can forgive, meaning we will give up our right to hurt others for hurting us. Father Augustine believes that when we forgive, we do not necessarily forget the event that occurred. Learning how to respond to an offense is one of the basic teachings of Christian life. To forgive is to make a new beginning and relationship with that person, by putting the past behind. So, we do not forget what happened, but we do not use that offense against the committer. In addition to Father Augustine’s belief on forgiving and forgetting, the bible does not say forgive and forget. There is no real total forgiveness unless there is a total commitment to forget. The effort to forget is as hard as it
Irish Playwright, George Bernard Shaw, once said, “The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them; that's the essence of inhumanity.” Inhumanity is mankind’s worse attribute. Every so often, ordinary humans are driven to the point were they have no choice but to think of themselves. One of the most famous example used today is the Holocaust. Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night demonstrates how fear is a debilitating force that causes people to lose sight of who they once were. After being forced into concentration camps, Elie was rudely awakened into reality. Traumatizing incidents such as Nazi persecution or even the mistreatment among fellow prisoners pushed Elie to realize the cruelty around him; Or even the wickedness Elie himself is capable of doing. This resulted in the loss of faith, innocence, and the close bonds with others.
He experiences numerous people being hanged, beaten, and tortured daily which changes the amount of faith and trust that he has in Humanity and God. He sees faithful and courageous people crumble in front of his own eyes before their lives are stolen. Towards the end of the book, Wiesel is in the hospital at the camp for surgery on his leg and the man in the bed next to him says something that is bitterly true, “I have more faith in Hitler than in anyone else. He alone has kept his promises, all his promises, to the Jewish people,” (Wiesel 81). Wiesel doesn’t argue with this, which shows that he had lost his faith in humanity, and doesn’t know who to trust. Wiesel is also naive and vulnerable at the beginning of the book. He refuses to touch the food at the ghetto and strongly considers rebelling against the officers at the Concentration camps. At the same time, he is also a strong and fairly well-fed boy who does not grow tired easily. He is shocked that the world is letting these barbarities occur in modern times. Over time, he grows accustomed to the beatings and animal-like treatment that is routine at the camps. “I stood petrified. What had happened to me? My father had just been struck, in front of me, and I had not even blinked….. Had I changed that much so fast?”
Simon Wiesenthal’s book The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness spoke to me about the question of forgiveness and repentance. Simon Wiesenthal was a Holocaust prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. He experienced many brutal and uneasy experiences that no human being should experience in their lifetime and bear to live with it. Death, suffering, and despair were common to Simon Wiesenthal.
In the memoir Night, the narrator Wiesel recounts a moment when he witnesses the most horrific actions done by men,”I pinched myself : Was I still alive ? Was I awake ? How was it possible that men, women, and children were being burned and that the world kept silent “ (Wiesel 32). Wiesel was thinking and questioning about his existence. While also caring for his father because that's all he has left. It's even more important because, what Wiesel experiences in camps has been near death and fight for survival. Two significant themes related to inhumanity discussed in the book Night by Wiesel are, loss in religious faith and father and son bonding.
It is beneficial that Wiesel published this, if he had not, the world might not have known the extent of the Nazi reign. He exposes the cruelty of man, and the misuse of power. Through a lifetime of tragedy, Elie Wiesel struggled internally to resurrect his religious beliefs as well as his hatred for the human race. He shares these emotions with the world through Night. Being confined in a concentration camp was beyond unpleasant.
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 Thomas Brudholm, Charles Griswold, and Trudy Govier. The possibly raised objection, for this particular modified situation, of forgiveness being necessary to move on from Desmond Tutu will be countered with the logic of needing to eventually find an end somewhere.
Even after he loses his faith, his father proves to be a reason worth living.... ... middle of paper ... ... The other prisoners are getting fed up with his father’s behavior and are beating him, and Wiesel did nothing to stop it.
“The Perils of Indifference” In April, 1945, Elie Wiesel was liberated from the Buchenwald concentration camp after struggling with hunger, beatings, losing his entire family, and narrowly escaping death himself. He at first remained silent about his experiences, because it was too hard to relive them. However, eventually he spoke up, knowing it was his duty not to let the world forget the tragedies resulting from their silence. He wrote Night, a memoir of his and his family’s experience, and began using his freedom to spread the word about what had happened and hopefully prevent it from happening again.
The unimaginable actions from German authorities in the concentration camps of the Holocaust were expected to be tolerated by weak prisoners like Wiesel or death was an alternate. These constant actions from the S.S. officers crushed the identification of who Wiesel really was. When Wiesel’s physical state left, so did his mental state. If a prisoner chose to have a mind of their own and did not follow the S.S. officer’s commands they were written brutally beaten or even in severe cases sentenced to their death. After Wiesel was liberated he looked at himself in the mirror and didn’t even recognize who he was anymore. No prisoner that was a part of the Holocaust could avoid inner and outer turmoil.
Eliezer Wiesel loses his faith in god, family and humanity through the experiences he has from the Nazi concentration camp.
Holocaust- destruction or slaughter on a mass scale, especially cause by fire or nuclear war.(Google). Many are familiar with the Holocaust, brought on by Hitler and the he catastrophe that hurt families of millions. Years after, we learn of it as a historical trade guy, however before the holocaust students were taught other things. Things like being proud of their country; a patriot. Those born and raised in Germany were taught of their great ore WW1 as well as their downfall after the war. Proud citizens of Germany wanted to support their country any way possible: the young Germans were encouraged to join Hitler youth in order to put Germany back on top. A young man of Germany, known as Karl, did exactly that. Just like many German boys
Thank you Mr. Wiesenthal for letting me be able to read and respond to your book The Sunflower. The Sunflower has showed me how ruthless it was for Jewish people in the Holocaust. In your book Karl, an SS solider, tries to get your forgiveness for the wrong he has done to the Jewish population. For a person to ask for forgiveness means that they have realized that they have done wrong and want to repent for their mistakes. The big question in your book was “What would you do?” I would’ve done exactly what you did I wouldn’t have granted the solider my forgiveness because he didn’t deserve it.
The delineation of human life is perceiving existence through resolute contrasts. The difference between day and night is defined by an absolute line of division. For the Jewish culture in the twentieth century, the dissimilarity between life and death is bisected by a definitive line - the Holocaust. Accounts of life during the genocide of the Jewish culture emerged from within the considerable array of Holocaust survivors, among of which are Elie Wiesel’s Night and Simon Wiesenthal’s The Sunflower. Both accounts of the Holocaust diverge in the main concepts in each work; Wiesel and Wiesenthal focus on different aspects of their survivals. Aside from the themes, various aspects, including perception, structure, organization, and flow of arguments in each work, also contrast from one another. Although both Night and The Sunflower are recollections of the persistence of life during the Holocaust, Elie Wiesel and Simon Wiesenthal focus on different aspects of their existence during the atrocity in their corresponding works.
Many people have forgiven others, but do we really have a responsibility to forgive each other? There are many examples of crimes in our society, including: The Holocaust, 9/11, and many more. Although these crimes happened many years ago, the severity of them have been unforgivable. A story that supports this idea is The Sunflower, Exploring Dimensions of Forgiveness, by Simon Wiesenthal. In Simon's story, he explains that he was in a concentration camp when he was called to the hospital. At the hospital, an SS soldier asked him for forgiveness after killing many Jews; which he did not forgive him after his wrongdoings. Another example of not forgiving is a response by Sidney Shachnow to Simons book. Sidney explains that the SS man can not be forgiven, because he murdered everyone that could. People do not always have the responsibility to forgive others for their acts or wrongdoings.
The position to choose between forgiving one’s evil oppressor and letting him die in unrest is unlike any other. The Sunflower by Simon Wiesenthal explores the possibilities and limitations of forgiveness through the story of one Jew in Nazi Germany. In the book, Wiesenthal details his life in the concentration camp, and the particular circumstance in which a dying Nazi asks him for forgiveness for all the heinous acts committed against Jews while under the Nazi regime. Wiesenthal responds to this request by leaving the room without giving forgiveness. The story closes with Wiesenthal posing the question, “What would you have done?” Had I been put in the position that Wiesenthal was in, I would ultimately choose to forgive the Nazi on the basis