Elie's father is opposed to his son's suggestion that he sell everything he owns and leave Sighet because he considers himself too old to do so. It is easy to imagine that at the age 0f fifty, it is intimidating to think about starting over in some faraway place. Besides, at the time when Elie made the suggestion, things didn't seem so bad in Sighet.
With the trees in bloom and Hitler's defeat seeming imminent, the fact that it is still possible to buy emigration certificates and leave Sighet doesn't seem as important as it actually is.
Elie's father's decision to stay proves to have been a shortsighted one. Not long after he refuses to leave for the safety of Palestine, the Fascist party seizes power in Hungary. Although this is still not much of a cause of panic for people like Elie and his father, the next piece of...
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news is more disturbing: German troops have now arrived on Hungarian soil. The Jews of Sighet soon discover that their counterparts in Budapest are living in fear, with anti-Semitism becoming a part of life "in the streets [and] on the trains." While the previous feeling of hope returns to Sighet after residents hear this news, it was just a few days before the German Army arrives. While relations between the soldiers and residents of Sighet are initially cordial, the leaders of the Jewish community are soon arrested, and Jews are threatened with death if they leave their houses.
After an edict is issued that all valuables owned by Jewish people must be surrendered to the authorities, Elie's father buries the family's savings. While Elie tells us nothing about his father's frame of mind at this point, one cannot help but wonder if, while digging the hole in which he will bury his life savings, he regrets his choice to not leave for Palestine when he had the chance.
Elie's father, in Night by Elie Wiesel, was like most people during WWII. He did not believe he and his family would be touched by the Holocaust. Besides, Sighet was his home, and he didn't want to leave. Nobody had any idea how bad things were going to get. Nothing remotely similar had happened to them, personally, before. Mr. Wiesel thought the events of the war would pass them by, and that they would be safe. When Elie finally asked his father to sell out the family business and emigrate to Palestine, Mr. Wiesel's response was that he was too old. He didn't feel that he could start all over somewhere far away at his age. Besides, the news was that the Russians were advancing and Hitler's defeat was imminent. Mr. Wiesel, like so many others, thought they were safe.