The Sunflower

As a Jewish person from Bosnia, Sven Alkalaj relates to Wiesenthal’s experience, since he was a target of the genocide that happened in Bosnia and Herzegovina later in the twentieth century. He asserts that only those who have lived through such genocides “have the right to give an answer to the question of forgiveness” (102). He says that the crimes must not be forgotten, “because forgetting the crimes devalues the humanity that perished in these atrocities” (102).

Alkalaj distinguishes and, at the same time, highlights the relationship between forgiveness of an individual and reconciliation between groups. He recognizes that Simon’s particular challenge was the question of whether or not to grant peace to the young SS man who “genuinely seems to recognize his crime and guilt . . . an important first step” (103). He disagrees with the idea that everyone in the society is guilty, but does believe in “national or state responsibility for genocide” (104), and asserts that reconciliation requires an acknowledgement of and accounting for crimes, for “without justice, there can never be reconciliation and real peace” (104).

Returning to Wiesenthal’s initial question of whether he should have forgiven Karl, Alkalaj states that, while “an argument can be made to forgive if there is a genuine recognition of guilt” (105), it would be wrong to forget the crime altogether.