I agree completely with your analysis of individual choice and personal responsibility, Sharing Lights... very well said. I appreciate the time you've taken to post that book which exposes the psychological tactics of the communist party, too.
In the same vein, I'd like to refer our readers to:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/190...e=UTF8&s=books
Out of the Night: The Memoir of Richard Julius Herman Krebs alias Jan Valtin
An impassioned confession and epiphany.
I first read this book almost twenty years ago and I have never forgotten the tremendous emotional and intellectual impact it had upon me. This autobiography exposes the darkest and most misguided motivations of its author, and explains the influences which acted upon him as a naive young man... and how his idealistic dedication to the tenets of communism nearly destroyed his life.
We learn that his son and his beloved wife were both lost because of the author's eventual disillusionment with and rejection of communism and NAZIsm and their international web of espionage. We learn how swift and unforgiving is the retribution brought to bear against anyone who attempts to leave that fold.
The last few sentences of this book ring down upon the stage of this man's life like the curtain of the last judgment:
Quote:
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"In July,1938, I received the intelligence that Firelei (his wife) had been seized and thrown into the Horror Camp Fuhlsbuettel. In December, 1938, I received a message which told me that Firelei had died in prison. Did she, herself, put an end to her life? Was she murdered in cold blood? "The Gestapo never jokes!" Neither does it give explanations. Our son, Jan, became a ward of the third Reich. I have not heard of him again. END"
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If you want an eye-opening account of the inner workings of the communist and fascist political machines from the point of view of one who was originally dedicated to bringing about their aims, read this book. The process of the author's realization that the best years of his young life had been dedicated to the aspirations of an evil political machine That simply
used him as a dispensible pawn and destroyed everyone he loved will leave you forever changed.
His book makes Sharing Lights' point very well - we have no one but ourselves to blame for the choices we make, and we, in turn, should not be blamed for the choices our parents or relatives or other countrymen have made.