The Sunflower_ On the Possibilities and - Wiesenthal, Simon copy

ALAN L. BERGER
I have been teaching Simon Wiesenthal's book The Sunflower for many years. The
issues remain seemingly intractable. Students are struck by the notion of forgiveness. Was
Simon right? What about the meaning of his silence? Was Karl's repentance genuine?
Further, if the Holocaust was unique, how can traditional responses—including forgiveness
—be applied to monstrous evil? We are engaged at the most profound levels of meaning and
response.
In literary terms, silence is the principal character of this morality tale. And Simon was
twice silent: once in the death chamber of the dying Nazi, and once in the presence of the
dead man's mother. Are the silences the same? Do they convey different meaning? The first
silence is one of confusion. Stunned, frightened, overwhelmed, Simon does not know which
way to turn. He is torn between the ethical teachings of Judaism and the harsh reality of the
Holocaust whose only goal was the extermination of Jews. By way of contrast, the second
silence is a conscious decision. It is taken out of kindness to the mother. What, it might be
argued, would there be to gain by telling the mother the truth about her son? Preserving his
memory was a true gift of grace, the only such gift to have a proper place in this story. To
have forgiven her son would have been a desecration both of the memory of the Jewish
victims and of the sanctity of forgiveness.
In Simon's place, what would I do? This question raises a prior query. Am I entitled to
forgive on behalf of the murdered? My response is, do not forgive someone for whom