The Sunflower

Karl is a young SS soldier, mortally wounded in battle, who confesses his crimes against the Jews to Simon and asks for forgiveness. He tells Simon that he grew up in a devout Catholic home but then alienated himself from his father, first when he joined the Hitler Youth and later when he joined the SS. He recounts his experiences of having mistreated Jewish people as a part of his job, and is particularly troubled by the time he participated in torching a houseful of Jewish prisoners and then shooting those who tried to escape through the windows. Among those he killed were women and children. When Simon encounters him, Karl is close to death and is convinced that, if a Jewish person would forgive him for his acts, he will be able to die in peace.

Karl is clearly a conscientious young man, who remembers his early religious training now that he is approaching death. However, he was obedient to his leaders to the point of defying his own morals. While he is obviously regretful about his treatment of Jewish people, the nature of his remorse is dubious, as is his attitude towards the Jewish people. When he tells Simon how badly he is suffering, he says, “those Jews died quickly, they did not suffer as I do—although they were not as guilty as I am” (52). This statement indicates that, while he recognizes that the Jewish people have had bitter experiences, he still believes that they bear some degree of guilt, which has resulted in their cruel deaths. 

Josek is one of Simon’s close friends in the concentration camp. At the beginning of Wiesenthal’s story, Josek is a newcomer to the camp where Simon and Arthur are prisoners. Wiesenthal portrays Josek to be a devout and thoughtful person, saying, “Jokingly I called Josek ‘Rabbi.’ He was not of course a rabbi; he was a businessman, but religion permeated his life” (5). Josek gives the most thought to Simon’s questions as to whether he should have forgiven Karl. He points out that Simon had a responsibility to the dead victims, not to give forgiveness on their behalf.

Josek would die before the end of the war. Wiesenthal says that he learned of Josek’s death from other prisoners. He had contracted a fever that made him too ill to work, which prompted a soldier to shoot him as “punishment for being ‘work-shy’” (76).

Arthur is one of Simon’s closest friends in the concentration camp at the beginning of The Sunflower. They have been friends since youth, since before their incarceration, when Arthur was a lawyer. Wiesenthal describes him as a “cynic” (6). Arthur’s persistent belief was that, while he might not survive the concentration camp, “the Germans would not escape unpunished” (8). Arthur’s immediate response to Simon’s story of having been at the deathbed of a Nazi is, “One less!” (64).

Wiesenthal tells us that Arthur died of typhus, that “in his last few hours fever made him unconscious, mercifully for him” (76). 

Adam is a fellow prisoner with Simon, Josek, and Arthur. Adam studied architecture but gave up his studies when the war started. Coming from an affluent family, he viewed being imprisoned in a concentration camp as being preferable to being imprisoned by the Soviets for being of an enemy—that is, wealthy—class. He had seen his parents killed at the beginning of the war. Wiesenthal says that, upon hearing his story of the dying Nazi, Adam’s response is, “So you saw a murderer dying . . . I would like to do that ten times a day. I couldn’t have enough such hospital visits” (64).

Wiesenthal recalls how Adam was condemned to die when he sprained his ankle at work, then waited at the concentration camp’s place of execution for two days, in full view of the prisoners, before being shot to death along with several others.

Bolek is a man who becomes Simon’s bunkmate during the final days of the war, after Simon’s closest friends have all died. Bolek has been evacuated into Mauthausen camp from Auschwitz during the Russian advance on Poland. A Catholic priest in training, he has already suffered many humiliations at the hands of the Nazis, and yet continues to practice his faith. When Simon tells him about the dying Nazi, Bolek says he should have given forgiveness because Karl was sincerely repentant and because Simon had an obligation to grant a dying man his last request. Wiesenthal says that their discussion did not really come to a resolution but that he felt some satisfaction from their having shared their opinions with one another, “and that each had a better understanding of the other’s views” (83).