re: WW2 Question

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I know they didn't have guns but create a riot mentality or something. I guess it just baffles me if you knew your were probably going to die to not fight.

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I'd liken it to the story of the frog being boiled alive. If the water is heated gradually enough, the frog will not sense the danger and jump out of the pot.

S

Theres this unfortunate little thing called hope, Im sure a lot of them clung to it thinking they would be rescued before they starved to death. You could ask the same question about slaves and their owners but the answer would be differnt.

People didn't believe it could happen to them (thought if I just keep my head down & work, go about my daily business, I'll be ok).

Exit strategies were difficult. Traveling outside of your region within your country was hard, leaving the country nearly impossible, getting your entire family out, seldom if ever happened.

Most didn't know they were going to death camps. Hence the reason lots if them packed bags of their finest belongings (which were promptly stolen as they got to camps).

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Darth Signal! Activate!

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I suppose the mob mentality was maybe it won't be me if I just keep my head down and work. Thanks for the input.

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This was common in the entrances to the camps. I actually visited Terezin when I was in the Czech Republic about 10 years ago. It was pretty eye-opening to actually see a camp in person.

Translated, the banner says "work makes you free"

Read the book "Night" by Elie Wiesel

It'll tell you what you need to know.

The people didn't know what fate awaited them at the camps. They were told they were to be deported and resettled into lands in the "east". The Nazi's even set up a model camp and made propaganda films showing happy, thriving Jewish communities living there with all sorts of nice things like theaters, communal gardens, nice living quarters, schools and everything the Jews would want. What these films didn't show about these camps is the people there only got to stay long enough to be filmed and then they were shipped onto the real camps.

Now place yourself in the shoes of the average Jew living in Germany. They'd already had their citizenship and most of their rights stripped away thanks to the Nuremberg Race Laws passed in the 30's. They already faced daily abuse and intimidation. They could not own property, marry, go to school, or get a job. They were being totally shutout of day to day life even before the killing got underway. To these people the prospect of being able to escape the daily discrimination and get to live in peace in the east seemed like a means to escape a terrible life in "Greater Germany".

So basically, the answer is the people didn't realize what was being done to them until it was too late to do anything about it. For millions the truth wasn't revealed until they were marched into the gas chambers and Zyklon B came out of the shower heads instead of water.

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Zyklon B didn't come out of shower heads. Just FYI.

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OK, excuse me. It was pumped into the rooms where the people had been herded and told they'd get a shower.