The Critique Experience In The Sunflower By Simon Wiesenthal

The Sunflower by Simon Wiesenthal is about his unique experience during the Holocaust. While in the Lemberg concentration camp, he is ordered to work at a hospital for German soldiers. While working there he is taken to a dying SS man, Karl Seidl, who wants forgiveness from him, a Jew, for what he did. Karl first tells him about his life. He was brought up as a Catholic by his parents, but later joined the Hitler Youth. Later in his life, war broke out and he volunteered in the SS. He then told him about his terrible deed. In the SS, he was ordered to burn a building full of 300 Jews. They shot down any Jews that tried to escape. Afterwards, he was shot while fighting the Russians and ended up in the hospital. He asks Simon to forgive him, but …show more content…
It would be impossible for me to do so. First, it is not my right to forgive him, because I was not his victim. Second, Karl also knew very well what he was doing, but did not stop. Third, Karl should have to pay for his crimes instead of being let off the hook without any consequences. In addition to this, we should remember the crimes that the Nazis committed, and prevent anything like it from happening again. What Karl was asking was too much. Even though it was his last dying wish, I would not have granted him it. Another thing to think about is in the book, when Simon wonders if Karl would have admitted to the crimes had he lived and been tried in court for it. I do not think so. He only admitted his crimes because he was about to die, and he would not have received any consequences. However, if he had admitted it in court, he would have gone to jail. Most criminals do not admit to crimes like murder and theft, and Karl most certainly would not have admitted to the mass murder of hundreds of Jews. I do think that a man could be truly sorry and regret what he did, but Karl is not. He could ask God to forgive him, and he might, but I