May 16, 2003

A Communitarian's Childhood of Disjointed Community

By AMITAI ETZIONI

Before I could accomplish anything, I had to liberate myself from all those who thought they owned a piece of me, who sought to control my moves. They included my strong-willed aunt, the Nazis, a highhanded school principal, the British police, and Palestinian Arabs, more or less in that order.

My earliest memory is of being catapulted out of a car in Cologne, Germany, on a very cold day. It was January 1933; I was 4 years old. The car made a sharp turn and I grabbed a handle that made

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