The Sunflower by Simon Wiesenthal - Essay Example

OF A DISCUSSION ON THE THEME OF FORGIVENESS IN THE NOVEL, ‘THE SUNFLOWER’ BY SIMON WIESENTHAL and Department City, State Month, Year Forgiveness in the Sunflower The Sunflower by Simon Wiesenthal is a book about forgiveness, its possibilities, and the limits. Simon Wiesenthal was one of the many Jews who were imprisoned in concentration camps during the holocaust. He has written the book from his experience both in the camp and after the end of the holocaust. When Wiesenthal was faced with a choice, he chose to remain silent. This left him wondering if he had made the right decision even years after the Holocaust. Wiesenthal’s encounter with a Nazi at the verge of death raises the question on whether it is possible for the perpetrators and the victims of the holocaust to coexist peacefully with each other, and whether forgiveness is possible without punishment. As told through Wiesenthal’s experience, those who were imprisoned in the concentration camps experienced great horror. They were denied of the basic needs and they were deprived of their rights. In the camps, death and torture was a common and expected occurrence. Justice was denied to those who found themselves in the concentration camps. The victims were bonded y their suffering and they could therefore identify themselves as a community who shared each other’s values and hopes for freedom, and the hope that they may one day get justice for the horror that they endured. The question of whether the victims of the holocaust and the perpetrators can coexist peacefully is posed when a Nazi man who has been injured and who now seeks his forgiveness for the evils he committed during the holocaust confronts Wiesenthal. He is haunted by the image of a family he took part in killing. The Nazi soldier therefore wished to speak to a Jew and seek forgiveness for the part he had played. While Wiesenthal listens to the confession, he does not say anything to the man. This may imply that he does not extend his forgiveness to the dying man. The fact that he is unable to forgive a man who is at his deathbed further causes the question if forgiveness from the victims is possible. By seeking the opinion of other prisoners and other people whose stories are found in the book, the author seeks answers for the question of whether is possible for the victims to forgive their oppressors. It is said that the environment, the practices and tradition of the surroundings in which he is brought up, and in which he lives shape one’s thoughts. The thoughts and traditions of the victims of the holocaust are shaped by the experiences that they had in the concentration camps where they were tortured. This makes it hard for them to forgive the perpetrators. The question of forgiveness is also explored in light of what needs to be done to achieve it. Wiesenthal’s silence after the soldier’s confession is perhaps an indication of the belief that Wiesenthal as well as the other victims hold-that repentance alone is not enough to guarantee forgiveness. It also poses the question as to who has the power to forgive. This is in view that the atrocities that were committed were against a whole community, not against an individual. This means therefore that the individual may lack the power to forgive on behalf of the whole community of people. The reason as to why a person is repenting and asking for forgiveness is also an important factor in deciding whether forgiveness will be given. The soldier in question confesses to Wiesenthal so that he may ‘die in peace. ’ He is therefore seeking forgiveness for the selfish reason of wanting peace of mind, not because he is truly sorry for what he did. His motives for asking for forgiveness from a Jew are the therefore wrong. If he had genuinely wanted forgiveness, then he would have sought it before it affected his fate. He is seen to care about getting forgiveness only because it affects his fate. This is one of the reasons that Wiesenthal finds it impossible to grant the soldier and therefore opts to remain silent. As Wiesenthal asserts, ‘…forgiveness is an act of volition, and only the sufferer is qualified to make the decision’1. This then means that if Wiesenthal had been personally affected by the atrocities committed by the individual soldier (Seidl), then he may have been in a position to offer him forgiveness. It is therefore impossible for one to forgive on behalf of another to whom the pain was inflicted. The only way for the perpetrators of the horrors of the holocaust to achieve forgiveness is to seek out the families of the individual victims and ask them for their forgiveness. The inability to forgive is further enhanced by the fact that most of the victims of the holocaust felt that freedom came too late. The survivors who decided to go back home found that they did not even have a place to call home, and those from Poland found that their former home was a cemetery. This reminder of the evil made it even harder for them to forgive. Some of the survivors of the holocaust also avoided going back home as they felt that they could not face those who were guilty of the crimes that were committed against them. The question of forgiveness is also seen when Wiesenthal is so tortured by his lack of forgiveness for the Nazi soldier (Karl Seidl) that he visits his mother. He however finds himself unable to reveal to her the evils that her son had committed. He does not tell her of the evils committed by her son to preserve her faith in ‘the goodness of her son (Wiesenthal, Sunflower)2. The effect that unforgiveness has on an individual are also seen in the book. Wiesenthal is unable to forgive those who committed heinous crimes against the Jewish community. The fact that he cannot forgive however causes him to live with anguish. Even before the end of the holocaust, he is seen to be agonizing over the decision to remain silent. This poses the question whether it may have been easier for him to forgive the soldier rather than live with the agony of his inaction for the rest of his life. In the book, Wiesenthal says that ‘forgetting the crimes devalues the humanity that perishes in the atrocities’ (Wiesenthal, Sunflower)3. This demonstrates the attitude that is held by many of the victims of the atrocities. Many feel that forgiveness is a show of disrespect to those who did not survive. This is why many are unwilling to forgive. The question of forgiveness is therefore widely explored in the book. However, the book does not provide a direct answer as to whether it is possible for the victims of a crime as heinous as the holocaust to forgive. It therefore leaves on with the question of how one can make peace with tragic past experiences and not lose their humanity. Bibliography Simon Wiesenthal, The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness. New York: Schocken Books, Third Edition, 1997. Print. Read More