Do you think those who observed Liesel’s whipping at the hands of the German soldiers should have offered their help?

The people who witnessed the whipping were afraid..... their intervention would likely have made no difference, in fact, it might have made things worse for Liesel. The soldiers might have made an example of her and given her worse than a whipping. In essence, we can say that someone should have stepped forward because it was the right thing to do...... just as Liesel stepped forward for Max. One person can make a difference, but fear, particularly the fear of Nazi soldiers was enough to stop people in their tracks.