The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness

Simon Wiesenthal presents a study of forgiveness, justice, compassion, and human responsibility centered on a pivotal moment from his time as a Holocaust prisoner. While imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp, Wiesenthal was brought to the bedside of a dying SS member who sought to confess his crimes and obtain absolution from a Jew. Faced with a choice between compassion and justice, silence and truth, Wiesenthal remained silent. Years after the war ended, he continued to question whether he had made the right decision. The book includes responses from fifty-three distinguished contributors—theologians, political leaders, writers, jurists, psychiatrists, human rights activists, Holocaust survivors, and victims of attempted genocides in Bosnia, Cambodia, China, and Tibet. Their varied perspectives address Wiesenthal's central questions about forgiveness and responsibility, demonstrating that these questions extend beyond historical events to contemporary moral dilemmas.