Through his story and the responses it generates, readers learn that each choice or opinion is personal. Although the reader can clearly see that Wiesenthal is concerned with forgiveness, he is really more concerned with Justice. His deeper question in the face of forgiveness is whether or not he, or anyone else, has the right to make statements against atrocities not committed against them, or to speak for a group of people.
In the case of Karl the SS soldier, would it have been just for Wiesenthal to forgive him in this instance? When is it our right to forgive? In the book, Wiesenthal describes many prominent times of silence. The first being his silence in response to Karl's question. The second refers to the silence Karl describes after his father boycotted him for joining the Hitler youth.
And finally, the silence of God, which Simon discusses often with Arthur and Josek. They believe that God has turned his back in their time of need; He is silent for the Jewish people.
In the book, Wiesenthal is often mesmerized by the sunflowers that lie, beautifully planted, over the graves of dead Nazi soldiers. The sunflowers represented a connection to the living word, a world that Wiesenthal no longer felt he was a part of as a prisoner.
Moreover, the sunflower was a looming reminder that there would be no one to mourn him, or to plant flowers on his grave. Thus, the sunflower symbolizes the loss of life, injustice, and dehumanization of Jewish people by the Nazis.
These instructions are completely customizable. Create a storyboard that identifies recurring themes in The Sunflower. Illustrate instances of each theme and write a short description below each cell.
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Your account has been created. Upload book purchases, access your personalized book recommendations, and more from here. GOT IT. Despite his efforts, he and his wife were eventually taken to a labor camp. Because his wife looked Aryan, he got her false papers and she escaped in the autumn of She lived in Warsaw and then Rhineland, never revealing her true identity.
Wiesenthal escaped a year later. He was recaptured and sent back. The camp was liberated in He was one of less than 34 survivors out of , prisoners in that camp originally.
In the Holocaust 89 members of his family perished including his mother, though he was later miraculously reunited with his wife. After the war, most Holocaust survivors just tried to forget their experiences and start new lives, but not Wiesenthal. Other Jews thought no one would believe them. In fact an SS corporal told Simon: "You would tell the truth [about the death camps] to the people in America.
That's right. And you know what would happen, Wiesenthal? They wouldn't believe you. They'd say you were mad. Might even put you into an asylum. How can anyone believe this terrible business - unless he has lived through it?
He refused to put the Holocaust behind him. He was later credited with the capture of 1, Nazi soldiers. Why did he devote his life to capturing Nazis?
When asked why, Wiesenthal replied "I [believe in life after death. He is struck by the fact that the Nazis gain this small distinction, while he would likely soon be buried in a mass, unmarked grave, making them superior to him even in death. When Karl confesses his crimes, Simon thinks that he too will get a sunflower. The sunflower thus serves as a symbolic representation of both anti-Semitism and remembrance. The sunflower is a distinction that Nazis have, while the innocent Jews receive no such gesture.
The Germans are also remembered by someone, whereas the names and identities of many Jewish individuals would quickly be forgotten in the face of mass extermination. In a way, then, by naming his book The Sunflower , Simon works to counteract this unfairness. The book serves as a way of both fighting anti-Semitism and providing a means of honoring and remembering the six million Jews who were murdered.
For me there would be no sunflower. I would be buried in a mass grave, where corpses would be piled on top of me. No sunflower would ever bring light into my darkness, and no butterflies would dance above my dreadful tomb. Plot Summary. Fisher Edward H. Kushner Lawrence L. Langer Primo Levi Deborah E. Lipstadt Franklin H.
Littel Hubert G.
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