The Sunflower

My next book I read was The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness, by Simon Wiesenthal. I first learned about Simon when I watched the film, I Have Never Forgotten You, the story of his life, which I also highly recommend. Simon was in many concentration camps throughout WWII, and when he survived and the war was over, he joined with the US Army in bringing Nazis to justice. It became his life work, his obsession. He had lived in so many camps, which was unusual, so he knew many, many names. The movie is incredible.

And this is a very interesting book. Apparently it's read in high schools, so you may have already read it. I had never heard of it. Wiesenthal writes the first 100 pages, about an experience he had in a camp. After enduring the usual experiences there, he was randomly pulled aside because a dying SS soldier wanted to confess his sins to "a Jew". The man tells of his participation in a horrible event a few years before, talking for a few hours, and then wants forgiveness. I won't tell you what Wiesenthal's reaction was, but he wrote the book because he was haunted by that day for years. He ends his part by asking, "What would you have done?" At the time, in the 60's, he had many religious and human rights people read it and write their responses, and then again in the 90's more people were added in a new addition.

Some of the responses get repetitive, many are surprising. This would be an incredible book group discussion book. My religion is of the "turn the other cheek" variety, but most people in this book do not abide by this. They feared forgiving meant forgetting the Holocaust. Or if they did believe in forgiveness, it had limits. I hadn't realized how God's role is different in my life than in other religions. Plus, not having gone through the experience gives us all hindsight. An interesting read that I recommend.