The Sunflower (book)

{{short description|1969 book on the Holocaust by Simon Wiesenthal}}

{{Infobox book

| name = The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness

| image = File:Simon Wiesenthal - The sunflower on the possibilities and limits of forgiveness.jpeg

| author = Simon Wiesenthal

| genre = Philosophy, memoir

| published = 1969

| publisher = Opera Mundi

| isbn = 0805241450

}}

The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness is a book on the Holocaust by Holocaust survivor Simon Wiesenthal, in which he recounts his experience with a mortally wounded Nazi during World War II. The book describes Wiesenthal's experience in the Lemberg concentration camp near Lviv and discusses the moral ethics of the decisions he made.

The title comes from Wiesenthal's observation of a German military cemetery, where he saw a sunflower on each grave, and fearing his own placement in an unmarked mass grave. The book's second half is a symposium of answers from various people, including other Holocaust survivors, religious leaders and former Nazis. The book was originally published in German by Opera Mundi in Paris, France in 1969. The first English translation was published in 1970.{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/sunfloweronpossi0000wies|title=The sunflower : on the possibilities and limits of forgiveness|last=Simon.|first=Wiesenthal|date=1997|publisher=Schocken Books|others=Cargas, Harry J., Fetterman, Bonny V., Mazal Holocaust Collection.|isbn=0805241450|edition=Rev. and expanded, 2nd|location=New York|oclc=35718520|url-access=registration}}

Synopsis

In 1943, at the height of both World War II and the Holocaust, a group of forced labourers from the Lemberg concentration camp are sent to a converted army hospital to clear medical waste. Simon Wiesenthal is summoned from this work detail by a nurse to the bedside of a dying Nazi soldier, Karl Seidl (identified only as Karl S. in earlier editions). The soldier tells him he is seeking "a Jew's" forgiveness for a crime that has haunted Seidl since it was committed one year prior.{{Cite web|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/simon-wiesenthal-3/the-sunflower-2/|title=THE SUNFLOWER by Simon Wiesenthal {{!}} Kirkus Reviews|date=April 23, 1976|website=Kirkus Reviews}} Over a number of hours, Seidl tells Wiesenthal his life story, including joining Hitler Youth and his experiences in the SS. He then confesses to having participated in the destruction, by fire and armaments, of a house full of 300 Jews. He states that as the Jews tried to leap out of windows to escape the burning building, he and the other soldiers gunned them down.

After Seidl finishes his story, he asks Wiesenthal to forgive him. Wiesenthal then leaves the room without saying anything. The next day, the nurse informs Wiesenthal that the soldier has died. The nurse tells him that Seidl has left his belongings to him, but Wiesenthal refuses to take them, telling the nurse to have them sent to Seidl's mother. Wiesenthal ruminates on whether or not he should have forgiven Seidl through the rest of his experiences in the concentration camp system. After the war, he finds Seidl's mother, who in their conversation unintentionally confirms the details of her son's story. Seidl's mother asks him how he knew his son, but Wiesenthal lies and leaves without telling her of her late son's participation in the Holocaust.{{Cite web|url=https://www.facinghistory.org/sunflower-synopsis|title=The Sunflower Synopsis|website=Facing History and Ourselves|access-date=2018-10-14}} He then poses the ethical dilemma of whether or not he should have forgiven Seidl to the reader, after which a variety of responses from a diverse group of individuals is given.

Responses

In the latest edition of the book, there are 53 responses given from various people, up from 10 in the original edition.{{Cite book|title=The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness|last=Wiesenthal|first=Simon|publisher=Schocken Books|year=1998|isbn=978-0-8052-1060-6|location=New York|pages=101–288}} Among respondents to the question are theologians, political leaders, writers, jurists, psychiatrists, human rights activists, Holocaust survivors, former Nazis and victims of attempted genocides in Bosnia, Cambodia, China and Tibet. The responses vary. Some respondents write that forgiveness ought to be awarded for the victims' sake; others respond that it should be withheld. Others do not say definitively whether or not forgiveness was the right thing.

= List of responses =

class="wikitable sortable"

!Name

!Nationality

!Profession

!Religion

!Response

Sven Alkalaj

|Bosnian

|Diplomat and politician

|Judaism

|Uncertain

Jean Améry

|Austrian

|Essayist; Holocaust survivor

|Judaism

|Uncertain

Smail Balić

|Bosnian-Austrian

|Historian

|Islam

|Uncertain

Moshe Bejski

|Israeli; Polish-born

|Judge; President of Yad Vashem's Righteous Among the Nations Commission; Holocaust survivor

|Judaism

|Do not forgive

Alan L. Berger

|Professor of Religion and Holocaust studies; Author

|Do not forgive

Robert McAfee Brown

|American

|Minister; Activist; Theologian; Professor of Theology and Ethics; Author

|Christianity (Presbyterian)

|Uncertain

Harry James Cargas

|American

|Professor; Holocaust scholar; Author

|Christianity (Roman Catholic)

|Do not forgive

Robert Coles

|American

|Author; Psychiatrist; Professor

|Do not forgive

The Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso)

|Tibetan

|Spiritual leader; Activist; Nobel Peace Prize laureate

|Buddhism (Tibetan)

|Forgive

Eugene J. Fisher

|Catholic Bishop; Author; Scholar of Interreligious studies

|Christianity (Roman Catholic)

|Uncertain

Edward H. Flannery

|American

|Catholic Priest; Author; Activist against anti-Semitism

|Christianity (Roman Catholic)

|Forgive

Eva Fleischner

|Professor of Religion; Author

|Do not forgive

Matthew Fox

|President of University of Creation Spirituality; Author; Priest

|Christianity (Episcopalian); formerly Roman Catholic

|Do not forgive

Rebecca Goldstein

|American

|Philosopher; Author

|Judaism (Orthodox)

|Do not forgive

Mary Gordon

|American

|Professor of English, Barnard College; Author

|Christianity (Roman Catholic)

|Do not forgive

Mark Goulden

|British

|Journalist; Publisher

|Judaism

|Do not forgive

Hans Habe

|Austrian; Hungarian-born

|Author; Publisher; Jewish descent

|Christianity (Protestant)

|Uncertain

Yossi Klein Halevi

|Israeli; American-born

|Author; Journalist; Son of Holocaust survivor

|Judaism

|Uncertain

Arthur Hertzberg

|American; Polish-born

|Rabbi; Author; Scholar; Activist

|Judaism (Conservative)

|Do not forgive

Theodore M. Hesburgh

|American

|Priest; Professor; President of University of Notre Dame

|Christianity (Roman Catholic)

|Forgive

Abraham Joshua Heschel

|American; Polish-born

|Rabbi; Theologian; Philosopher; Professor; Author

|Judaism (Orthodox, Conservative)

|Do not forgive

Susannah Heschel

|American

|Professor of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College; Scholar; Daughter of Abraham Joshua Heschel

|Judaism

|Do not forgive

José Hobday

|American

|Franciscan nun; Author; has written about Catholic and Native American spirituality; of Seneca, Iroquois and Seminole descent

|Christianity (Roman Catholic)

|Forgive

Christopher Hollis

|British

|Journalist; Author; former Member of Parliament

|Christianity (Roman Catholic)

|Forgive

Rodger Kamenetz

|American

|Poet; Author; Professor of Religious Studies at Louisiana State University

|Judaism

|Do not forgive

Cardinal Franz König

|Austrian

|Cardinal; Archbishop of Vienna; Theologian; Scholar

|Christianity (Roman Catholic)

|Forgive

Harold S. Kushner

|American

|Rabbi; Author

|Judaism (Conservative)

|Do not forgive

Lawrence L. Langer

|American

|Scholar; Professor; Holocaust analyst; Author

|Do not forgive

Primo Levi

|Italian

|Author; Chemist; Holocaust survivor

|Judaism

|Do not forgive

Deborah E. Lipstadt

|American

|Historian; Author; Professor; Holocaust scholar

|Judaism

|Do not forgive

Franklin H. Littell

|American

|Holocaust scholar;

|Christianity (Methodist)

|Do not forgive

Hubert G. Locke

|Professor; Holocaust scholar

|Uncertain

Erich H. Loewy

|Professor of Bioethics, University of California Davis

|Can not forgive

Herbert Marcuse

|German; American

|Philosopher; Sociologist; Political theorist; Author

|Judaism

|Do not forgive

Martin E. Marty

|American

|Religious scholar

|Christianity (Lutheran)

|Forgive

Cynthia Ozick

|American

|Author

|Judaism

|Do not forgive

John T. Pawlikowski

|American

|Priest; Professor of Social Ethics; Advocate for Catholic-Jewish relations

|Christianity (Roman Catholic)

|Do not forgive

Dennis Prager

|American

|Author; Theologian

|Judaism (Orthodox)

|Do not forgive

Dith Pran

|American; Cambodian

|Photojournalist; survivor of Cambodian genocide; subject of The Killing Fields

|Forgive

Terence Prittie

|British

|Journalist; Author;

|Do not forgive

Matthieu Ricard

|French

|Author; Buddhist Monk; PhD in Molecular Genetics

|Buddhism (Tibetan)

|Forgive

Joshua Rubenstein

|Regional director for Amnesty International USA; Fellow of Russian Studies

|Do not forgive

Sidney Shachnow

|American; Lithuanian-born

|Major General, U.S. Army; Purple Heart Recipient; Green Beret; Holocaust survivor

|Judaism

|Do not forgive

Dorothee Sölle

|German

|Theologian; Author

|Christianity (Lutheran)

|Uncertain

Albert Speer

|German

|Minister of Armaments and War Production for Nazi Germany; Chief Architect to Adolf Hitler; Nazi party member; Accepted moral responsibility at the Nuremberg trials; known as the "Nazi who said sorry"

|Do not forgive

Manès Sperber

|Austrian-French

|Author; Psychologist

|Judaism

|Do not forgive

André Stein

|Professor; Psychotherapist; Author; Holocaust survivor

|Judaism

|Do not forgive

Nechama Tec

|American; Polish-born