Lest we forget?
But can we forgive?
A few years ago, I came across a book by an American pastor, Brian Zahnd: his book’s title is “Unconditional? The call of Jesus to radical forgiveness”. In this book, he draws his readers’ attention to another book: “The Sunflower: On the possibilities and limits of forgiveness”, by Simon Wiesenthal, a Shoah survivor, who became known as ‘The Nazi Hunter’ [cf https://www.wiesenthal.com, the website of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, in California].
In this (short) book, Simon Wiesenthal tells about how it happened that, one day in the concentration camp that he was in, he was withdrawn from a work detail because a wounded (and near to death) SS soldier wanted to speak with “a Jew”. He was taken to the soldier’s room in the nearby military hospital: the soldier recounted the atrocities against Jews that he had taken part in, and then asked for ‘forgiveness’.
It’s not for me to say just now how Simon Wiesenthal responded – try to find his book, and find out for yourself. What I will do just now is give you the last paragraph of “The Sunflower”:
You, who have just read this sad and tragic episode in my life, can mentally change places with me and ask yourself the crucial question: “What would I have done?”
deacondonkeane 