The best answer here is illusions of hope. It's hard to say for sure that this is the best answer, however, since I only have a little excerpt to use to form my opinion. Without knowing the work this relates to, it's hard to be definitive. However, I'm assuming you're reading Night because I think I remember this line from the novel.
In the novel, Weisel and his fellow Jews continually think that it is for their safety they are being moved and treated horribly. It is only when they roll into that first camp that they realize they have been tricked. By leaving behind the last of their possessions, they are finally realizing that this is it, there is not going back, and they have walked right into the arms of death. Because they no longer have anything of value, they realized that they no longer have hope.
