"You see," my colleague went on, "one doesn’t see exactly where or how
to move. Believe me, this is true. Each act, each occasion, is worse
than the last, but only a little worse. You wait for the next and the
next. You wait for one great shocking occasion, thinking that others,
when such a shock comes, will join with you in resisting somehow. You
don’t want to act, or even talk, alone; you don’t want to ‘go out of
your way to make trouble.’ Why not?—Well, you are not in the habit of
doing it. And it is not just fear, fear of standing alone, that
restrains you; it is also genuine uncertainty.

An excerpt from

They Thought They Were Free

The Germans, 1933-45

Milton Mayer

https://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/511928.html