Dehumanization In Night By Elie Wiesel

Dehumanization is the process of denying a person or group of positive human qualities. During the Holocaust, the Nazis reduced the Jews to little more than “things” which were a nuisance to them. In the novel Night there are many examples of dehumanization throughout the novel.

In Elie Wiesel’s novel Night, Wiesel writes about the experiences of Eliezer, his family, and fellow Jews, he explained how the Nazis gradually changes the way the Jews lived little by little. Dehumanization is the process of stripping a person of every quality that makes him human and changing them to fit their needs. Dehumanizing started when Eliezer and other Jews in his community are evacuated from their homes in Sighet. They were transported in cattle cars which related the Jews to no more than livestock. After the harsh transportation the Jews arrived at Auschwitz a concentration camp where Eliezer spent many months of his life. They were whipped, ran, and starved till some of the Jews could not take it. In Elie Wiesel book he explains how he found the stamina to survive these cruel conditions.

Although Eliezer survived the bloodcurdling Holocaust, countless others succumbed to the Nazi’s inhumanity. The Nazi’s progressively reduced the Jewish people to being little more than “things” which were a nuisance to them. Throughout Night, dehumanization consistently took place, as the Nazis oppressed the Jewish citizens. The Germans dehumanized Eliezer, his father, and other fellow Jews for the duration of the memoir Night, which had a lasting effect on Eliezer’s identity, attitude and outlook. Wiesel displays the Nazi’s vicious actions to accentuate the way by which they dehumanize the Jewish population. The Nazis had an abundance of practices to dehumanize the Jews including beatings, starvation, separation of families, crude murders, forced labor, among other horrific actions.

In Night, Elie Wiesel vividly portrays the dehumanization of the Jews through horrific events that strip them of their humanity. One such event occurs when the Jews are forced to run for miles in the snow during a death march, with anyone who falls behind or collapses being shot by the guards. This brutal treatment reduces the Jews to mere objects, as they are treated as expendable and disposable. Another example of dehumanization is when Elie's father is brutally beaten by the guards for asking to use the restroom. This act violates the basic ethical principle of human dignity, as Elie's father is treated with utmost cruelty and disrespect.

The Nazi guards, as revealed in Elie Wiesel’s memoir, Night, were able to victimize their prisoners because the process of dehumanization reduced the humanity of their victims and desensitized them to the evils they inflicted. As the Jewish people of the town held onto hope, as the Nazi troops flooded into homes and policed the streets of the once-peaceful neighborhood, acting like advocates to the people of Sigheft. All too soon they started taking the belongings and livelihood of the Jewish people around them, brandishing the Jews with the identifying star of David. As Elie's father is speaking with other Jews, he remarks about the possible harm a star could do to them. Later on, as the author reflects, he states that (“Poor Father!

Dehumanization deprives a person of life. It steals one of his/her beliefs and relationships. Everything that makes one up is gone, lost, and taken forever. They no longer have a purpose in life, or only think for themselves to survive. These ideas of dehumanization are all seen and discussed in the memoir Night by Elie Wiesel.

How are Jews supposed to live normally when every human being around them, including other Jews, are fighting against them? Due to dehumanization, the survivors of the Holocaust are as lifeless as the victims psychologically. It is nearly impossible that after experiencing a traumatic event such as Holocaust to feel normal again, to feel like a human again. Throughout history and in the book Night by Elie Wiesel, it is evident that gentiles did not care about the Jewish nation. Moreover, not even the Jewish people stick together and cared for one another. Thus the Jews ceased to feel like human beings during and after the Holocaust.

Throughout Night, Elie illustrates the change of the Jewish people from a unified race to self-reliant beasts who only look out for themselves and must fight for their own well-being for survival. As Elie and his father are welcomed to Auschwitz by SS guards shouting “ Men to the left! Women to the right!” (Night 29), immediately separated from their family, and having no time to acknowledge that they will never see each other again, they begin to realize this isn’t any ordinary camp. During their first night at Auschwitz they are ordered to, “Strip! Hurry up! Raus! Hold on only to your belt and your shoes”(Night 35). Their clothes representing their dignity and

The definition of dehumanization is the process by which the Nazis gradually reduced the Jews to little more than “Things”. The novel Night by Elie Wiesel shows what happened during the time of the Holocaust and shows the point of view of a young Jewish boy and his experience. It shows about his life and how he went from the ghettos all the way to being liberated from the camps. The dehumanization of the Jewish people by the Nazi’s in the form of taking things away, making him have to be selfless and fight for his life and they all affected the outlook on Elie life.

At this point, the Jews are very comfortable and go so far as to recognize

Aidan Trinidad ENG II Honors Mrs. DeGrood February 27th, 2024 Dehumanization Displayed in the Holocaust Starvation can drive people to do whatever it takes to find food. Being addressed by a number instead of their birth name can make them feel like they are not even human anymore. The Holocaust is an enormously significant example of this. The Holocaust was a period in history in which Adolf Hitler, a leader in Germany, put six extermination (death) camps into place.

Aidan Trinidad ENG II Honors Mrs. DeGrood February 27th, 2024 Dehumanization Displayed in the Holocaust Starvation can drive people to do whatever it takes to find food. Being addressed by a number instead of their birth name can make them feel like they are not even human anymore. The Holocaust is an enormously significant example of this. The Holocaust was a period in history in which Adolf Hitler, a leader in Germany, put six extermination (death) camps into place.

Dehumanization is the torture that the Jews receive and the pity they do not. It is found everywhere in the novel Night, by Elie Wiesel, but also in the whole thinking process and execution of the Holocaust. The population of Jews is abruptly being reduced because of some unnecessary hatred towards them. Elie is surrounded by death, hunger, and suffering, and all he comes to know is pain. To demean a whole race and create another period of slavery leaves an aftertaste of abhorrence and loathing that Jewish people still feel today, but it also leaves a trail of shame for all to endure. Dehumanization leads many people too their downfall, loss of faith, and realizing theirs and others true human nature.

Imagine, losing the part of you that makes you unique, or being treated like you were worth absolutely nothing. Think about losing all that you hold on to: your family, friends, everything that you had. Imagine, being treated like an animal, or barely receiving enough food to live. All of these situations and more is what the Jews went through during the Holocaust. During the period of 1944 - 1945, a man by the name of Elie Wiesel was one of the millions of Jews that were experiencing the wrath of Hitler’s destruction in the form of intense labor and starvation. The novel Night written by the same man, Elie Wiesel, highlights the constant struggle they faced every single day during the war. From the first acts of throwing the Jews into

Dehumanization is the act of taking one’s human qualities away from them, this can be done using voice and also using actions. During the time of the Holocaust, the Nazi’s used their power to abuse and dehumanize the Jewish people. They would beat and kill them, they would yell at them and they stripped the Jews of their dignity and rights. In the novel Night by Elie Wiesel, one recurring theme is the dehumanization of the Jews. Throughout Night by Elie Wiesel, one can see the theme of dehumanization through the way the Nazi’s treated the Jews, spoke to the Jews, and how the Jews treated one another.