RE: Why being political is a very personal thing. The story of the Russian Germans - from my family's point of view. Part one.
What a story! I can relate to some parts of it as my country was deeply buried in communism for nearly 50 years. A Utopia that turned out to be a Regime of Death and Restriction.
When in 1945 the Revolution started in my country my great-grandfather had already managed to climb the social ladder in his village and was seen as a prominent villager. Actually, all he had was some land and a small store. When the socialists came to govern the country he, amongst the other "wealthy" villagers, was taken prisoner and beaten to death. All the other men died. My great-grandfather was thought to be dying, too, so they gave him back to my great-grandmother so that he could die at home. But he survived.
Until recently, I have always thought that some outsiders came to the village and arrested the thought-to-be-wealthy men. Last year, while I was talking to my aunt about the subject, his granddaughter, I came to realize that they were not outsiders. They were their neighbors. The very people my great-grandfather grew up with, played as a child and celebrated holidays.
So, why did they do this? What were they thinking? That they were followers of a great idea, fighters for a utopian world?
I won't go any further with this subject. I just wanted to share :)
Waiting forward for your next post!
I feel sorry for your great grandfather. What kind of character was he? Had he overcome the trauma of that experience or talked also about the good things in life?
Once the chain of service to the land and people is broken, the subversions of the previously dominant forces seem to foster such fanatical moods. The dynamics of the violent groups have certainly been studied and explained somewhere. I did not go into this in more detail, because it takes up the issue of finding the culprits. It is difficult to give examples where those affected by war have preserved their dignity and not where the atrocities are heating up people's minds again.
Mordor is in each of us, but also in each is a sovereign who first wants to be awakened by the sovereignty of others.
What country are you from?
I think he managed to overcome it. They were a happy couple with my great grandmother. She was a very witty woman. As far as I know, it was fun to live with her :)
I didn't have the chance to know my great-grandfather as he died before I was born. But he was a strong man.
I am from Bulgaria.