describe one instance where passivity prevented jews from protecting themselves from Hitler

Most people didn't think the Germans would proceed to their area, "The Germans won't get as far as this. They'll stay in Budapest. There are strategic and political reasons…"

This passivity proved wrong. Three days later the Germans rolled in. Still the Jews remained passive thinking the Germans weren't all that bad,

"However, our first impressions of the Germans were most reassuring. The officers were billeted in private houses, even in the homes of Jews. Their attitude toward their hosts was distant, but polite. They never demanded the impossible, made no unpleasant comments, and even smiled occasionally at the mistress of the house. One German officer lived in the house opposite ours. He had a room with the Kahn family. They said he was a charming man-calm, likable, polite, and sympathetic."

This was of course to lure the Jews into a false sense of security.