Review of the book ,The Sunflower
By edumate, 5th Feb 2012 | Follow this author
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In this essay the concept of forgiveness as dealt in the book, The Sunflower has been analyzed and the perspective of the author as to his reaction to the dying Nazi soldier. The soldier had asked for forgiveness but the author had remained silent although he felt the confession of the soldier might have been true.
Author's question
The author raises the same question to his readers. He asked leading intellectuals what they would have done in similar situation and their responses were documented in a book in one volume and published twenty five years after the Holocaust. Here too the focus would be on the reaction to such similar situation keeping in mind the viewpoint of forgiveness and its limit and possibilities
Review : The Sunflower
The Sunflower by Simon Wiesenthal is a book on the Holocaust looking back at a personal question of forgiveness, its possibilities and limits. The book narrates Wiesenthal’s experience in Lemberg Concentration Camp. The title has been chosen by Wiesenthal’s on seeing a sunflower on each grave at a German military cemetery which he envies and thinks of his own burial at an unnamed mass grave. The book was originally published in France and the personal question of Wiesenthal’s was put before intellectuals, Holocaust survivors and former Nazi soldiers and their responses were accordingly recorded and those are one of the most valuable, lasting and the hallmark documents of holocaust Literature and interfaith discussion.
In 1943, Wiesenthal was called to visit a mortally wounded Nazi soldier, Karl Seidl at the Lemberg Concentration Camp. The soldier sought a Jew’s (Wiesenthal’s) absolution for a crime that troubled him (Seidl) all through his life. The man confesses him everything about his criminal activities against the Jews. Wiesenthal was so troubled that he simply walked out of the hospital room silently. Later, he recounted the tale to other prisoners in the camp and many others and got various responses. The Sunflower is thought provoking and challenges us to define our justice and consideration. The book questions the core of our soul. It is debatable whether the soldier (Wiesenthal) was right in his actions or the prisoner (Seidle) out of line? How can we identify that a person is justified to be forgiven and who has the right to forgive such crime? Forgiveness in one sense means to be absolved of our sin. But that is not in this case since the forgiveness is sought by a criminal (Seidle) not from the victim or his family but an unrelated man. The only relation is that the victims and the person (Wiesenthal) belong to the community of Jews. It is true that I feel empathy for the dying man. I like Wiesenthal want to believe that the confession of Seidle is true and he is really remorseful. But whatever the case may be if I were in Wiesenthal’s place could I grant forgiveness to a person like Seidle? I am in no way related to the atrocities he committed. I cannot even imagine the pains and agonies through which the prisoners had to go through. It’s very easy now to say that Wiesenthal should have forgiven the dying man. But to forgive is to grant him freedom from his sin. But as a human being it is very difficult to do the divine act of overlooking his heinous crimes. Time and again I will be reminded of the grievous crimes he did. How can I forget the tortures he inflicted as a Nazi soldier on innocent Jews? It would be maintaining double standards to make him feel I have forgiven when I cannot really do that. Another point that haunts me is can I forgive someone on behalf of someone. The victims are dead. The person seeking forgiveness has brutally murdered them. Will the souls of the dead people forgive me? In this situation only God could have helped the dying SS officer and no one else. I will not have been justified if I had forgiven the man as that would tantamount to unjustness to the victims. It is true that to err is human, forgive divine. But the question of limit and possibility is to be taken into consideration, what is the limit of forgiveness and how much is it possible to forgive? It all differs according to the situation and its connotation.
(Wiesenthal) belong to the community of Jews. It is true that I feel empathy for the dying man. I like Wiesenthal want to believe that the confession of Seidle is true and he is really remorseful. But whatever the case may be if I were in Wiesenthal’s place could I grant forgiveness to a person like Seidle? I am in no way related to the atrocities he committed. I cannot even imagine the pains and agonies through which the prisoners had to go through. It’s very easy now to say that Wiesenthal should have forgiven the dying man. But to forgive is to grant him freedom from his sin. But as a human being it is very difficult to do the divine act of overlooking his heinous crimes. Time and again I will be reminded of the grievous crimes he did. How can I forget the tortures he inflicted as a Nazi soldier on innocent Jews? It would be maintaining double standards to make him feel I have forgiven when I cannot really do that. Another point that haunts me is can I forgive someone on behalf of someone. The victims are dead. The person seeking forgiveness has brutally murdered them. Will the souls of the dead people forgive me? In this situation only God could have helped the dying SS officer and no one else. I will not have been justified if I had forgiven the man as that would tantamount to unjustness to the victims. It is true that to err is human, forgive divine. But the question of limit and possibility is to be taken into consideration, what is the limit of forgiveness and how much is it possible to forgive? It all differs according to the situation and its connotation.
The dying man may have realized his faults at the last stage of his life but how can we become oblivion of all his wrong doings. Jesus Christ may have given his divine forgiveness to his murderers but we are human beings and except for few of us we lack such divine qualities. Reading the text I feel so excited and helpless. How could I forgive and forget a Nazi soldier? I might have also kept quite in front of him like Wiesenthal and could not have been able to whole heartedly grant him freedom and forget all the traumatic experiences.
The dying man may have realized his faults at the last stage of his life but how can we become oblivion of all his wrong doings. Jesus Christ may have given his divine forgiveness to his murderers but we are human beings and except for few of us we lack such divine qualities. Reading the text I feel so excited and helpless. How could I forgive and forget a Nazi soldier? I might have also kept quite in front of him like Wiesenthal and could not have been able to whole heartedly grant him freedom and forget all the traumatic experiences.
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