The Sunflower is about Simon Wiesenthal and his time as prisoner of the Nazis concentration camps during World War II. Simon Wiesenthal is also known as a Nazi hunter tracking down war criminals after the war. The setting of the book takes place in a concentration camp in Poland, where Simon was living prior to the war. One day he and other prisoners were moved into a work detail to collect medical waste from a german hospital in which it was Simons old high school. While working, Simon was pulled away by a nurse who took him to a dying man who was covered in bandages on his face. The mans name was Karl, a 21-year-old German soldier of the SS. Karl explained to Simon that he had requested the nurse for a Jew. Karl wanted to tell his story to
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 that he questioned his own religious faith because he asks why would his God allow the Holocaust happen to his people to be slaughter and not do anything to save them. During Simon Wiesenthal time as a Jewish Holocaust, Simon was invited to a military hospital where a dying Nazi SS officer wanted to have a conversation. The Nazi SS officer told Simon his story of his life and confesses to Simon of his horrific war crimes. Ultimately, the SS officer wanted forgiveness for what he done to Simon’s Jewish people. Simon Wiesenthal could not respond to his request, because he did not know what to do with a war criminal that participate in mass genocide to Simon’s people. Simon Wiesenthal lives throughout his life on asking the same crucial question, “What would I have done?” (Wiesenthal 98). If the readers would be on the exact situation as Simon was
The story is a about a dying SS officer who asks for a Jew in his last moments so he can seek redemption. Simon Wiesenthal was called and he decided to become silent when the apology was delivered to him as the representative of his people. Some comment on the perpetuation of the crime through the ambiguous apology of the SS man. The reason why Simon did not comment was partly because of the offense that was caused considering the officer meant there was no individuality for the Jew and therefore any Jew would have sufficed for the entire apology.
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.
Forgiveness is to stop feeling angry, to stop blaming someone for the way they made a person feel, and stop feeling victims of whatever wickedness was directed towards them. Is forgiveness necessary? Can everyone be forgiven despite the circumstances? If forgiveness depends on the situation, then is it necessary at all? Does forgiveness allow someone to continue their life in peace? Is forgiving someone who causes physical pain to someone, as a pose to forgiving someone who murdered a member of the family the same? If someone can forgive one of these acts so easily can the other be forgiven just as easy? Forgiveness allows for someone to come to terms with what they have experienced. In the case of murder forgiveness is necessary because it allows for someone to be at peace with themselves knowing they no longer have to live with hatred. It also allows someone to begin a new life with new gained experience and different perspectives on life. Forgiveness is necessary from a moral perspective because it allows someone to get rid of hatred and find peace within him or herself to move on with their lives.
• On Rosh Hashanah, Eliezer says, “My eyes had opened and I was alone, terribly alone in a world without God, without man. Without love or mercy. I was nothing but ashes now.…” (page 68) Eliezer isdescribing himself at a religious service attended by ten thousand men, including his own father. What do you think he means when he says that he is alone? In what sense is he alone?
Eugenia Collier’s “Marigolds” is a memoir of a colored girl living in the Great Depression. The story does not focus on the troubles society presents to the narrator (Elizabeth), but rather is focused on the conflict within her. Collier uses marigolds to show that the changes from childhood to adulthood cause fear in Elizabeth, which is the enemy of compassion and hope.
Simon Wiesenthal life and legends were extraordinary, he has expired people in many ways and was an iconic figure in modern Jewish history. Szyman Wiesenthal (was his real named and later named Simon) was born on December 31 in Buczacz, Galicia (which is now a part of Ukraine) in 1908. When Wiesenthal's father was killed in World War I, Mrs. Wiesenthal took her family to Vienna for a brief period, returning to Buczacz when she remarried. The young Wiesenthal graduated from the Humanistic Gymnasium (a high school) in 1928 and applied for admission to the Polytechnic Institute in Lvov. Turned away because of quota restrictions on Jewish students, he went instead to the Technical University
Rudolf Hess may be classified as a perpetrator on the Holocaust Triangle because he was signed in the Secret Cabinet Council of the Nazi party. Alfred D. Low points out, “In these capacities he [Hess] fulfilled manifold functions relating to Party leadership and the approval of all legislation suggested by the different Reich Ministers”(Low 108). Without Hess many anti-semitic acts would have never taken place because without legislation the plans could not have been followed through. In the article “People of the Holocaust,” the author notes that, “On November 20,1945, twenty-one Nazi’s appeared at the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg, Germany, to stand trial for conspiracy, crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity”(“People
The definition of a hero is a “person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities”. At the beginning of the Movie Night by Elie Wiesel Oskar Schindler is portrayed as a greedy womanizer and slave owner who only cares about money and himself, he does not look like your typical hero. Although throughout the movie Oskar Schindler seems more and more heroic from the actions he makes to help the Jews. By the end of the movie Schindler is absolutely a hero.
In “The Sunflower” Simon Wiesenthal confronts the reader with a crisis that has been plaguing him since the 1940’s. Wiesenthal tells of a SS man who wants to escape his impending fate by putting the burden on a Simon who is part of the very group the SS man learned to hate. This SS man, Karl, is Simon’s dilemma. Wiesenthal proposes one question to his audience: Should he have forgiven Karl? Wiesenthal tells of a Karl, who is rapidly growing in maturity as well as independence due to his increasing knowledge and awareness of the world around him. This awareness comes from him joining the military and as a result further inflating his status in society making him a more favorable person. The knowledge and consciousness of his surroundings allow
“ Men to the Left! Woman to the Right!” These were some of the first words that Eliezer, only 15 at the time, when the train stopped in Auschwitz. This is where the story of Eliezer’s began, or at least where the horrors of his story began. Just within the couple hours of him being in the Concentration Camp, he was separated from his mother and sister, Tzipora. Even though he was separated from his mother and sister, he was with his dad and would leave his dad’s side, even if he was dying.No matter what he was experiencing, he always wanted to have his family nearby to aid him in the Horrors that were Hitler's regime. He was there to experience all of it, and with his father by his side. Back at his home in Sighet, his relationship with his father was not that good. His father was always in public business or private company business. Even though the horrors continued, he gained a relationship with his father that he would of had before back at
A girl walks down a busy hallway, bumping into another student. Her lips form the word “sorry” habitually, and the other student immediately nods, granting forgiveness with four words, “You’re good, no worries,” even though both people’s feet are still carrying them onto their destinations. Though a simple example, it is common. Due to the regularity and expectations to behave like these two individuals, the notion of forgiveness has greatly been devalued and misunderstood. Simon Wiesenthal attempts to enlighten the current society on the topic of forgiveness by sharing his story in The Sunflower and engaging the audience by challenging them to cogitate what they would have done if they were him. Wiesenthal successfully communicates the depth forgiveness embodies and examines differing perspectives concerning an
In “Stop the Sun”, the title relates to Mr. Erickson’s experiences during the war. Mr. Erickson knew that the Vietcong couldn't see he was alive in the dark but when it was light again they would come back and look for the survivors. If he could just stop the sun from rising again he could make it out alive. All night he concentrated all of his energy on stopping the sun. When morning came he had not stopped the sun and some men from the Vietcong came. He hid himself under a dead body to make himself look like the many dead soldiers in the field. They passed over him and did not shoot him. Out of his whole group of soldiers he was the only one who survived. Furthermore, “The Medicine Bag” implies as to what the main character is receiving as it is a very significant item. As you can see, the author wants us to realize that there comes a point in everyone’s life when they go through an experience that enables them to enter age, and transition into
In many instances, people make sacrifices for the people around them to survive. In The True Story of Hansel and Gretel, written by Louise Murphy, Magda and the Stepmother both sacrifice their lives. In Night, by Elie Wiesel, in many cases, Elie protects his father by making sacrifices. Both novels share the same controlling idea of survival. Each of the characters make focus on morality by making sacrifices for their loved ones and putting others before them in order to survive the harsh times during the war.
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.