Yeah I'm also one of those people that for whatever reason is compelled to read these types of stories. From stories of the Holocaust, to people that suffered in the Cambodian Khmer Rouge regime, to British prisoners of war of the Japanese in WWII - I've read quite a few of them.

You'd think that I would be some kind of superman if I ever got into this kind of situation. But I don't think that's the case. Mostly I'd probably understand better about how bad things can get, and how you should have a Plan B before you need one.

You might enjoy the book I Will Bear Witness by Victor Klemperer. This is the diary of Klemperer, who was a non-religious Jew in Nazi Germany, whose wife was "Aryan" and who was also a WWI vet, so he was somewhat protected. Here's a note about it, that I wrote up in a previous comment here.

Fascinating book. Anyway, in regards to the "heads up" - the Jews weren't immediately put into concentration camps when the Nazis took over in 1933. What happened was that anti-Jewish edicts came slowly, step by step. The first one that affected Klemperer was that he could only teach Jewish students (he was a college professor). Then he lost his job (which was a government job). Then he couldn't own a car. Couldn't have a pet. Couldn't walk in parks, couldn't walk on roads next to parks. All kinds of crazy new laws, slowly tightening the screws.