The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness by Simon Wiesenthal combines a memoir and a symposium on an event that occurred while he was held captive in a Nazi concentration camp.
Simon and his friends, Arthur and Josek, are prisoners in a Nazi concentration camp. They clean up medical waste at a converted army hospital for wounded German soldiers. One day on his way to work, Simon is stopped by a nurse and taken to the bedside of a dying 21-year-old Nazi soldier.
Confused why he is there, Simon asks Karl what he wants with a Jew. Karl proceeds to tell him a story about atrocities he committed during his time serving as an SS soldier. He tells the story of how he set a building on fire with over 200 Jewish families inside and then shot them as they attempted to jump out of the windows to escape the flames.
After telling Simon what he had done, Karl proceeds to ask for Simon's forgiveness. Karl felt that the only way to die in peace was to clear his conscious and ask forgiveness from a Jewish person. However, Simon leaves the room without answering him. That night, Simon discusses the moral issue with friends in his barracks. The next day, when he returns, Karl is dead.