Simon Wiesenthal Farewell Analysis

A man named Elie Wiesel gave an important speech. “The Perils of Indifference" was about indifference and his views on this topic. He talks about the definition, examples, and what will happen if we let indifference continue. Reading a part of “The Perils of Indifference" has opened my eyes to the true meaning and effect of indifference on society. Elie Wiesel, the man who gave this speech, claimed the definition of this word as meaning “no difference”.

Wiesel pinpoints the indifference of humans as the real enemy, causing further suffering and lost to those already in peril. Wiesel commenced the speech with an interesting attention getter: a story about a young Jewish from a small town that was at the end of war liberated from Nazi rule by American soldiers. This young boy was in fact himself. The first-hand experience of cruelty gave him credibility in discussing the dangers of indifference; he was a victim himself.

This article teaches others the importance and significance of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, founded by Rabbi Marvin Hier in 1977. When the Memorial was first established it was supported by 380,000 members. The Memorial played an important part in investigating into the Prosecution of Nazi Collaborators around the world and persuading other countries such as Canada, Australia and Great Britain to continue to investigate to search for escaped criminals, in order to go through prosecution for their actions that happened many years ago. To reach out to even more people, documentaries, interviews, books, publications and exhibits are also there for further interest, including the Oscar award winner for the best documentary, Genocide. The memorials

Loss of More Than Just Life During WWII, the Nazi´s used a certain tactic to abuse the Jews. It was called dehumanization. Dehumanization is the psychological process of demonizing the enemy, making them seem less than human and hence not worthy of humane treatment. In Elie Wiesel's Night, he shows dehumanization through loss of identity,loss of humanity, and desensitization.

Karl’s confession did not truly warrant a response at all. By requesting that the nurse “bring him a Jew, any Jew will do” he forfeited his right to a response from Simon as it proved immediately that he cared more about dying in peace than repenting and facing his guilt. Perhaps forgiveness, at this point in history and in the aftermath of World War II, is not the issue at hand anymore. Maybe now that the vast majority of the people who committed and experienced these events firsthand have died, the issue at hand has become whether or not descendants of the victims are given a fair chance to live without anger that boils and gradually becomes thick like blood, and if descendants of the perpetrators will continue to hear the echo of evil that once indoctrinated their communities so wholly that humanity in the face of instability was

The “perpetrator” then reflects on their comment and feels guilty for it then transforms their attitude so they aren’t the “bad guy” anymore. I believe that forgiveness allows the perpetrator a chance for inner transformation and “to escape the whirlpool of wrongdoing” (Matthieu Ricard- 236)that they may feel caught

In his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize, Elie Wiesel asserts the following: “Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor never the tormented.” This quote means if we don’t speak up when people are being tormented we automatically take the side of the tormentor. “In Indonesia 57,000 People with perceived mental disabilities are shackled in confined spaces.” Like the Holocaust, the world should not remain silent when it comes to abuses against people with mental disabilities in Indonesia.

When Simon Wiesenthal walked away from the dying SS officer who asked him, a Jew, for forgiveness, Wiesenthal questioned whether it was the right thing to do. He asked others this question, and some said that it was justified and that they might even take it to the next level and scold Karl, the SS officer, while others said that Wiesenthal should have forgiven him because it was part of their religion to forgive. Edward H. Flannery said that Wiesenthal should’ve forgiven Karl because he wasn’t asking Wiesenthal to forgive him on behalf of all Jews, but just personally. I disagree with Flannery because I believe that someone can still be angry with another person and their actions even if they were not a victim of that other person’s actions, and that there are some actions that are so horrible, like the war crimes committed by Nazis, that cannot be forgiven.

For the rest of Simon’s life he remains tormented by Karl’s apology and even asks his readers at the end of The Sunflower to ask himself: “What would I have done?” (98) When we respond to this question, we have to keep in consideration the amount of atrocities and suffering the Jewish population went through. I feel that it is not our right to deeply forgive another for their sins. To forgive by word of mouth seems to me to be so superficial. A deeper forgiveness does not come from us but from God.

Forgive, not because they deserve forgives, but because you deserve peace. It’s not easy to stop blaming someone’s fault, especially for someone who do wrong to us. In the book The Sunflower written by Simon Wiesenthal, a survivor of the Holocaust during World War II, he described his conflict with Karl, a dying Nazi soldier who killed many innocent Jews and begging for forgiveness for his outrageous crime at the end of his life. At the end of this sad and tragic episode, Simon did not response to Karl’s request directly; instead he left us a tough question: “What should you have done?” Based on what Karl had done during World War II and his repentance, each person might have their own point of view about where should we draw the line of forgiveness.

Gage Amid the midst of the Holocaust, millions of Jews, Gypsies, Handicapped, and Homosexuals went through extermination and among all the victims Elie Wiesel lived to tell his story. Elie Wiesel wrote this story so something like this would never occurred again. In “Night” Elie Wiesel and his family witnessed and experienced the horrific treatment and genocide of Jews which led to them becoming practically emotionless and abnormal.

The decision not to act can have terrible consequences, and the jewish people experienced this first hand. This is why Elie Wiesel feels it is so important for people to bear witness to their surroundings. Once an event such as The Holocaust happened, nothing could change it. This shows the Moment Elie realized that “‘Bite your lips, little brother… Don't cry. Keep your anger, your hate, for another day, for later.

In a span of 10 years, the Holocaust killed over 7 million people, that’s just as much as the population of Hong Kong. In the book Night, by Elie Wiesel, Wiesel shares his experience on how he survived the Holocaust and what he went through. How he dealt with the horrors and even to how he felt of his dad’s death and how he saw himself after it was all over. As he tried to publish it he was constantly turned down due to the fact of how horrid and truful it was. He still tried and tried until it was finally published.

If I were in Simon’s place, I would not have granted Karl forgiveness. I think Simon was right not to have forgiven Karl because

Although Simon does show traits of a Christ figure, he does not fully live up to the archetype of a Christ figure. To be a Christ figure is someone must show the traits of the Biblical Christ. In the Bible, Christ fed people who could not feed themselves, and Simon fed the littluns ripe fruit, so that they could eat without getting sick. Simon’s role as a failed Christ figure is shown in his violent and ineffective “crucifixion” and “resurrection”, and his failure at getting them to listen and be reassured by what he had to say. One of the reasons Simon is a failed Christ figure, is that he just died, unlike Christ, who died a martyr to save humanity, and was resurrected from the dead.