engineering evil: holocaust

i was watching subject show with my folks last night. as the presenter (for want of a better word) states if you take the atrocity factor out of it what the nazis actually "engineered" is second to none. if only they had of put their minds to good use who knows what they might be able to achieve.
but my point of this posts is the nagging question i always get. and that is why did the jews hang around when the writing was on the wall for so many years before it got to the point of ghettos, concentration camps, death camps and armies going around rounding up villages ans shooting them on the spot. legislation was passed in the early 1930's basically saying everyone is a german citizen except jews. surely they had to of had an idea as to how things might pan out for them. did they just have nowhere else to go? were the rules/laws so strict that they couldn't just move to another country? i don't know so am asking these questions.
for the life of me i couldn't see myself and my family sticking around to wait for the bullet to come. maybe they had no choice?
if anyone cares to comment lets not derail this thread with the usual "holocaust deniers" or "your an anti semite" crap.