THE SUNFLOWER by Simon Wiesenthal

The Impact University Book Club

Blue Willow Bookshop (14532 Memorial Drive)

November 1 7p.m ’til 9

The Impact University Book Club will at its meeting on November 1 discuss Simon Wiesenthal’s The Sunflower and will wrestle with the difficult subject of forgiveness. Some would argue that the subject is not difficult to understand, but that it is extremely difficult to practice forgiveness when offenses are egregious. Others disagree, saying that there are offenses so profound that they should not /cannot be forgiven — that to do so would be unChristian. Political theorist Herbert Marcuse argues that “the easy forgiving of such crimes (as those described in The Sunflower) perpetuates the very evil it wants to alleviate.” We look forward to hearing what the members of the Book Club think.

Please feel to express yourself in the meantime via this blog. It would be especially helpful to hear from those of you who have already read the book.

October 14, 2010 - Posted by impactuniversity | Uncategorized

2 Comments »

I continue to be surprised that the events of Monday night have not left my head, or my heart. I knew when I saw Helen on Monday night that I would not forget her face, and when I heard her story it’s like it was burned into my memory. It becomes even harder, after seeing this beautiful lady in person, to understand how other humans could have seen these people, witnessed their pain and sorrow, and continued to mistreat them in such magnitude…or at all. I don’t know how one human can look another human who is hurting in the eyes, and turn away–or actively contribute to the pain. It is indescribeable and such a tragedy. I am so grateful that God sent Helen our way.

I am in utter disbelief of Simon Wiesenthal’s story, maybe because I am somewhat ignorant of the history surrounding the era. I struggle with how it could have happened at all, but I am going to educate myself.

In my opinion the only person who could forgive that soldier would be God, as He has felt the pain of his child being murdered. Anyone who is a parent knows that the parents who were burned in that building were exponentially more concerned with their children than themselves. Since God has felt their pain, I feel that He would be the only one able to forgive that soldier. I do not struggle to understand how Simon might have been left speechless at the soldier’s request.

I invited the minister of the Church of Christ in Brenham, Doug Hall, and his wife to attend the meeting Monday night. They had a previous family committment, but he was kind enough to share his thoughts with me, and to allow me to post them on the blog. I will post them separately. Thanks to all of you for welcoming me to the group and for inviting us.

Comment by Katie | November 4, 2010 | Reply
With his permission, here are some thoughts from Doug Hall. Doug is the minister at Brenham Church of Christ:

I do remember when I first read The Sunflower I had a visceral reaction to it. So many emotions surged through me all at once. It was hard to read about the cruelty that the Germans demonstrated (especially the SS) against the Jews. I have read many other works by survivors of the holocaust and I have sometimes become physically ill over what I read. I felt a sense of disgust against the Germans who were so cruel. I felt despair when I once again realized how inhumane human beings can sometimes be. I had a hopeless feeling when I tried to imagine what it would have been like to be a Jew and to have to live each day enduring the abuse at school, at work and in the community at large. All of these emotions are important when you have to deal with the request of the dying SS officer to Simon Wiesenthal.

My initial reaction to the dying man’s request for forgiveness was how unfair it was for the SS officer to make this request of Wiesenthal. Here you have a Jewish man who is in fear for his life every moment of every day and this man has the audacity to ask him for forgiveness. I think it was totally inappropriate. First of all, he did not personally harm Wiesenthal. He killed others and should have made every effort to find relatives or friends of the actual people he harmed to ask forgiveness. Wiesenthal is not the one to whom the SS officer needed to repent. Wiesenthal could not provide absolution. It would have been much more appropriate if the dying SS man had told Wiesenthal that he was sorry for what the Germans were doing to him and that he had realized the error of his ways and wanted to express his sorrow to at least one Jewish person before he died. He could have then told Wiesenthal that he had prayed to God for him to forgive him and he could have asked Simon if he could forgive him for his part in the terrible mess. But to ask forgiveness for specific atrocities? That is ridiculous. Wiesenthal should have felt no guilt for not answering the man, although he could have spoken up and indicated that it was God to whom the man should pray for forgiveness. God is the only one that matters in forgiveness.

While it is true that we must forgive those who have sinned against us if we in fact want to be forgiven of our sins, I don’t think that this is what has taken place here. The man had murdered innocent people. His guilt was burdening him down. He wanted someone to tell him that everything was forgiven and he could die in peace. He wanted something that only the harmed ones could give him–personal forgiveness for his sins. At one point Wiesenthal says that he (Wiesenthal) was his last chance for absolution, but I disagree. God is his last chance for absolution, not Wiesenthal. It is not the sins of a nation that were burdening that German SS Officer that day. It was his own personal sins. It is always best if you can confess your sins to the one you actually harmed and make amends if possible, but in this case it was not possible. To try to use Wiesenthal as a surrogate in this is wrong.

I hope that God accepted the repentance of the SS officer. And I hope that Wiesenthal was able to process his own guilt for remaining silent. May God help us never to face these kinds of struggles in our lives.

I would love to hear your thoughts.

Blessings,
Doug

Comment by Katie | November 4, 2010 | Reply

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