Why do you think more Jews didn't try to leave Poland as conditions deteriorated? Why do you suppose they didn't try to escape from the ghetto?

Why do you think more Jews didn't try to leave Poland as conditions deteriorated? Why do you suppose they didn't try to escape from the ghetto?

I think it is very easy to look back in history and question why people behaved in the way that they did and why didn’t they do something different that might have been better for them or for their family. I think we all make decisions based on what we know at the time. The Jews were a God fearing, law abiding people. Although many distrusted and were suspicious of those in charge, I think they were told to be obedient and then they would be okay, so they tried to lay low and protect their families. I think they also knew that if they escaped, or tried to, it would be worse for those left behind. Does anyone today truly know what they would do in the same situation?

It is really hard to know how many people would have left if they had the means and the connections to do so.

It would be a huge thing for people to pick up and move their entire family from their homeland. Especially since I don’t think that anyone ever believed that things would deteriorate to the point that they did. That is why it is so important to never forget. To make sure history never repeats itself.

I agree with the two replies that have been shared. This book and others like it are important because we can never forget what happened.We are already seeing shades of facism and Nazism in America. Think Proud Boys and Charloette NC. Also look at Italy, who elected a facist government. It can, and already has, happened again. We neede to pay attention and be vigilant.

We, also, trust our government - even when they knowingly send people to nursing homes full of COVID or when they continue to allow schools to fail children or when they create a crisis at the border allowing drug cartels to flourish and city services to be completely overrun.

We think that somehow it doesn't really affect us - we live in "good" neighborhoods and we are immune to the problems of others. Until we aren't.

I think most of us just can’t believe that other people can be so cruel or intentionally plot and act so selfishly to hurt others. We want to believe that most people are good and well intentioned. Personally I feel discouraged when I see how some people get elected who are not the best qualified or seeking the office to try and make life better for the majority. I’m frightened by the misinformation being spread intentionally and how gullible some citizens are. I see people disregarding scientific fact for nonsense. This is a repeat of Germany after WW1. When will we learn? The most important thing we can do right now is to vote for the most qualified people from our home towns to our nation to prevent a repeat of Europe after WW1 and to educate ourselves using multiple reliable sources.

Just as Jews who lived in Germany had no idea things could have gotten as bad as they did. There was always hope that things would blow over. People had established lives, families, jobs, and couldn't believe all of this would be jeopardized. In the U.S. today, I think we are in a similar situation. I don't think enough people take the current threats to our Democracy seriously enough . Hopefully, it wont be too late for us.

They lacked the ability to imagine the degree of inhumanity the Nazis were willing to perpetrate upon them. There was also the issue of where they would go if they tried to escape since a lot of other countries would not accept them. There's also the matter of not having the resources required to travel elsewhere.

I think it is very human to want to keep things as they are, I believe the Jews could not imagine the depravity of the Nazi machine and what it would do as it moved across Europe. By the time most people realized the grim outlook, their freedoms had been lost and they had no option but to move into the ghetto.

I think that more Jews didn't leave Poland because they didn't believe that things could get as bad as they did. Some probably also felt they had no place to go or were more afraid to leave the life they had always known than to take a chance on what might happen. As far as why more didn't try to escape the ghetto, it seemed that a lot of them never lost hope that rescue was coming, that it wouldn't go on forever. Also, many have them didn't have the means to escape the ghetto, which apparently involved getting papers or bribing guards to look the other way. If they did escape, they needed a plan, they couldn't just wander the streets of Warsaw or they would be back where they started.

I don't know what Polish and other Jews thought when they were told to leave their homes, but they certainly didn't expect to be transported to concentration camps as executed. By the time they knew that was happening, they were powerless to resist. They also thought that sooner or later, the U.S. would get involved, because how could it be powerful countries know what was going on and not do anything about it? So initially, they figured they'd wait it out - it couldn't last forever. Since the holocaust, people have said the Jews should have resisted in the beginning and never left their homes. But the Nazis didn't start invading neighbors and persecuting Jews until they were more than ready to deal with any resistance. There were many resisters in Germany, and they were the first to be killed.

There are tremendous parallels between that time in history and the United States today. People simple did/do not believe how horrible things can get. And the author does an excellent job of illustrating the disbelieve, naivete, and sheer inability of the characters to grasp the depth of evil at work. One line that haunts me: "They can't kill all of us." Sala responds, "Can't they?" We take modern communications for granted, but they were cut off. And in addition to initially not appreciating the extent of cruelty and danger all around them, they believed help was on the way. They were sure the Allies would rescue them at any moment. Not to mention that the Nazis were stationed all around them, and they witnessed their family, friends, and neighbors being brutally beaten or worse. They were literally trapped with no way to contact anyone outside the ghetto or escape. As someone else mentioned, by the time they realized, it was too late. Those in the United States who believe in the rule of law and democracy are sounding the warning bells now. Let's hope that complacent Americans who are either in denial about what is at stake or fail to grasp reality don't make the same mistake.

I agree with everything robynn said. Who could have ever imagined how bad things would turn? Leaving one’s home is not easy under normal circumstances.

There were so many different reasons. With hundreds of years of antisemitism many Jews thought that “this too shall pass”. Others found it incomprehensible that this level of terror was taking place and that disbelief proved deadly.Others did try to leave the countries that were being invaded but immigration laws and quotas in the US in the 1920’s were extremely strict and skewed against Eastern Europeans where the majority of Jews lived. Once the war broke out most countries closed their borders to refugees, and most of those European countries that did allow Jews in were ultimately overtaken by Nazis and were no longer safe havens, something many Jews did not anticipate. Others did not want to leave their countries and move where they would not speak the language, and have to leave most of their possessions behind. Still others did not have the money to make such a move.

I agree with JHSiess.. people are complacent in their lives. They like where they live, their homes, their jobs, that there families are nearby. So I think its easy to tell yourself that things will get better. "They can't kill all of us" rings loud and clear about their thinking. It was beyond imagination what Hitler had in mind for the Jews. And in Jewish history, they had been chased out of countries all over Europe. How could this possibly be different?!?

I don't think they could ever imagine the horror that would await them until it was too late to leave. Ultimately, they trusted that this kind of evil would not take place in their neighborhoods. Some may not have had the means or connections to go other places, and some simply did not understand the gravity of it all until they were starving and had no way to get out. Very difficult for me to understand any of this and I would never second guess any of their decisions to stay..hind sight is 20/20 as they say, and most probably would have gone if they had had the chance, knowing what was ahead of them.

Many believed that things were going to get better. Don't most of us always hope for the best. But it was not so easy to just leave. Many would be leaving behind their families, and loved ones. Grandparents too elderly to travel. Many did not have the money needed to travel and many had no place to go. You needed sponsors, the immigration laws were not what they are at our Southern border.
I have four grandsons and when I say I am terrified for their future, there are people that say Why? If we don't know history, it will repeat itself and we are watching that happen.

So many of the characters spoke about how soon it would all be over, how they would return to their homes, shops, etc. They were also hoping that the USA would soon enter and end the war. Also, as others have mentioned, no one believed how bad the inhumanity would become. I am sure denial played a huge role in the decision to stay and hope for the best.