The Sunflower

by WIESENTHAL, SIMON

• ISBN13: 9780805210606
• ISBN10: 0805210601
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 1998-04-07
• 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. Faced with the choice between compassion and justice, silence and truth, Wiesenthal said nothing. But even years after the way had ended, he wondered: Had he done the right thing? What would you have done in his place? In this important book, fifty-three distinguished men and women respond to Wiesenthal's questions. They are theologians, political leaders, writers, jurists, psychiatrists, human rights activists, Holocaust survivors, and victims of attempted genocides in Bosnia, Cambodia, China and Tibet. Their responses, as varied as their experiences of the world, remind us that Wiesenthal's questions are 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	(176)
Sven Alkalaj	101	(4)
Jean Amery	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)
Rebecca Goldstein	148	(4)
Mary Gordon	152	(2)
Mark Goulden	154	(4)
Hans Habe	158	(5)
Yossi Klein Halevi	163	(3)
Arthur Hertzberg	166	(3)
Theodore M. Hesburgh	169	(1)
Abraham Joshua Heschel	170	(2)
Susannah Heschel	172	(2)
Jose Hobday	174	(1)
Christopher Hollis	175	(6)
Rodger Kamenetz	181	(1)
Cardinal Franz Konig	182	(1)
Harold S. Kushner	183	(3)
Lawrence L. Langer	186	(5)
Primo Levi	191	(2)
Deborah E. Lipstadt	193	(4)
Franklin H. Littell	197	(3)
Hubert G. Locke	200	(3)
Erich H. Loewy	203	(4)
Herbert Marcuse	207	(1)
Martin E. Marty	208	(5)
Cynthia Ozick	213	(7)
John T. Pawlikowski	220	(5)
Dennis Prager	225	(5)
Dith Pran	230	(3)
Terence Prittie	233	(2)
Matthieu Ricard	235	(2)
Joshua Rubenstein	237	(4)
Sidney Shachnow	241	(2)
Dorothee Soelle	243	(2)
Albert Speer	245	(1)
Manes Sperber	246	(4)
Andre Stein	250	(5)
Nechama Tec	255	(7)
Joseph Telushkin	262	(3)
Tzvetan Todorov	265	(1)
Desmond Tutu	266	(2)
Arthur Waskow	268	(3)
Harry Wu	271	(4)
Contributors	275