Rating: 
Summary: Using THE SUNFLOWER in an AP History Class (HS)
Review: This book would make an exceptional follow-on study for a unit on the Holocaust. Serious consideration might also be given to using Primo Levi's SURVIVAL IN AUSCHWITZ as an additional source. (I much prefer Levi's book to Elie Wiesel's NIGHT, I might add--essentially the same story, though longer, but a beautifully written book.) But to THE SUNFLOWER, SHOULD (or COULD) anyone ever consider forgiving a Nazi for the atrocities of the Holocaust? Under what circumstances, if any? WHO should be allowed to forgive? How DOES one reconcile the Judeo-Christian ethic of forgiveness (also given an attempt at atonement) with the horror of the Holocaust? A tough one, indeed!Exceptional material for a critical thinking-oriented class! Of course, none of the above precludes simply reading THE SUNFLOWER for the sheer pleasure of it!
Rating: 
Summary: This book is really makes you think about what you would do
Review: This is a book I was assigned to read for my freshman Foundations of Inquiry class in college. By the end, I was so greatful that I had the opportunity to read this book. It is set during the Holocaust in Nazi Germany. The narrator, who is a Jew is asked forgiveness by an SS soldier. The narrator is left wondering what he should do: Forgive the soldier for what has been done to the Jews or decide not to forgive him. You are left with the question, "what would you do." It definitely makes you wonder what you would do in the situation of the narrator. Powerful!
Rating:
Summary: This book is really makes you think about what you would do
Review: This is a book I was assigned to read for my freshman Foundations of Inquiry class in college. By the end, I was so greatful that I had the opportunity to read this book. It is set during the Holocaust in Nazi Germany. The narrator, who is a Jew is asked forgiveness by an SS soldier. The narrator is left wondering what he should do: Forgive the soldier for what has been done to the Jews or decide not to forgive him. You are left with the question, "what would you do." It definitely makes you wonder what you would do in the situation of the narrator. Powerful!
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Summary: A Strange Request For Forgiveness
Review: This is a very strange book in many, many ways. A dying S.S. officer asks for 'a Jew' (any Jew concentration camp inmate will do) so that he can ask for forgiveness for killing some other specific Jews in the past while, at the same time, expressing no general guilt for any other crimes he has done as a Nazi Officer. Simon Wiesenthal is picked as that Jew. Mr. Wiesenthal is silent, he walks away after being forced to listen to this confession(?) and this experience troubles him for decades after. I found it strange at first, that he is so troubled. His going to meet the mother of that officer years later I found strange. One may wonder why he formed, with the mother, a complicity to allow this man to be recalled by her as a 'good son'. Yet, strange is not bad and this book is an excellent book. I found the arguments (from many people) after the story were; enlightening, maddening, brilliant, ridiculous, inspiring, even stupid. In other words they are an excellent display of human reaction and judgement. These reactions form a debate about when and why someone should be forgiven or not forgiven. The question of when a plea for forgiveness is genuine is discussed. Questions are raised about when it is even morally possible to forgive. The reader may walk away ambivalent regarding the conclusions the facts have led to. There is an element of uncertainty. The book causes the reader to think. Even if the reader's initial decision remains from beginning to the last page, there may be elements discussed that make that decision less comfortable after all. And although the soldier's plea remains bizarre, that Mr. Wiesenthal remains troubled becomes understandable.
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Summary: A thought provoking book
Review: This is an excellent and Germane book about the concept of forgiveness in our times. This book was a reading requirement for a university religion class I attend. Reading the book one clearly sees how the Judaic and Christian views of forgiveness differ. But ultimately it is an open ended book where the author asks the reader what he/she would have done in his place. Very thought proviking. A must read.
Rating:
Summary: thought provoking issues
Review: This is some powerful material. Wiesenthal presents the story of a Nazi begging for forgiveness on his deathbed. Should he as a Jew grant this forgiveness? He deals with all the emotional and spiritual ambivalence he feels over this situation. What would you do? is the ultimate question he asks. Don't read this late at night if you want to get some sleep. I found myself tormented by the issue of forgiveness after reading this tale. I can not answer what I would do because I have never been in any situation as horrible as that. But this is a book that should be read by would be philosophers and moralizers as it features Wiesenthal's heart rending tale and follows it with essays by numerous writers of diverse religious and cultural backgrounds. They all must wrestle with this issue. This is a book that should be required reading in universities if not high schools. It might actually provoke students to think. And surely that would be a good thing.
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Summary: Jew in the Holocaust asked for forgivness by a dying Nazi
Review: Weisenthal, a Jew in a concentration camp in the Holocaust, is pulled out of work one day to listen to the confession of a dying SS man. The Nazi is truly repentant of his horrendous sins, and asks Weisenthal for forgivness. Even after Weisenthal makes his decision as to what to say, he spends the rest of his life wondering if he made the right choice. This book addresses such important questions as "can one man grant forgivness for another?" and "do even the Nazis deserve second chances?" Most importantly, Weisenthal (the writer of the true story) asks the reader "what would you have done?" This is the type of book that holds you in a horrified fascination so that you can't get it out of your hands until you've finished it, and you can't get it out of your mind until long after. *Everybody* should read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: What is the problem?
Review: What is Wiesenthal's problem? Is he afraid that God will be mad at him if he made a mistake in deciding whether to forgive or not forgive this guy; that maybe God won't forgive him if he guessed wrong about the moral high road? What's the big deal? Hold a pillow over the Nazi's nose, hum to yourself "hotzi totzi, one less nazi", and sob as you tell the nurse "he died right in my arms". What's the big deal? Whatever you do, or don't do, Simon, God will probably understand, if only on account of the circumstances (and if He doesn't, hell with Him too!) Which makes me wonder, WWJD? (What Would Jesus Do? HE, too, was Jewish, you know, so cross-check the Torah for guidance.) And anyway, where does Wiesenthal get the notion that he could, under any circumstances, forgive anybody for anything (short of an offense against him personally)? True, the Nazi did ask him for forgiveness, but it seems as if Wiesenthal actually considered that granting it was a potential course of action. Who does Wiesenthal think he is? Where does he get such powers? He has no more power to forgive the Nazi than I have. It's not even an option. Accordingly, this situation does not raise any important moral questions. You, Simon, never had and never will have the power to grant absolution. Get over it. And, while we're talking about this book, let's not forget all those blowhards with their mindless comments on this "important moral question." The one I liked best was the moron who equates "polluters of the earth" with the Nazis. What a waste of paper, and trees. Albert Speer was at least smarmy enough to thank Wiesenthal for making his own burden of guilt lighter to bear. Good job, Simon. Finally, and at least one commentator seems to share my suspicions (calling the tale a "fable"), I have to say that I doubt the veracity of the underlying story. It just doesn't ring true. While the situation does present an "interesting challenge", meriting, no doubt, eons of scholarly debate, I just find it hard to believe that it happened quite the way Wiesenthal relates it. I'm sure that something happened. But I'm just not sure how much of Wiesenthal's tale is true and how much is "well, what if it had happened this way?" Sorry. I hope he'll forgive me if I'm wrong, but others, with much less than genocide on the front burner, have resorted to 'literary license' that borders on fabrication. "Based on true events" might have made me feel more comfortable. But,what the hell, go ahead and buy the book. It'll give you something to talk about so your friends won't think you're boring.
Rating:
Summary: What is the problem?
Review: What is Wiesenthal's problem? Is he afraid that God will be mad at him if he made a mistake in deciding whether to forgive or not forgive this guy; that maybe God won't forgive him if he guessed wrong about the moral high road? What's the big deal? Hold a pillow over the Nazi's nose, hum to yourself "hotzi totzi, one less nazi", and sob as you tell the nurse "he died right in my arms". What's the big deal? Whatever you do, or don't do, Simon, God will probably understand, if only on account of the circumstances (and if He doesn't, hell with Him too!) Which makes me wonder, WWJD? (What Would Jesus Do? HE, too, was Jewish, you know, so cross-check the Torah for guidance.) And anyway, where does Wiesenthal get the notion that he could, under any circumstances, forgive anybody for anything (short of an offense against him personally)? True, the Nazi did ask him for forgiveness, but it seems as if Wiesenthal actually considered that granting it was a potential course of action. Who does Wiesenthal think he is? Where does he get such powers? He has no more power to forgive the Nazi than I have. It's not even an option. Accordingly, this situation does not raise any important moral questions. You, Simon, never had and never will have the power to grant absolution. Get over it. And, while we're talking about this book, let's not forget all those blowhards with their mindless comments on this "important moral question." The one I liked best was the moron who equates "polluters of the earth" with the Nazis. What a waste of paper, and trees. Albert Speer was at least smarmy enough to thank Wiesenthal for making his own burden of guilt lighter to bear. Good job, Simon. Finally, and at least one commentator seems to share my suspicions (calling the tale a "fable"), I have to say that I doubt the veracity of the underlying story. It just doesn't ring true. While the situation does present an "interesting challenge", meriting, no doubt, eons of scholarly debate, I just find it hard to believe that it happened quite the way Wiesenthal relates it. I'm sure that something happened. But I'm just not sure how much of Wiesenthal's tale is true and how much is "well, what if it had happened this way?" Sorry. I hope he'll forgive me if I'm wrong, but others, with much less than genocide on the front burner, have resorted to 'literary license' that borders on fabrication. "Based on true events" might have made me feel more comfortable. But,what the hell, go ahead and buy the book. It'll give you something to talk about so your friends won't think you're boring.
Rating:
Summary: Moving & Thought-provoking
Review: Wiesenthal's book on the extent of forgiveness is one of the treasures in Holocaust literature. Writing on the Holocaust has often been very generic -- autobiographical, psychological or thematic -- but Wiesenthal's book brings together these different methods of writing and leaves us with a masterpiece that stirs us emotionally and intellectually. Oftentimes, Holocaust writing appeals to our emotions, rather than our rationality. In fact when writers have tried to look into the psyche of the perpetrators and tried to explain rationally just what drives one to commit such crimes against humanity, they have been accused of siding with the perpetrators in trying to understand them. Others argue that the victims and survivors of the Holocaust should be the focus of anything written on the Holocaust, and that focusing on perpetrators is a negation and diminishing of the victims' suffering. I do not agree with this, and I think a fuller understanding (if it is possible to comprehend such inhuman activity) of the events that happened cannot be achieved without looking at both groups of people involved. Wiesenthal's book has this balance, exploring both the psyche of the perpetrator, an SS man, as well as the thoughts running through the head of the victim, a concentration camp inmate. Can we forgive such crimes which have been perpetrated on our people? And is an individual even in a position to forgive on behalf of everyone? If we do not, are we as bad as the perpetrators themselves? "The Sunflower" asks us questions which we have to confront in our lives. It doesn't just describe a situation and give an answer to it. Instead it leaves us to make our own value judgements about the questions we face, and in doing so, it brings out the prevalent dilemmas in the human condition. A classic and must read for anyone trying to figure out humanity.
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