Sunflower : On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness

by WIESENTHAL, SIMON

• ISBN13: 9780805241457
• ISBN10: 0805241450
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-05-01
• Publisher: Schocken

Summary

While imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp, Simon Wiesenthal was taken one day from his work detail to the bedside of a dying member of the SS. Haunted by the crimes in which he had participated, the soldier wanted to confess to--and obtain absolution from--a Jew. This unusual encounter and the moral dilemma it posed raise fundamental questions about the limits and possibilities of forgiveness. Must we, can we forgive the repentant criminal? Can we forgive crimes committed against others? What do we owe the victims? Thirty-five years after the Holocaust, Wiesenthal asked leading intellectuals what they would have done in his place. Collected into one volume, their responses became a classic of Holocaust literature and a touchstone of interfaith dialogue. This revised edition ofThe Sunflowerincludes 46 responses (ten from the original volume) from prominent theologians, political leaders, writers, jurists, psychiatrists, human rights activists, Holocaust survivors, and victims of attempted genocides in Bosnia, Cambodia, China and Tibet. Their answers reflect the teachings of their diverse beliefs--Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, secular, and agnostic--and remind us that Wiesenthal's question is not limited to events of the past. Often surprising and always thought-provoking,The Sunflowerwill challenge you to define your beliefs about justice, compassion, and human responsibility.

Author Biography

Simon Wiesenthal was born in 1908 in Buczacz, Galicia, at that time a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was incarcerated between 1941 and 1945 in Buchenwald and Mauthausen and other concentration camps. In 1946, together with 30 other survivors, he founded the Jewish Historical Documentation Center, which was instrumental in the identification of over 1,100 Nazi war criminals. He has been honored by the governments of Italy, the Netherlands, Israel, and the United States. Wiesenthal is the author of many books, including <b>The Murderers Among Us</b>, <b>Justice Not Vengeance</b>, <b>Sails of Hope,</b> and <b>Every Day Remembrance Day</b>. Wiesenthal lives in Austria.<br><br><b>Among the contributors:</b><br><br><b>Sven Alkalaj</b>, Bosnian Ambassador to the U.S., <b>Mosh

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
BOOK ONE The Sunflower	1	(98)
BOOK TWO The Symposium	99	(160)
Sven Alkalaj	101	(4)
Jean Améry	105	(4)
Smail Balic	109	(2)
Moshe Bejski	111	(7)
Alan L. Berger	118	(3)
Robert McAfee Brown	121	(3)
Harry James Cargas	124	(2)
Robert Coles	126	(3)
The Dalai Lama	129	(1)
Eugene J. Fisher	130	(5)
Edward H. Flannery	135	(3)
Eva Fleischner	138	(5)
Matthew Fox	143	(5)
Mark Goulden	148	(5)
Hans Habe	153	(4)
Yossi Klein Halevi	157	(3)
Arthur Hertzberg	160	(3)
Theodore M. Hesburgh	163	(1)
Abraham Joshua Heschel	164	(2)
Christopher Hollis	166	(5)
Rodger Kamenetz	171	(1)
Cardinal Franz König	172	(2)
Harold S. Kushner	174	(3)
Lawrence L. Langer	177	(4)
Primo Levi	181	(2)
Deborah E. Lipstadt	183	(4)
Franklin H. Littell	187	(4)
Hubert G. Locke	191	(3)
Erich H. Loewy	194	(4)
Herbert Marcuse	198	(1)
Martin E. Marty	199	(5)
Cynthia Ozick	204	(7)
John T. Pawlikowski	211	(5)
Dennis Prager	216	(5)
Dith Pran	221	(2)
Terence Prittie	223	(2)
Joshua Rubenstein	225	(4)
Dorothee Soelle	229	(2)
Albert Speer	231	(1)
Manès Sperber	232	(4)
André Stein	236	(5)
Nechama Tec	241	(7)
Joseph Telushkin	248	(2)
Tzvetan Todorov	250	(2)
Arthur Waskow	252	(3)
Harry Wu	255	(4)
Contributors	259