Rav Simcha Zissel Ziv, the Alter of Kelm

Walking along Kelm’s main road, which had been paved by the king’s prisoners sentenced to slave labor, the Alter would think of their suffering.  “How can people walk calmly through this place,” he wondered, “when people suffered so much and invested their blood and sweat?”

From Sparks of Mussar by R Chaim Ephraim Zaitchik