Pechersky’s life after the War was a proxy for the oppression and wasted talent of millions. What a contribution he could have made to the world if only he had possessed freedom. At least he saved the lives of fifty-three, and his own. But to what end ... a life of anti-semitic socialist hell? Or would he have sensed only the anti-semitism and remained almost willfully blind to the ravages of socialism?
To what end? Well, escaping the gas chamber would seem at least somewhat attractive to a man in his position, don’t you think?