The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness (Newly Expanded Paperback Edition) 
asked by crafty1 on November 29, 2006 2:15 AM
Author Simon Weisenthal recalls his demoralizing life in a concentration camp and his envy of the dead Germans who have sunflowers marking their graves. At the time he assumed his grave would be a mass one, unmarked and forgotten. Then, one day, a dying Nazi soldier asks Weisenthal for forgiveness for his crimes against the Jews. What would you do? This important book and the provocative question it poses is birthing debates, symposiums, and college courses. The Dalai Lama, Harry Wu, Primo Levi, and others who have witnessed genocide and human tyranny answer Wiesenthal's ultimate question on forgiveness.
Reviews
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Simon Wiesenthal's death prompted me to read "The Sunflower" for the first time. The book recounts Wiesenthal's haunting encounter with a dying SS soldier. The author was a concentration camp prisoner at the time. The tormented soldier desperately implored absolution for the atrocities he committed. The book passionately explores guilt, penitence, and forgiveness as Wiesenthal invited and printed the commentary from others about what they would have done if they had been in his place.
The story is quite moving but I find it clear that Wiesenthal is telling us more. Sunflowers were used to mark the graves of German soldiers in a nearby cemetery. He imagined the sunflower provided some dignity in death, some vehicle to communicate with the heavens and living world. The prisoner Wiesenthal felt inconsolable that he would ultimately wind up in a mass grave, unmarked and lost for posterity.
I believe that the dying soldier was a metaphorical sunflower within his grasp. Wiesenthal spiritually connected with people and places outside of his present misery though the dying soldier. He now had the power to mark his place, at least for this moment in time, by either dooming the soldier with a verbal rejection or forgiving him. Simon just walked away, with no comment, "just" silence, and threw away the Sunflower that might provide him solace. Simon knew the soldiers guilt and realized his own guilt as a survivor. It was not for him to judge. It became a mission. He would pursue these murderers and bring them to justice. I find this consistent with his post-war work. He sacrificed his engineering career and committed himself to seek out these Nazi criminals. He held their crimes to light in order to allow the world to judge and to recognize that the Holocaust could happen again.
The story is quite moving but I find it clear that Wiesenthal is telling us more. Sunflowers were used to mark the graves of German soldiers in a nearby cemetery. He imagined the sunflower provided some dignity in death, some vehicle to communicate with the heavens and living world. The prisoner Wiesenthal felt inconsolable that he would ultimately wind up in a mass grave, unmarked and lost for posterity.
I believe that the dying soldier was a metaphorical sunflower within his grasp. Wiesenthal spiritually connected with people and places outside of his present misery though the dying soldier. He now had the power to mark his place, at least for this moment in time, by either dooming the soldier with a verbal rejection or forgiving him. Simon just walked away, with no comment, "just" silence, and threw away the Sunflower that might provide him solace. Simon knew the soldiers guilt and realized his own guilt as a survivor. It was not for him to judge. It became a mission. He would pursue these murderers and bring them to justice. I find this consistent with his post-war work. He sacrificed his engineering career and committed himself to seek out these Nazi criminals. He held their crimes to light in order to allow the world to judge and to recognize that the Holocaust could happen again.
reviewed by goonball on November 29, 2006 7:00 PM
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This book has touched me and remained with me since I read it my Senior year of high school. It facilitated numerous discussions on the issue of forgiveness--a complex issue that is actually quite simple. It also helped me to face some of my own issues and grudges so that I was finally able to begin understanding true forgiveness and hope.
A sunflower, though it starts out small like all others, becomes tall and bright and visible. A beacon, as it were. The sunflower is the hope that comes with forgiveness.
The book begins with an account of Simon Wiesenthal when he was in a Nazi concentration camp and is confronted with the decision of whether or not to forgive a dying SS soldier. Following Wiesenthal's account are a multitude of response essays by a great variety of people, including The Dalai Lama, Harold Kusuner, Dith Pran, and Robert McAfee Brown.
I highly recommed this book. If you let it, it will change you.
A sunflower, though it starts out small like all others, becomes tall and bright and visible. A beacon, as it were. The sunflower is the hope that comes with forgiveness.
The book begins with an account of Simon Wiesenthal when he was in a Nazi concentration camp and is confronted with the decision of whether or not to forgive a dying SS soldier. Following Wiesenthal's account are a multitude of response essays by a great variety of people, including The Dalai Lama, Harold Kusuner, Dith Pran, and Robert McAfee Brown.
I highly recommed this book. If you let it, it will change you.
reviewed by potato on November 29, 2006 4:38 PM