Study Guide & Assignments: The Sunflower (Simon Wiesenthal)
Read this book first, unless you have already started the other.
I. Introduction: This book has two parts. The first is a real life account of Wiesenthal's experiences as a Holocaust survivor and the second is a symposium. The symposium is a collection of responses to the question Wiesenthal poses as a result of his experience.
II. Background: Read main section, but use web links for additional information. You do not need to write the answers down. Some of this is review from your experience with Eli Wiesel's Night. Try to quiz yourself before looking for the answers to see what you remember and don’t remember.
http://fcit.coedu.usf.edu/holocaust/timeline/nazifica.htm
1. In 1933, to what position was Hitler appointed?
2. What was Dachau and for what purposes was it used?
3. Beginning in 1933, how did the Nazis strip Jews of their rights? Be specific.
4. In 1934 was new title did Hitler assume?
5. What were the Nuremberg Laws? Give specific examples.
6. What was the Hitlerjugend? Use web link.
7. How did Hitler use the 1936 Olympics to promote Nazism? What was the irony of these games?
8. In 1938, what two countries did Hitler annex/occupy? Why?
9. What was Kristalnacht? Describe in detail.
10. In 1939, what event officially started WWII?
http://fcit.coedu.usf.edu/holocaust/timeline/camps.htm
1. What was the first camp? When did it open? Whom did it first intern? Whom did it later intern?
2. What were the names of the six death camps?
3. What were the Einsatzgruppen? What was their purpose?
4. In September 1941, what did the Nazis first use to eradicate people?
5. What was the Nacht and Nebel order?
6. Who were the SS (Schutzstaffelor)? What was their uniform? Who was their leader?
SS in detail: http://fcit.coedu.usf.edu/Holocaust/people/perps.htm
SS Testimonies: http://fcit.coedu.usf.edu/holocaust/RESOURCE/DOCUMENT/DOCCAMP.HTM
7. What was meant by the Final Solution? When and where did the Final Solution go into full operation?
8. How did the Nazis hide their true plans?
9. What was the total number of Jewish lives destroyed at the camps?
10. When did the camps close and why?
* Explore the various photographs, maps, slide shows, tables, and Nazi correspondence via the web links.
http://fcit.coedu.usf.edu/holocaust/timeline/after.htm
1. What two needs emerged as WWII ended?
2. What were the Nuremberg Trials? When were they held? Who were the defendants? What was the charge? What were the outcomes and conclusions of these trials?
3. What immigration problems did displaced European Jews face?
4. On May 14, 1948, what did the Jews proclaim? What happened as a result?
5. What Nazi was criminal was captured in May 1960? What happened to him?
6. When discovered in 1997, what countries apparently collaborated with and benefited from the Nazi genocide?
7. At present, what is the most pressing factor in trying to right the wrongs perpetrated during the Holocaust? (Hint: one word).
Note: A creative quiz will test your knowledge of the above Holocaust people, places, and events. We will review in class.
III. Write answers to the following questions. It will help to read the question before you read. I will collect these the first day of class. This will be worth 55 points!
Reading Questions
Set I
1. List and describe each of the following characters: Arthur, Josek, and Simon.
2. According to Josek’s story, how was man created? (Recount the story)
3. What are Simon’s attitudes toward his God and his situation within the work camp?
4. Who are the “askaris”? Describe their personalities and attitudes toward the Jews.
5. For Simon, what do the sunflowers represent? Answer must get at the symbolic significance of the sunflower.
6. What memories does Simon have as the Red Cross nurse leads him through the “Reserve Hospital”? To whom does she lead Simon?
Set II
1. What memory does Simon recall about the lack of respect given to a dying Jewish prisoner?
2. According to Simon, how did many “Aryan” looking Jews save themselves from capture and certain death during WW2?
3. What happened to Simon’s mother? What was more than likely her final destination?
4. Describe the dying man (name, age, occupation, parents, childhood, religion, NAZI involvement, etc.).
5. Why has the dying man summoned Simon to the side of his deathbed?
6. What are some of the thoughts, feelings, and/or questions running through Simon’s mind as the dying man begins his story?
7. What is the name of the Russian town in which Karl’s monstrous memory originate?
8. What horrendous crime(s) does Karl confess to Simon?
9. What heart-wrenching memory does Karl’s story trigger in Simon? What is so symbolically tragic about this memory for Simon?
10. What trick did the SS Group Leader, Katzmann, employ to round up the remaining children in the Jewish Ghetto? What became of the children?
11. How does Simon’s memories of lost children change his feelings toward the dying SS soldier?
12. What rationale does Karl give for his involvement in his now confessed horrific crimes.
13. According to Simon, who had taken the place of God in NAZI Germany? Who did the Germans say invented God?
14. What accident put the SS soldier in the hospital? What caused him to hesitate in the German assault on Tagamog?
15. Draw your own conclusions to Simon’s questions: “He sought my pity, but had he any right to pity? Did a man of his kind deserve anybody’s pity?” Answer should get at whether Karl is deserving of sympathy and/or pity.
16. What does the SS soldier ask of Simon? Why?
17. What is Simon’s “answer” to Karl’s final request?
Midpoint Discussion (simply think about these questions, do not write - we will discuss them in class):
1. What are your initial reactions to Simon’s “answer”? Did Simon act rightly or wrongly? Should he have done something different?
2. Did he have the “right” to forgive the dying SS man? Do any of us have the “right” to forgive wrongs we, ourselves have not experienced? Are there times when forgiveness is understandably impossible?
Set III
1. What “sad but characteristic story” do the newcomers tell Simon and the others? What was the Nazi purpose for such public executions?
2. What questions plague Simon about the prisoners in the “pipe” and the SS man?
3. What does he believe would be Arthur, the cynic’s, reaction? What is Arthur’s initial reaction?
4. What is Adam’s initial reaction? What is Adam’s family history?
5. What is Josek’s initial response? What is Simon’s counter-argument to this response?
6. What is Haolam Emes? How does Josek use this concept to answer Simon’s dilemma?
7. What does Arthur mean when he says, “A superman has asked a sub-human to do something which is superhuman”? Answer hinges on understanding the Nazi concept of Übermenschen and Untermenschen.
9. What has happened to the SS man? What does the nurse give Simon? What is his reaction?
10. Read carefully Arthur’s “speech” to Simon beginning with “If we survive this camp” to “We are indulging in a luxury...”. Discuss in detail Arthur’s philosophy about what is wrong or out of sync with the world at this time.
Set IV
1. How many years have passed? What has happened to all the people Simon knew at the camp?
2. Where is Simon? What is certain to happen now?
3. According to Simon, what was planned for the prisoners as soon as the Americans approached the camp?
4. What image(s) haunt Simon?
5. Who is the new prisoner? Why does no one at Mathausen ask about anyone else’s past?
6. Describe the new prisoner’s background.
7. What are Bolek’s various points about what Simon could have done, did, and should have done for the SS man?
Set V
1. What happens to Simon? To Bolek? How does Simon feel about “restarting” his life?
2. In 1946, where do Simon and his wife go? What does Simon see there? Of what does it remind him?
3. While on his way to Munich, what does Simon decide to do? Why?
4. What lie does Simon make up about how he new her “good” son?
5. What does she say about her husband’s opinion of Hitler and her son’s early involvement with the Nazis?
6. As Simon listens to her story, what does he conclude about how Germans and Austrians felt about Nazi socialism?
7. What does Simon conclude about the question of German guilt?
8. With what consolation did he want to leave her?
9. Why did Simon not tell this woman the truth about her son?
Set VI
1. Even years later, how do the thoughts of Karl still haunt Simon?
2. What reflections does Simon have about “people like him”?
3. What does Simon recall about the Nazis during their trial at Stuttgart?
4. According to Simon, what does the world today demand?
5. When asked, “Was my silence at the bedside of the dying Nazi right or wrong?”, what does Simon say is the crux of the matter?
IV. Symposium Readings: Choose 10 men and women that respond to Wiesenthal's question, write their name, a brief description of what they do (found at the end of the book), and one quote that you find interesting, want to question, agree with or disagree with, etc. Be prepared to have a round table discussion about this section of the book. These will be collected on the second day of class. You must bring a copy of the book for this discussion!! Ebooks on your nooks, kindles, etc. are acceptable.
Example:
Sven Alkalaj: ambassador of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the U.S.; Jewish
Quote: "But without recognition of what happened, there can never be forgiveness."
V. Possible Essay Prompt (just to think about):
Assignment: Write an essay in which you examine the complex topics of forgiving, forgetting, and remembering, in respect to the crimes committed during the Holocaust. In your essay, attempt to answer each of the questions Simon poses at the end of The Sunflower.
“Was my silence at the bedside of the dying Nazi right or wrong? Did I even have the right to forgive? What moral obligation do we have to remember? What should I have done?”
Study Guide and Assignments
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Before You Read- Building Background Knowledge
A Thousand Splendid Suns tells the stories of the lives of two Afghan women, Mariam and Laila, both married to the same abusive man, during the years of the Soviet occupation, then the civil war and the Taliban dictatorship.
The Author
The author is not only a writer, but considered a humanitarian and an ambassador.
Read about Khaled Hosseini at: http://www.khaledhosseini.com/hosseini-bio.html.
The Setting and Afghan History
Because of the current conflict in Afghanistan, we hear the name of the country in the news, but what do we really know about Afghanistan and its history? The website, below, can serve as an introduction to the geography, history and rich culture of Afghanistan.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/af.html
Use “Google maps,” satellite view, to look at the different features of the geography of Afghanistan. As you read the novel, trace the travels of Mariam and Laila.
Ethnic Diversity
Throughout the novel, readers are reminded of Afghanistan’s ethnic diversity. For
example, when Mariam is forced to marry Rasheed, her father’s wives assure her that he is Farsi even though he is a Pashtun. Mariam is a Tajik. Please read about the different people who make up the ethnic diversity of Afghanistan at:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/indepth_coverage/asia/afghanistan/map_flash.html
Essential Question For Discussion: Answer the following question as you read the book: Are people treated differently because of their ethnicity in Afghanistan? Explain and refer to specific passages in the book.
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While Reading
Vocabulary – Context Clues
While you are reading the book, please keep a double entry journal for new vocabulary. Divide a piece of paper in half lengthwise. On one side, write down the quote with the unfamiliar word in it and the page number, and on the other side, write down what you think that word means based on using context clues (the words around the new vocabulary words). Here’s what it will look like…
New Vocabulary Word / What I think it means (inference)“He didn’t have the dil, the heart, for it.” (p.7). / Dil might mean courage, the ability to stand up, to do the right thing.
Collect at least 25 vocabulary words throughout the book.
These will be collected on Monday, August 26, 2013!
Reader’s Quotes- Double Entry Journal
The book is divided into four parts – for each of the four parts, pick two quotes (see below) and respond to them with your personal reactions to the quote. You can also pick quotes of your own. Divide your page in two, lengthwise, and write the quote on the left side and the page number, and your response on the right side. (This means that you will have eight quotes and responses all together). I will collect this on Thursday, August 29, or Friday, August 30, 2013.
I. Part One Chapters 1-15
“She [Mariam] was being sent away because she was the walking, breathing embodiment of their shame.” (p. 48)