The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness (Newly Expanded Paperback Edition)

The first time I read this book I struggled with the questions of what I would do in Wiesenthal's situation. Reading all of the views of the contributors did not resolve this matter in my mind. Subsequently to reading this book, I purchase a copy of the book An Encounter With A Prophet which favors forgiveness and gives a unique prayer to achieve forgiveness even when you do not want to forgive. This author made sense but I still could not answer the questions in Wiesenthal `s book.

Then one night walking home from work, I was attacked by a mugger. Coming up from behind me, out of the shadows, the mugger managed to hid me twice on the back of my head before I knew what was happening. Due to space limitations I will skip the details of what followed suffice it to say when the ambulance picked me up off the street , I was drenched in my own blood.

On the way to the hospital my mind started to race. Having grown up as a fighter, I vowed to find this man and evoke some Charles Bronson style justice. As I engaged in this type of thinking, in my mind's eye I could feel and see the mugger sneaking up behind me getting ready to hit me - something they call a flashback a frightening experience to say the least.

As this flash back phenomena continued, it occurred to me to pray the unique prayer suggested in that book An Encounter With A Prophet, I started saying this prayer repeatedly. The flashback dissolved. However, every time I stopped praying, my mind immediately started planning more Bronson style justice and the flashback phenomena would returned. This phenomena gave me the continued motivation to pray for the S O B all that night and for the next few days. (This strange prayer let's you call the person an S O B while you are praying)

When I returned to work I was surprised that I could, against all advise to the contrary, walk home down the very same street at night without experiencing any fear whatsoever. The only feeling I had for the mugger was compassion and all fear was gone.

Now I have no question of how to resolve the issue which still plagues Wiesenthal. Forgiveness is the answer.


One who did not forget   September 21, 2005
Shalom Freedman (Jerusalem,Israel)
39 out of 42 found this review helpful

I am writing this review the day after Shimon Wiesenthal died. He was ninety- six years old. Thousands of words have been written about him and his life- task. Certainly one of the major contributions he made was to make people aware of the enormity of the crime which was the Holocaust. After the war many wished to forget, but he out of a strong sense of duty to those who had died, to those who had been murdered and suffered so much , made it his business to make the world remember. And he too made his business to bring to justice those who committed the crime. And as he said many times he did this not only for the victims, but for the future generations of mankind so that such an evil would never come again not only to Jews but to all of humanity.
He personally made a major contribution to bringing to justice more than one thousand war criminals, including Eichmann,Stangl , and the Nazi who took Anne Frank from her home and sent her to her death.
In this work he ponders the question of forgiveness . He is asked by a Nazi who repents of his crimes for forgiveness. And the question the book asks is whether such forgiveness should be given. It seems to me the answer to this question is given by something which Wiesenthal himself wrote. He wrote that while it might be possible to forgive someone for an injury done to oneself, one has no right to forgive for others. It is those who have been murdered who need to be requested forgiveness of. But one and one half - million Jewish children were not given the chance to answer. I think that no one has the right to answer in their name.
Wiesenthal was after the war urged by his wife to take up his profession as architect . He could not . He dedicated himself to the memory of the victims, and to having justice done. He explained this as follows. He said that when the day would come and he would die he would go upstairs. And there he would meet those who had not survived the Shoah. They would crowd around him , and say, " You were lucky, you had life all those years. What did you do with them" And Wiesenthal said, " I would say to them. I did not forget you."
May the memory of this great Jew and human being be a blessing for all of us.


thought provoking issues   August 10, 2000
George Schaefer
23 out of 24 found this review helpful

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.


Wiesenthal better than the symposium   June 11, 1998
David Graham (Shell, Ecuador)
17 out of 18 found this review helpful

Simon Wiesenthal authored a first rate book, one that should be read by everyone the world over, for it deals with problems that all societies struggle with in trying to achieve peace: forgiveness, justice, and grace. To what extent are we enabled to offer forgiveness on behalf of another, especially when the crimes committed are of almost unspeakable atrocity? Wiesenthal's story is gripping, moving, and haunting, a true encounter that provokes repeated pondering and contemplation. I don't have the 1997 revised version of the book containing the responses of 46 people in a symposium discussion, but I can say that in the original 32 responses, I read very few that contained a cogency and depth equal to that of Wiesenthal's story. While a handful were good, most were evasive. I therefore found the second half of the book to be a disappointment. THE SUNFLOWER, though, is worth getting just to read Wiesenthal's treatment, which is first rate. Philip Yancey also offers some thoughtful comments in a chapter from his book of essays entitled I WAS JUST WONDERING (beginning on page 70 under the title "A Haunting Deathbed Confession".)


Inspirational but real   February 16, 2001
13 out of 13 found this review helpful

I was given this book to read for my Fundamental Ethics course last semester. At first I thought, "What a chore," but then as I immersed myself in the reading of this book, I began to get involved in the reading. I could see the sights, smell the air, hear the sounds, and touch the people that Simon was surrounded by, I felt I was one of them. Very few times in my life has a book had such a captivating effect on me. It also resembles the book Night, by Elie Weisel, in which they share some of the same experiences and captivate the reader to the such a profound extent.

While reading I found myself, not only captivated by the words, but also at the meaning behind the words. "I could easily be in his position, or something similar," I thought. Simon Weisenthal demonstrates a very real dilema and view of forgiveness which we often take for granted, or many times we don't think about. He is faced with a problem and does not know what to do about it.

He made an ethical decision that had consequences he had to answer for. Also, there arises the question of religion into the whole sphere of the dilema.

As a result, Simon Weisenthal ends the first part of the book with certain questions. The second part of the book are the replies by quite a number of religious and political leaders, theologians, philosophers, psychologists, holocaust survivors, lawyers, and many different professionals, giving witness to what they would have done, if confronted with the same situation as Simon.

The book is so profound that one can see it interacting in one's daily life. From the little things that we take for granted, to those that we make a "big deal" out of, we will see with new eyes, after having read this book.

It is a book that is for every reader and, I recommend be read several times in one's life. In other words, the book is living thought and helps tp renew not only one's knowledge, but also, experience.