What kept Adam in the ghetto when he might have left to save himself?

It seemed to me that Adam had opportunities to escape the ghetto. Yet he had reasons for staying. I wonder what members think about the values Adam placed on his activities and relationships and how he might have valued these as opposed to leaving.

Adam was dedicated to educating young people and felt compelled to help them understand life. Mostly, I believe he remained in the ghetto to be closer to his wife’s memory. If he left, he would be abandoning their life together.

When Adam’s earlier life was discussed, he was a passive person who was not a man who was an adventurer or even assertive. He seemed to love his life with his wife and was grateful and surprised that he was lucky enough to have her and didn’t seek anything beyond that. Like so many, he thought life would return to “normal” and initially couldn’t believe that the situation would deteriorate and that the Nazis would increase the cruelty and determination to exterminate all Jews.
As we see today, people think their way of life will continue even though there are clear intentions expressed by political leaders to disregard the rights of others.

I think the Jewish people have been so oppressed that this did not seem any different in the begining. I'm sure those who stayed thought the same."It will all blow over soon", "so and so will take care of us", "They can't remove all the doctors. teachers. artists, etc" And they had German and Polish friends that thougth would help them.
There was Just disbelief and trusted the goodness of fellow human beings.

Adam was committed to staying to ensure their stories would be told.

The author demonstrated that Adam was a man of honor. While his wife was alive, he enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle and permitted his father-in-law to continue being his benefactor even after her death. He was a dedicated teacher and a compassionate man who was naive at the beginning of the book. Once his father-in-law double-crossed him re: the apartment he promised & Adam ended up living with the other families, he began to see his father-in-law as he really was. And living in the ghetto provided him with a further startling education about evil and the inhumanity of which others were capable. At that point, the author illustrates his unwillingness to abandon those characters he comes to care deeply about in order to save himself. And his still rather naive belief that help is coming and they will ALL be saved. He also wants to see the project through to ensure that the history of those imprisoned in the ghetto is preserved. Finally, he secures a way out of the ghetto only because he can offer a future to the children of the woman he has come to care deeply about, even though he knows that he can never have a full, open relationship with her and she is willing to sacrifice herself for her children.

Adam was still grieving when his father-in-law convinced him to give up his apartment and move to the ghetto. He was not able to make his own plans for the future and was drifting. His father-in-law took advantage of that. Once Adam was in the ghetto,sharing an apartment that was supposed to be private, teaching children and part of the archive project he was again living somewhat on auto pilot. His wife's belongings and jewelry allowed him to continue living in a somewhat state of denial. I often wonder if he was different after he left the ghetto.

He saw the children as the future. He was a teacher at heart and found it of the most importance, to record what actually happened to people in the ghetto - the horror, their stories, their dreams. Despite the potential danger, he saw this as his purpose in life, so he stayed in the ghetto, even though he had chances to leave.

I believe that Adams father in law forced him into the ghetto situation by giving up his house for someone else. Im not sure Adam had any idea what awaited him there, or felt he had any other option. He was still grieving the death of his wife and didn't want to leave her memory, but also was in no state of mind for any great heroics of leaving the area. He did feel some responsibility to his teaching as well, and I believe, none of them had any idea of the magnitude of what lie ahead for them.

Adam, like so many others, believed that things would get better. This wouldn't last, help would arrive any day. So Adam stayed, believing in the good even after his own father-in-law had betrayed him. Once in the ghetto, Adam found relief by continuing to teach and work with his students, who he truly cared for. He also found love, something he thought he would never feel again after his wife had died. His caring for others kept Adam in the ghetto until he realized that help was not coming and not only could he get out, but he would also be able to save two young boys, the sons of the woman he loved.