Wiesenthal’s Choice

Indeed, Simon Wiesenthal was the ”avenging angel” and the ”deputy for the dead” for those brutally murdered 6 million Jews in the Nazi Holocaust. However, few know about one of the best pieces in the literary genre of documented memoirs that he authored called The Sunflower.

This is an important piece of work that we include in Holocaust Studies at the University of Miami and at workshops for schoolteachers. It remains relevant today. Here is its premise: While imprisoned in a concentration camp, Wiesenthal is removed from his work detail to see a dying member of the SS who is haunted by his crimes and wants absolution before he dies. But he only wants forgiveness from a Jewish person.

Wiesenthal is faced with the choices of ”compassion, justice, silence and truth” while at the dying Nazi’s side. In the end, Wiesenthal simply listens, says nothing and is led back to the concentration camp.

Years after the war ended, Wiesenthal wondered: Had he done the right thing? An interesting idea to ponder: What would you have done in his place?

Miriam Klein Kassenoff,, director, Holocaust Studies Summer Institute, UM School of Education, Coral Gables, Florida

Wiesenthal’s choice