SIMON WIESENTHAL’S STORY

Simon Wiesenthal was a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. One day when he was working at an army hospital, a nurse took him to the room of a dying S.S. soldier.  The young man said he wanted to see a Jew to apologize to him.He told Wiesenthal about his previous life. As a youngster, he had joined the Hitler Youth, and then as an adult had joined the S.S.

One day while on duty, he watched as a group of Jewish families was herded into a house, which was then set afire. He and the other soldiers were ordered to shoot anyone who tried to flee. One woman, with a baby in her arms, their clothes aflame, jumped from a window. He and the others followed their orders and shot the mother and her child.

The young man was tormented by what he had done. A few days later, he was fatally wounded in battle. As he lay dying in the hospital, he asked to see a Jew. He told Wiesenthal this story, and asked for his forgiveness as a Jew on behalf of the Jews he had killed.

Wiesenthal listened thoughtfully, but felt he had no right to offer forgiveness on behalf of someone else. He walked out of the room without saying anything. The next day, he found out that the soldier had died during the night.

After the war, Wiesenthal went to see the soldier’s mother, who thought of her son as a good boy. He said nothing to question that.

Some years later, Wiesenthal (1998) wrote of his encounter with the young soldier. He wondered if he had been right in not offering forgiveness. He included in his book a number of responses from various scholars. Most agreed that he had no right to offer forgiveness on behalf of someone else.

I read this story many years ago and thought about it often. To me, the question is not, “Do I have the right to forgive on behalf of another?” but rather the deeper question, “How can I affirm someone’s commitment to change?”

Opposing forces were struggling within this young man: light and darkness, good and evil, decency and brutality. During his growing-up years, the darkness that engulfed his country engulfed him also, and he joined the Hitler Youth and then the S.S. The darkness prevailed when he shot a mother and her child.

However, there was more to this young man than just the darkness, the brutality. He also had decent and humane qualities. Even before he lay dying, the humane part began to surface and tormented him about what he had done. The light within him, the decency began to prevail.

Then as he lay dying, he wanted to see a Jew in order to renounce the darkness. He authorized Wiesenthal to hear his confession and to authenticate the light. In a sense, he anointed him to serve as priest. He wanted his life finalized in the light, not in the darkness.

What would I have done if I had been in Wiesenthal’s place??? If I had had several years to think of a response, I might have said something like this:

“I do forgive you on behalf of all Jews. I acknowledge your repentance, your turning away from brutality. You are renouncing the darkness in you and affirming the light. The real you is the decent you. I want you to die in peace.”

But since I would have had only a few minutes to think of what to say, instead of several years, I would probably have done as Wiesenthal did.