From the Gulag to the Killing Fields

For my World Civilization 2 class, we are to write a paper analyzing the stories in the book From the Gulag to the Killing Fields.  This is a collection of stories of people who were mistreated in communist states. And to say mistreated is such an exaggeration.

There is a story of children who are starved, beaten, sent to do to tasks that are likely to kill them, given less than a pound of food each day, asked to spend hours criticizing themselves and their fellow prisoners and asked to witness the execution of others all in a North Korean gulag.

There is a story of women who were imprisoned because their husbands may or may not have been involved in "traitorous" acts.  They were tortured in order to give information about acts their husbands were supposed to have committed because they were believed to know more.  They did not get to see their husbands sentenced to death or to see the execution themselves, but forced to hear the news from the very mouths of those who used and abused them.

There is a story of men who supported their country, who risked their lives in war for their communist leaders, some of them even tortured, and still remained true.  These men were arrested because they had too much love and support from their fellow men, and those they fought so strongly to protect were worried they could start a rebellion.  These men, completely innocent, were dehumanized and broken until they had no willpower but to repeat word for word a confession that they were traitors before the court publicly.  Eleven men were sentenced to death, three to life in prison in Czechoslovakia.

These are just a few of the stories I've read so far.  I cannot adequately describe the sadness I feel, knowing that millions of people have been treated like this. I knew that these things happened, but to read firsthand accounts of other human beings treating their brothers and sisters as if they were purely means to an end, with no thought to the sanctity of human life...it's more than I can process.  And sitting alone for a few hours, having nothing but these stories playing in my head can make one very depressed. I'm tired, I'm sad and I still have still more to read.  All I can and want to think is:

"The worth of souls is great in the sight of God"