The Sunflower Simon Wiesenthal Analysis

Simon Wiesenthal’s memoir, The Sunflower, told the story of Simon when he was trapped in a concentration camp. During his time in the camp, he was told to make a decision of forgiving a SS officer. An officer who Wiesenthal was contributing to his daily torture. Instead of verbally saying he forgave Karl, Simon implied his forgiveness by staying silent. I agree with Wiesenthal’s actions because I have relatable instances from my life that make it understandable. Such as, my parent’s divorce and a close friend’s alcoholic and drug addict father.

Although many people such as Harry James Cargas and Nechama Tec believe Karl should not have been forgiven. I can understand their reasoning because when Karl, lying on his death bed, said, …show more content…
His status as a priest allowed him to do so because it was not a decision for Wiesenthal to make, but God’s decision. I concluded that Wiesenthal also believed that because, “There are sins that God and not humans must forgive. And no one had assented Simon to forgive in God’s name” (Fox 247). As a result, Wiesenthal offered a decision to Karl; to make his own peace, or die with the guilt. These were the only choice he could offer because he did not have the power of God to grant Karl full forgiveness. Though, under the current circumstances, Wiesenthal was limited in what he could offer. Another reason why I can relate and understand Wiesenthal’s decision is because of an accident with a close friend and her father. My close friend named Lynn had an alcoholic and a drug addict father, who was the Karl in her life. When Lynn was younger, she was on vacation with her father, and they had rented a lake house with her family. While her mom and siblings were at the lake, her father and Lynn were driving back from the grocery. During the car ride back to the lake house, her father had relapsed in the car when he began to hallucinate. They were almost in a car crash. They missed to pole by less than an inch. Before the day ended, her mom packed everything and took Lynn and her siblings back home and forbade them to ever see him again. However, few months ago, when her mom was renewing her faith, she believed that they should go see Lynn’s father again and try to forgive him. I remember overhearing the conversations Lynn’s mom had with mine; she blamed herself for robbing away Lynn’s childhood because her father was not there anymore, and how she felt constantly distressed for abruptly leaving and never calling her ex-husband again. I think Wiesenthal did the right thing, especially for himself as he found peace afterwards. I had always considered maybe if Wiesenthal had not