Forgiving on behalf of the dead?
Simon Wiesenthal · The Sunflower · 1969
A prisoner in a camp, Simon Wiesenthal is led to the bedside of a dying young SS soldier. The man confesses an atrocious crime committed against Jewish families, then begs him: before he dies, he wants the forgiveness of a Jew, any Jew. Wiesenthal listens for a long while, rises, and leaves without a word. For years he will wonder whether he was wrong. For even had he wished to, could he have? The victims are dead, and one forgives, it seems, only the offense one has suffered oneself. But then crimes with no survivor would remain forever beyond any possible forgiveness.
In his place, could you have forgiven? And first of all: did you have the right to, or does forgiveness belong only to the one who was wronged?