What irritated me the most about this section, besides the obvious inhumanity of the situation, was that the people in Wiesel's community were so oblivious. They had too much trust in the world, always staying positive instead of realizing right away that their situation was horribly unjust. They lived in denial, doubting that all Jews were going to be exterminated, saying things like "Annihilate an entire people? Wipe out a population dispersed throughout so many nations? So many millions of people! By what means? In the middle of the twentieth century!" (8) and "The Germans will not come this far. They will stay in Budapest. For strategic reasons, for political reasons." (9) Basically, they told themselves anything to avoid accepting the bitter truth. This is understandable, because it's obviously hard to accept something when you know it will be extremely painful. But at the same time, living in denial isn't helping them. Perhaps if they had taken note of the inevitable they would have found a way to escape the tragedy of being sent to concentration camps. But instead, they basically let themselves fall into the trap. When ghettos were created, they convinced themselves that the new lifestyle would be helpful- "People thought this was a good thing... No more fear. No more anguish. We would live among Jews, among brothers." (12) Even at the concentration camps, at which officers beat them mercilessly for no reason, like dogs, they kept their optimism- "We mustn't give up hope, even now as the sword hangs over our heads." (31) It was really frustrating how hopeful they were. I'm not saying that optimism is a bad thing, because sometimes you need positivity to get you through. But it takes them so long to realize how awfully they're being treated and how hopeless their situation is; it's irritating.