I know this is not directly relevant to the posting but I was in Berlin about a year after the wall came down and the differences between 'East' and 'West' were startling, frighteningly so.
I was in Berlin last week and to some extent the differences are less marked now but still apparent. The various museums and memorabilia related to communism, the wall, and the previous regime are truly shocking, moving, and saddening. People grew up and lived under that vile and oppressive regime in our lifetimes, and were murdered and tortured by the regime.
To see the cruelty of man to man in our times, everybody who has the opportunity should go to Berlin, Ozwiecim/Auschwitz, and Robben Eiland. I'm sure others can add to that list. I am not convinced that the horrors of the Nazi regime were worse than those inflicted by communism.