I’m reading yet another book on war and holocaust. This one was recommended to me at shul a few weeks ago — The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness. It’s a short story by Simon Wiesenthal about an SS officer who asks the writer forgiveness for his self-confessed crimes. I’m impressed by the clarity and sincerity of the writing, the ambivalence of its tone, and the way that Wiesenthal interweaves history, personal experience, and mystery in a narrative of dire events.
I’m mostly looking forward to the commentary that is published at the end of the book by the Dalai Lama, Primo Levi, and others.
Today is the first day of Fall in the year 2003.