Share your opinion on the following thought from Adam, "What had happened to them in their lives that they couldn't let us live ours?"

Adam hears that the Nazis will begin deporting 6,000 Jews to the camps daily and in his despair he questions why and how.

When I read this sentence, I was stopped in my tracks, and I thought “yes!” That is the question, and if we could find an answer to it, so much human misery could be avoided.

I believe that the Nazis who callously killed Jewish citizens on the streets in broad daylight and sent others off on trains to certain death developed the ability to do that by being raised in German homes rife with hatred for all Jews. Being indoctrinated in anti-Semitism made it very easy for a leader like Adolf Hitler to build on this hatred and gain their unwavering support. I think they felt they were working for the "noble cause" of purifying the blood of German citizens and creating a nation of white supremicists through following Hitler's directive to "Make Germany Great Again." For that to happen all Jews had to be eradicated.

I have asked this question many times myself. There never seems to be a satisfactory answer. How can humans be so cruel to each other? The ability of certain individuals in history to influence others to wipe out a race of people is beyond my comprehension. The evilness of man knows no bounds.

On the one hand, what "happened" to those in power was that they were now determined to keep it by any means necessary. On the other, what "happened" to ordinary people who now actively supported the genocide was that they had been convinced that they were the true victims that the Jews had somehow oppressed them and that, as a result, they deserved the retribution they were getting.

How different is that from today when we see people celebrating when the "oppressors" get theirs? It is dangerous when identity groups are pitted against each other and even more so when government not only allows, but encourages it.

I wonder what happened to people to make them hate. What did they miss? what did they see? What did they experience that is different from me. How can you hate someone you don't even know? And why do nations promote it? What is it a distraction from??

People who are raised in an atmosphere of suspicion and hatred know no other way. To make accusations and blame others for our shortcomings seems to work for some people. Also, there is mass psychology involved here. Others are hating a particular group of people, so it's much easier to join than stand up for what one truly feels is right.

So many observations in this book were profound in their simplicity. How does a government or party believe that they have the right to take away lives from citizens? How does the world allow this to happen? How does it keep happening? I think this book is a perfect example of Remember so we do not Repeat.

Not every Nazi guard was a believer in the cause. It is important to remember how many of them were conscripted and were carrying out orders because if they did not, they would be killed. I think those individuals deserve grace, mercy, and forgiveness. Such is not the case for those who designed and oversaw the implementation of the Reich's plans. They were full of hatred, learned probably very early in life. They were obsessed with a need for power and domination. Seeing fellow human beings as "other" is a sickness and only someone with a severe mental disorder could believe in their agenda. Somewhere in the middle are those who become brainwashed (like so many in the United States right now, willing to abandon morality, ethics, and the rule of law, and follow a madman). They are the vulnerable, the weak, the malleable who lack the moral fortitude and courage to resist falling into a cult. It's a fascinating phenomenon and I don't believe scientists have definitively figured out how it comes about, but we have to believe there are more decent, rational, principled, and strong people in the world to prevent it from ever happening again.

I think it's a natural reaction to wonder what went wrong for them that they made it their goal to eradicate the Jews. In some cases that might be true - many lower-level Nazi officers had been passed over earlier in their careers and were really just frustrated, mean bullies. But the ones who thought up the genocide plan were bigots who truly believed Jews were inferior beings that were responsible for many of the problems in their society.

I think Adam is being very kind when he wonders “what happened to them” to allow them to behave this way. Adolph Hitler was followed by people from every walk of life—the poor, the wealthy, the intellectuals, the angry, the disenfranchised, the anti-semites and those who were just afraid for their own lives and property. We can ask the same of those who are carrying signs, “From the river to the sea,” and yet cannot find Israel or Palestine on a map. Victor Frankl wrote about both the best and the worst of human nature in the concentration camps. I think Grodstein illuminates those qualities as well.