Forgiveness In J. Solider's 'The Sunflower'

The Sunflower

We often tend to reflect on our past actions and tend to question ourselves on having done the right thing. In The Sunflower, a SS solider asks Simon Wiesenthal for forgiveness for a crime that he has committed against Jewish people. Later though out his book Simon asks for reassurance for his actions as he questions his readers, “Was my silence at the bedside wrong? Did I even have the right to forgive? What moral obligation do we have to remember? What should I have done?” Although it is nearly impossible to put one’s self in Simons shoes, is nearly impossible due to the fact that I was not physically nor emotionally exposed to the Nazis torturous ways. After reading several responses in The Symposium and careful deliberation,

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

Instead we repent in a way we know will benefit us. Karl never showed any intention of an actual sorrowfulness, instead he took advantage and of any Jew to die in peace. Andre Stein states, “I will reach out to you from the grave and will not let you forget that you did not grant me, a dying man, his last wish”. Karl only seems to seek salvation for himself, his word shows a true act of selfishness. It is very ironic how he seeks sympathy for himself from his deathbed to a Jew whom suddenly seems to matter to him because his forgiveness. In the end Karl’s apology was to only benefit himself. Karl knew better than to make the decisions he made, the dying solider had a Catholic upbringing with very religious parents. Instead of following his religion, voluntary he joined Hitler’s Youth he was not forced Karl choose to take advantage of the power he had as a soldier while left behind the moral values his family had taught him. They could have held him back from all those murders he was accountable for; in which they’re getting back at him now that his time has come. Now the only thing that’s left of him is a guilt that can never be forgiven and should not be