How do the Jews of Sighet generally feel about the ghettos?

When the Jews are forced to move into ghettos, the townspeople act relieved that they no longer have to deal with overt prejudice: "We should no longer have before our eyes those hostile faces, those hate-laden stares. Our fear and anguish were at an end. We were living among Jews, among brothersŠ" Of course, it is not an improvement for the Jews to be thus segregated, and such passages would be ironic, were they not so tragic. Eliezer reveals how naïve and trusting the Jews were, and he is obviously haunted by how his own family could have easily escaped the horrors of the concentration camps simply by leaving town a little bit earlier.

Once their relocation is complete, the Jews feel as if their lives have returned to normal. They even set up up organizations and socialize happily. They naively believe that they will stay in their "new homes" for the duration of the war.