The Sunflower Book Report

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Recommended: Effect of the Holocaust

The Sunflower by Simon Wiesenthal is a non-fiction novel, an autobiography of an event in his life. The novel is a firsthand account of his experience as a concentration camp prisoner under the Nazi regime. This took place during one of the most significant events in American history, the Holocaust, and he was sent to a concentration camp for being Jewish. He explains about how horrible life conditions are for the Jews in the concentration camps and expands on what they had to go through. While at a hospital one day based on orders and work he had to do, he was motioned to a room where there was a dying SS man due to injuries sustained in battle named Karl. He is brought to his bedside and Karl asks Wiesenthal for absolution/forgiveness for …show more content…

I am German, but I am completely against the acts the Nazis committed against the Jews in the Holocaust. I would never personally be able to bring myself to commit horrific acts and murders against another human being like the Nazis did in mass numbers. I personally agree with Simon not forgiving Karl because it is very hard to forgive a man for committing such cruel and barbaric acts against other human beings. Yes, it is true that Karl may have been forced by leaders or higher powers of the Nazi regime to carry out these horrific acts, but he still could have refused. He still went along with it though, even if he may have been killed if he had not done so. He still committed genocide and murdered/tortured other innocent human beings for no specific reason at all. Also, we have to bring into the picture that Karl would still get a sunflower put by his grave after he died, while Wiesenthal will not because he is Jewish. Simon uses the image of the sunflower to represent Karl’s relationship with God. There will be light from God upon the dark graves of the cruel/dark soldiers who committed the horrific acts against the Jews. This can be another reason why Wiesenthal cannot forgive Karl, because his afterlife and relationship with God is certain,

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