Feb. 21, 2003, 4:11 pm
ISTITUTO MAGISTRALE MARIA IMMACOLATA
Scuola Paritaria
ISTITUTO MAGISTRALE
Viale Rimembranza, 86 10064 Pinerolo (Torino)
Pinerolo, February 2003
Sirs:
we are addressing this letter to you in the hope that you may enable us to contact Mr Simon Wiesenthal by letting us know his address. We represent the board of teachers and the students of a comprehensive denominational high school in Pinerolo (Turin; Italy): we would like to let Mr. Wiesenthal have the letters – about a hundred – our students, and some of the teachers, wrote to celebrate the Memorial Day on 27th January this year. These were meant to respond to the letter found at the close of Mr. Wiesenthal´s “Sunflower” book.
Previous to this activity the students were shown snatches of a Channel 5 feature film from the 1980ies, dealing with the subject matter itself, then each of them was handed a photocopy of the “Sunflower” letter. No debate followed, or lead-in activity, so they simply wrote down – as team groups with two teachers – their own response to the query raised by Mr Wiesenthal.
Our wish to let him have the letter themselves, actually pages of copybooks or foolscap, stems from two main reasons:
1.We believe that, through simple and possibly biased on the emotional side – for it was a very strong emotion – it may please him to have them (they are all addressed to him)
2.We would disappoint the kids if we didn’t at least try to reach the Author, as their commitment was answering the letter rather than carrying out an academic task.
We already feel gratified in the earnest effort and involvement – even the handwritings bear this out – of young people usually deemed cold, indifferent or uncommitted: it goes without saying that the bond of generations runs deeper than is believed. Welcome news, but we still hope that Mr. Wiesenthal will be able to read this testimony himself through untidy and drafted in common speech Italian.
Would you let us know if the address below is the correct one to forward Mr. Wiesenthal the collected messages?
Thank you for your attention and any help you may extend us. With best regards, on behalf of our school,
[Handwritten signature]
Sister M. [name anonymised]
Pinerolo (TO)
Monday, Jan. 27, 2003
Dear Mr Simon Wiesenthal,
I am an Italian girl, I live in a town called Riva di Pinerolo, near Turin.
I am 16 years old and my name is G., and today at school they showed me some clips of your film, in particular the part of the sunflower. Then they gave us your letter, made us read it and now we are replying to you.
In my opinion your were right not to forgive the young SS soldier for two reasons:
1) It is too easy to kill innocent people all your life and only when you are about to die ask for forgiveness thinking you will get off cheaply.
2) You cannot give forgiveness, even if you want to, for other people. Let me explain. As long as the injustice could be done to you, there could also be forgiveness. But it was done to people you didn't even know!
You were therefore right not to forgive him and although it may seem cruel, to let him die tormented by that thought and those images in his mind. Besides, who knows how many other murders he will have done in his life! And it is then easy to come and apologise before one dies! Too easy!
Now that I have given you my opinion, I can tell you that last year I went on a trip to Austria and while we were there they also took us to visit Mauthausen! It was like a horror film. We saw where the deportees slept (three of them in a tiny bed), then they showed us the stone quarries where they were forced to do hard labour, and finally the gas chambers; the gas chambers were a real shock! We really saw the 'showers' from which the gas came out, and so many photos that left us with a feeling of sorrow. Photos of women, children, men who weighed 30 kg, and things like that, which one remembers for a lifetime.
In conclusion, I am convinced that the 'Day of Remembrance' is very useful not only to remember but also to ensure that these atrocities are never repeated again, either in Italy or abroad.
Unfortunately, in certain countries such as Pakistan, Iran... there is war and many people die unjustly. Apparently, they have not yet understood that life is beautiful and should not be destroyed with a machine gun. Here is also my permission to publish this letter at the end of the story: I would be truly honoured.
Finally, I would like to tell you that I respect you very much for your courage to go on, thanks also to your wife, and I encourage you to hope for a better planet, which, thanks to everyone, will come true!
My warmest regards,
G. [anonymised]
16 years