excellent.
biographical of Wiesenthal's experience in the concentration camp. on a job near a hospital, he is selected to go with a nurse to meet a patient. patient is completely wrapped up, only two holes for the eyes. he is an SS. he speaks to Wiesenthal, telling him about an atrocity against jews that he was involved in. Before he dies, he wants forgiveness from a Jew before he dies.. he says he was a good Christian and regrets what he has done. Wiesenthal leaves the room without giving his forgiveness. He felt that he is not one to give it. he is haunted by his decision.
after the war he visits the SS's mother, and doesn't end up telling her the truth about her son.
the question is whether can one forgive the nazi's for their atrocities .
After the book, different journalists, thinkers, theologian...write their thoughts. ( )

Very deeply thought provoking

Fran Lebowitz said that Jews believe in revenge, because the Jewish God is an avenging God. On the other hand, forgiveness is a central pillar in Christian theology. Christ died on the cross to cleanse the sin of the world, and in the process forgave his tormentors.

These contrasting views of forgiveness are elucidated by the responses in the symposium - the Jewish thinkers tend to take a harsher view of the SS soldier's confession and hope for absolution, while the Christian thinkers tend to err on the side of forgiveness as an absolute moral obligation.

The conversation leads one to see the Christian view as naive - is it possible that the ethos of forgiveness permits the continuation of horrors? Do people feel free in their sin because they know that forgiveness and salvation are ultimately available to all, even the perpetrators of genocide? Whereas Jews more readily acknowledge and live with the consequences of their actions? The fact that Simon Wiesenthal wrestled with this question of forgiveness shows that he does not embrace simple-minded theological dogma in response to complex moral questions. ( )

The author describes a moral dilemma in which a Nazi SS agent asks for forgiveness from a Jew for his murderous acts as the German is dying. The author, a Jew, is perplexed by the question of whether he should have or appropriately could have forgiven the murderer. I actually find the discussion pointless. The request is meaningless and inappropriate. Surely we have more valuable things to do than to debate this issue. ( )

A thought provoking read indeed. I tried to look at this from two perspectives. As an outsider (which I most certainly am) with a knowledge only of the history of the sheer terror, misery, depravity and barbarism that the Jewish people endured (along with many other targeted groups I must add) and then also by trying to put myself in the shoes of the victims. I couldn't even begin to comprehend what those who murdered, tortured, starved, brutalised and humiliated , must have felt and therefore I couldn't and wouldn't begin to presume that I could forgive had I been in their shoes. As the outsider, I would like to think that I could forgive, mainly for my own peace of mind and to let go rather than any altruistic reason toward the perpetrator, in the case the dying soldier.
As with all the books about the holocaust, it is difficult to read but nevertheless a worthy read. ( )