in World War II Europe.
The title of the passage is "Rena's Promise: Two Sisters in Auschwitz". Auschwitz was a concentration camp during World War II. It was built for the sole purpose of imprisoning and killing Jewish people as well as any others that the Nazi party deemed as unsuitable. It is clear in the passage the father is trying to save his family from being captured and sent to the concentration camps. This was only a concern for people living in Europe, not the United States.