Simon Wiesenthal s Life And Life - 1628 Words

There are many moments in one s life, where a choice has to be made , but there are only a few times where one collides with a split second decision. Although you only have a few breaths, a minute at most, to decide what to do, your decision, impacts the rest of your life. Simon Wiesenthal s had many times in his 96 years of life, where he faced difficult choices , yet the one he faced the day he spent at the bedside of a German soldier was undoubtedly a moment which shaped the rest of his life . Dying Karl Seidl, the soldier in question, told Simon of the deeds he committed, towards the Jews, but as the final attempt to cleanse himself of his actions, Seidl asked Wiesenthal for forgiveness. Whatever choice Simon made, would lead†¦show more content†¦To think of what someone would have done in Simon’s shoes, a range of answers were observed to the question â€Å" If you were a Jew, during time of the holocaust, would you forgive a dying Nazi, if they told you they were apologetic for the heinous crimes they had committed?† The results of this questionnaire were surprisingly consistent, as amongst the eight people asked, seven were leaning towards forgiveness. In addition there were two recurring points in four of the answers: how important peace is before death, and how most low ranking Nazis did not know what they were doing; the blame was on the officers . Phuong Nguyen’s reply mentioned both of these points â€Å"I would accept his apology, but just in that moment, because people deserve to die in peace and German soldiers weren t really responsible† In the â€Å"Symposiumâ€Å", respondents argued that Karl Seidl, is asking Simon Wiesenthal to forgive him, but who is Wiesenthal in Seidl’s eye? Mary Gordon stated Karl is â€Å" wrong to ask one man to serve as a public symbol to all Jews† , and Rebecca Goldstein thinks that Nazis, such as Seidl, think of a Jew, as a â€Å"mass term† such as water or salt. (The Sunflower 148-153) Karl Seidl asking Simon