Forgiveness In The Sunflower By Simon Wiesenthal

In The Sunflower by Simon Wiesenthal, Wiesenthal, a Jew in a concentration camp, is faced with controversial question. Should he forgive the dying SS man? Throughout the book, Wiesenthal mulls over his response to the SS man, Karl. Was it the right choice to leave Karl’s bedside or should he have forgiven him there? “Well, I kept silent when a young Nazi, on his deathbed, begged me to be his confessor” (Wiesenthal 97). If Wiesenthal had chosen to forgive, does that forgiveness include forgetting? Is is possible to forgive and not forget, or in order to forgive, is necessary to forget? Although it is easy to hold grudges and remember past wrongs, forgetting is a key step in forgiveness.
If one does not understand the true meaning of forgiveness, how should understand how it truly works? Forgiveness is a communicative action. To forgive, one must “die to one’s self” by releasing his or her bitterness and/or wrath even if it is deserving. Not only is forgiveness “dying to one’s self’, but it is also giving mercy to the offender just as Christ has done for all of humanity.
Mankind is broken and mard due to sin. However, because of Christ’s death and resurrection, humanity can made whole again. Unfortunately, humans still sin. God says to love one another.

In Jeremiah 31:34, the Lord speaks to His chosen people. He states, “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more”. Due to the fact that humans are imperfect by sin, they should strive to be like God because his is the only perfect example. Because the Lord is forgiving and forgetting, humans should also forgive and forget.
In the symposium, Goulden speaks of forgiving and forgetting. “To forget all may be easy, but to forgive all must be something more than a pulpit platitude” (Goulden 157). All of the horrors can be forgotten. Life can move on, and people can forget the past. However, forgiving can take time. It is not something that should be “half baked” or done half heartedly. Forgiveness must be from the heart. Colossians 3:13 says, “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” Christ has forgiven everyone completely and repeatedly for the same sins. Mankind must do so also.
In The Sunflower, Wiesenthal shares his opinion.

“The crux of the matter is, of course, the question of forgiveness. Forgetting is something that time alone takes care of, but forgiveness is an act of violation and only the sufferer is qualified to make the decision” (Wiesenthal 97-98). According to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, violate means “to fail to show proper respect for” or ‘to abuse or show disrespect for usually by damaging it”. This would mean that the act of forgiveness is the failure to “show proper respect” or to show contempt for “usually by damage”. If this is the case, forgiveness is not an acceptable things. Forgiveness is not an acceptable things; it is something that God

does.
There is a difference between forgiveness and reconciliation. Reconciliation is the action of restoring a relationship. For someone to forgive, the relationship does not go back to the way that it was. If someone were to show reconciliation, they would “mend the fence”. There is so much more to forgiveness than reconciliation.
To forgive and not forget does not seem possible because the forgiveness may not be genuine. Forgetting does not allow records of wrong to creep and remind the someone of past experiences. Reconciliation and forgiveness are different. One can still remember the past in reconciliation even though relationships have mended. True forgiveness does not remember the past.