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Essays on the Holocaust history
Literature review on forgiveness
Reflection about the Holocaust in the 20th century
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Forgiveness helps everyone, and most people would agree.The Holocaust was the worst time for Jews and others whom Hitler considered he got his way. I have 4 articles about forgiving which I will be using. “Oldest Known Holocaust survivor Dies; Pianist was 110,” by Mark Memmott, is a woman named Alice Herz-Sommer, who lived to 110 and got through the Holocaust. Another articles is “It’s For You to Know That You Forgive, Says Holocaust Survivor” by NPR. Eva Kor, Holocaust survivor,forgave the Nazis and Dr. Josef Mengele. The last section is “Surviving The Angel Of Death” by Eva Kor. This is a book of Eva Kor surviving experiments from Dr. Mengele. Dr. Mengele experimented on twins which Eva Kor was. Also it on forgiving what happened to her …show more content…
and family. “The Sunflower” by Simon Wiesenthal is about how a Holocaust survivor is talking to a Nazi on his deathbed. The Naiz Karl is telling Simon a story what happen to a family and Jews and he wants Simion to forgive him.Which Simon does not forgive Karl.It's a responsibility to forgive the ones who did themselves wrong. When forgiving it makes them feel good and strong about yourself.
In the article “Oldest Known Holocaust Survivor Dies,””Mark Memmott says “Despite all that has befallen her, [Holocaust survivor]Alice insists that she has never, ever hated the Nazis, and she never will. Some see in her tolerance and compassion a secular saint who has been blessed with the gift of forgiveness...” (Malcolm Clark and Nick Reed qtd.In Memmot). This quote is saying Alice would not hate them because she has a gift of forgiving and that she forgives the Nazis because it would come back and eat her up and she would not be injured.Likewise,Eva Kor states that “when a victim chooses to forgive, they take power back from their tormentors” (“It’s For You To Know”). Eva is getting stronger because she is getting power from the ones in the wrong. In her book Surviving the Angel of Death, Kor Also said “I discovered once I made the decision was that forgiveness is not so much for the perpetrator, but for vitamin” (132).Eva is saying that if they are forgiving it is for the person who did wrong but it for yourself. Forgiving is a power that everyone has. After forgiving the Angel of Death, Kor said she felt a “burden of pain had been lifted from my shoulder, a pain I had lived for 50 years” (Kor ). When you forgive you are feeling good and healed. Eva is feeling healed after forgiving The Angel of …show more content…
Death. Forgiving would let them move on and be free. Alice Herz-Sommer says, “Life is beautiful, extremely beautiful. And when you are old you appreciate it more. When you are older you think, you remember, you care and appreciate. You are thankful for everything For everything” (qtd. In Memmot). For this quote Alice is saying life is short and just move on and live life.Eva would just like for the Holocaust Nazis to come and say what they did and that’s all she wants. She just wants them to say, “I helped kill 6 million Jews and stop Neo-Nazis from doing it in the future. Eva Kor is trying to move the world forward by this, because it would be a change in the world. Eva Kor says, “They can take a piece and a pen and write a letter to someone who hurt them. Please do not mail it to that person.It's for you to know that you forgive,and you can go on with your life without a burden and pain that the Nazis or anybody else ever imposed on you”(It's for you to know 3) You don't have to tell the person yourself that you forgive but you can move on by forgive them for yourself. This helps people to move on so that they are forgiving and that they can be healed. They can also move on by forgive them for yourself. Dont forgive the one who wrong her or him self.
Holocaust Survivor, Simon Wiesenthal says, “Today the world demands that we forgive and forget the heinous crimes committed against us. It urges that we draw a line, and close the account as if nothing had ever happened” (Wiesenthal 97). However, they can forgive whenever they like but they can't never forget what happened to. Simon later second-guessed himself on not forgiving Karl, a Nazi. He had a choice and he picked not to forgive Karl, but he was not sure if that was the right thing to do. Simon had to ask others in the camps if that was the right decision. Wiesenthal was hard on himself weather to forgive Karl. Then he had to go ask other Jews and he even went to talk to his mom. But how do they know now what Wiesenthal feel because he didn't even know himself. Wiesenthal states, “Forgetting is something that time alone takes care of, but forgiveness is an act of volition and only the sufferer is qualified to make a decision” (Wiesenthal 97-98). On the other hand, how can he not forget something so bad like the Holocaust and forgiving would help him. It would not make him sufferer. Eva Kor forgave, and she probably would never forget what happened to her. She was healed and weight came off her shoulders after she forgive the
Nazis. Forgiving helps with all problems and most people might agree this.Forgiving or not forgiving it’s their choice Forgiving would help by moving forward in life and to in joy your life.Also feeling wonderful and be healed to. Also we can.Its a duty to forgive the ones who had wrong them.
He should not have forgiven him because, “One soldier got up from the bench and looked at us as if we were animals in a zoo” (Wiesenthal 20). “Rectifying a misdeed is a matter to be settled between the perpetrator and this victim” (Wiesenthal 54). This shows only a small portion of what the Jewish people were treated as during this time. They were treated like animals, yet they are completely human. Also, an approximate eleven million people were killed during the Holocaust. Six million were Polish citizens, three million were Polish Jews, and another three million were Polish Christians. A single person who was not affected by the soldiers decisions cannot represent the eleven million people who were affected. In order to achieve actual “forgiveness” he would need to speak to every single person who was
When Simon was asked to forgive the SS officer, he blankly looked at the man, stood up, and left. One of the main problems that he faced is he definitely was not able to absolve the man of the crimes considering he could not speak for his entire people. Wiesenthal did not have authority to absolve the actions of those who were responsible for the holocaust nor did he want to in the first place. Different people have different ideologies about the way that one can accept forgiveness. Literature from the Jewish culture has a lot to say about this and understandably so. For one, it is clear they thought little about verbal apologies from the Nazis for the atrocities they had committed in the
In the symposium section, Abraham Joshua Heschel quoted, “No one can forgive crimes committed against other people. It is therefore preposterous to assume that anybody alive can extend forgiveness for the suffering of any one of the six million people who perished.” (171). Simon Wiesenthal would possibly never forgive the SS officer because he doesn’t represents to those who suffer and died by the SS officers because he is just one jewish person out of many different jews that died. At that point, Simon Wiesenthal does not represent the rest of the jews and other Holocaust
Forgiveness is not an action that should be taken for granted. Nor should it be easily accepted without a second thought. It was strong of Simon to refuse to give Karl an answer to his request. “Possibly, there are circumstances in which forgiving is a temptation, a promise of relief that might be morally dubious. Indeed, the refusal to forgive may represent the more demanding moral accomplishment” (Brudholm 2). Simon did not give into the temptation to give a dying man the easy answer he sought and say that he forgave him without thinking it over. Karl assumed that he would be forgiven, even though he did not express much remorse about what he had done. Because he did not automatically tell Karl that he forgave him, Simon never had ...
Forgiveness is not a one time thing it is something you have to deal with all the time. I 've discovered through life that feelings are strong, many people will tell you how you are suppose to feel and also I learned that most people do not want to feel the pain of the event that happened to them repeatedly. In this case we are talking about forgiveness to Karl for the things he did in the holocaust. Though it may be difficult I would say that I forgave him and after he passed away I would have found reasons to truly forgive him.
Forgiveness is crucial for a clear conscience and peace of mind for the both of them. However, all of this is arguable by the fact that today’s experiences are incomparable to those of Hitler’s times. One cannot begin to place one in each other’s shoes and know exactly how to respond to the events happening. One can only guess how they would respond, but until they are in that moment, all plausible reasoning can change. Nevertheless, forgiveness continues to be an aspect of everyday life in every century.
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
The essay "Forgiveness," written by June Callwood, explores the concept of forgiving and how it influences people's lives for the better. Her work describes many components of forgiveness, such as how difficult it can be to come to terms with, why it is such a crucial part of humanity, and how it affects all people. Her essay aims to prove that forgiveness is the key to living peacefully and explains specific examples of people who have encountered extremely difficult situations in their lives- all of whom found it within themselves to forgive. To clearly portray this message in her writing, Callwood uses several strategies. She includes fear inducing statistics, makes many references to famous events and leaders, and uses a serious convincing tone, all of which are very effective.
In Simon Wiesenthal’s The Sunflower on the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness the author is asked to fulfill a dying solider last wish to forgive him because of the crimes he has committed against the Jewish people of the Holocaust. When Wiesenthal is asked for forgiveness, he simply leaves the room. Wiesenthal states that the encounter with the dying man left “a heavy burden” (Wiesenthal 55) on him. The confessions in which he admitted to have “profoundly disturbed [him]” (Wiesenthal 55). As Wiesenthal tries to make sense of what he has encountered he begins to make excuses for why the man might have done what he did. He say...
Anne Frank a young girl who died believing that people are good at heart. ‘’You could not do this you could not do that.’’ A quote from Anne Frank. Found in the collection book page number 283. In this essay, I will be showing you why Anne might feel certain ways during this hardship. Also what it reveals about her character. Anne is a brave young girl who always does what she feels is right and her way of taking on life and its challenges is taught for a person to do in that time and she managed to take on so much. In advance to Anne hard life, she keeps a diary to share her thoughts and option on life in hiding during the dreadful event called World War Two. This dairy was a miracle to the world. They now know the hardship and struggles that the Jews had two indoor. Anne dairy opened so many doors for journalists and many others. They have a diary of a real end of the Holocaust in their hands.
The Holocaust was a genocide that can never be forgotten. Adolf Hitler was sadistic in his beliefs, and after the war, he killed himself. Sadly, it took millions of deaths for the war to end. In 1945, the war between the Allies and Axis powers had officially ended, but the war between our beliefs in God and the worlds’ view on our faith will never cease. As Christians, we will be ostracized for our love for Jesus until the day that He returns. The Holocaust taught people to realize that even in the hardest situations, there is always hope and always light at the end of the tunnel. The perseverance of the Jewish people is a constant reminder to never give up. Even in this massacre, there was an end. In this we see that the clear light of God shines through the darkness.
Forgiving someone is a way to release us from the pain they have brought us. Justice can just be
Over one million Jewish children died during the Holocaust. They were ripped out of their homes and taken away from their families, and stripped of their childhoods. Innocent lives were caught in a war that they were not able to stop. When Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, he promised Germany that he would improve life their by getting rid of the one race that caused the problems, the Jews. Jews, including Jewish children, were sent to concentration camps, inspected, and if approved, were sent to work. All others would have been sent to be killed. Being sent to work did not ensure survival, children would be given very little food and water, and beaten severely, which caused their death. None of the children of the Holocaust will ever forget the experience they went through, they will always remember.
Although, Simon did not give Karl a straight forward answer for him to sit there in silence and listen to the dying Nazi solider is more than enough. According to theologian and scholar, Cardinal Franz Konig in The Symposium, from The Sunflower, “The distinction between whether we can forgive and whether we may forgive still leaves unresolved the question of whether we should forgive” (182). Basically, what Konig is trying to say is that as humans cannot be forced to forgive. Even though there are instances where we may want to, it is often it is nearly impossible because we all cope with things differently. Since, Karl’s questions caught Simon by surprise his actions were
When do we have the right to forgive? What are the reasons to forgive and are there times that we either have no right to forgive so much so that forgiveness is inappropriate. Just today I was told of a story that parodied Wiesenthal’s dilemma on a much higher level. In that case, brought by the Israeli Rabbanut to the attention of Rav Avraham Steinberg, author of Chukas HaGer, the Nazi in question did not just seek forgiveness.