Forgiveness and Forgetting in Schindler's List and Elie Wiesel's Night

A young boy is shot through the head. Infants are mercilessly murdered while women and children are incinerated and brought down to earth as ashes. Can we forget this? Do we forgive it? It is but human nature to remember what has happened and learn from it. It is hard to forget the horrifying experiences of Elie Wiesel as depicted in his book Night, exposing a young boy to the agonizing death of his family, …

…thousands of Jewish people. The main characters exemplify the unwilling forgiver, the forgiven, and the barbaric murderer. To forgive is not to forget. Forgetting the atrocities of the Holocaust would trivialize the death of millions of Jews. The Germans never demanded forgiveness form the Jews, but in order to continue living their lives, Jews must eventually forgive what was done to them. Forgiveness, however, is not supporting what the Germans did, but simply understanding why.