The Sunflower Case

To me in some way this book is somewhat a confession also. The author starts off talking about his time in the ghetto and in a concentration camp. One day on his way to work at a technical college he had once been to as a student, he notices a cemetery for the SS and other soldiers. On top of the graves are sunflowers. The sunflowers are important to him because they signify some type of beauty and all things nice even after death. The Jews don't receive the same treatment as the Nazi's in their time of death sadly. After he notices the sunflowers he makes his way to work. Once there a nurse approaches him and asks him to come with her. She takes him to a dying SS man on his deathbed. The dying man asks him for forgiveness for the acts he had done in the past, but the author doesn't know what to say and leaves the man without saying a word.

As the rest of the book carries out he tries to come to terms with his decision not to forgive the SS man. He asks men in his camp what they would have done and they all seem to agree with him and why he made his decision. They were basically in the same situation he was in so that's why I think they all had similar responses. After the camps are liberated the author goes to see the SS man's Mother. The town she lives in is demolished why the war and all the houses has mostly been leveled. He finally finds her house and it only has the bottom floor left. She invites him in and he notices that she has of picture of the SS man in his childhood. As they begin to talk she tells Simon about her son and his choice to be involved in the Hitler Youth and later the SS. Simon can't muster up the strength to tell her what her son had said to him so he lets her tell him more about her son. As he leaves the lonely mother and widow he thinks not telling her about what happened was a good idea. In the last parts of the book he talks about how he thinks the decisions he made were appropriate for the situations he was put into. Then when the book is about to end he asks the reader what they would have done when faced with the things he faced before and after the camps were liberated.

So once I thought about what I would have done I realized I would have done the same thing the author had done. I think if I were a religious person then maybe I would have forgiven him for what he had done because that's probably what I would have thought was right at the time. But I think as of now I couldn't do it. He wanted forgiveness for something horrible he had done but the Jews had no consoling when they were shot and killed for no reason. I kind of feel like it was karma for what he has done. How can you be so cruel and mean to the Jews but want them to be nice and understanding back?

I also wouldn't have told his mother what he had said to me because she had nothing left. It was not her fault that her son was apart of the Hitler Youth and the SS later in his life. She still had an optimistic picture in her head of him and I would have wanted to keep it that way.

After reading the symposium my decision remained the same. The SS man didn't have to endure the hardships, torture, disease, and hell that all of the Jews had to go through everyday in the Ghettos and Concentration Camps. Inflicting is one hundred percent different than receiving what is being inflicted. He signed up to be a Hitler Youth and a SS! He knew what he was getting himself into. The Jews had no idea that they would be treated that way and lose their lives even when they were innocent women, children, and men.

Sven Alkalaj said that someone who hasn't gone through the ordeal does not fully understand how it feels. His words apply to me as well because I'm not a Jew and I wasn't alive when Hitler was in power so maybe I don't fully understand, but the SS man didn't know about what the author endured. The author's insight to the situation helps me better understand his decision though.

I'm stuck in the middle between liking and not liking this book. I respect the author for telling his story and explaining why he chose not to forgive the SS man but sometimes the book got confusing. I guess I'm saying I like the book because it's straight from a survivor of the Holocaust and the rawness and true emotion draws me in. But in other cases I got lost when characters transitioned and I feel like some parts didn't go with the story or helped it move along, like it was extra information being thrown in. For example, I felt like the parts about the people who were not vital to the story were not necessary to give me more information about his decision or why he made it.

If my friend was not in Holocaust class or had not taken it then I would not recommend it because I think my knowledge up to this point in the year helped me grasp the book a lot better than if I had only known a limited amount. I think the more knowledge you have of the Holocaust the better because some parts might not have made sense if I didn't know about life in the camps and ghettos.

I would give this book a C+ because it is interesting but when the extra parts are added in and when it gets confusing it takes away from the book to me. But because it is a true story told in first person, it makes the book very interesting and worth reading.

Smail Balić- This contributor said also that you have to put yourself in the victim's shoes to see better why they made their decision. Smail said that he would have made the same decision as the author. He understands that some people may have different reactions due to their religious beliefs. Such a horrendous crime (The Holocaust) is hard to forgive and the author's decision is understandable. We both believe that the position the author was in motivated his choice and it seems like a good decision for him to make. I agreed completely with what Smail said and he validates some of the points I made previously.

Harry