““The suddenness of these changes, together with the Germanic instinct of obedience, caused them to be accepted passively. It was hard to say at the moment whether the new plans would turn out well or not. When systematized persecutions began to grow they were met with this same passivity, but here the desire for self-preservation played a large part. If your neighbor’s house rang with cries of terror during the night, if you saw a Jew dragged from his shop and beaten, still it was not happening to you and your acquiescence might be the price of your own safety.””
