Examples Of Dehumanization In Survival In Auschwitz

Names are taken from the Jews and replaced with numbers when they enter the camp. This act is an attempt to steal the Jews’ identities; however, they fight against this act of dehumanization. The Nazi’s hoped to kill them mentally by doing this. My arm burns. I look up into the blue eyes of a Nazi guard as he burns the number into my skin. I smell burning flesh and want to barf. All around me irons are being heated up. “You

Finally the most dehumanizing and degrading tactic employed by the S.S Officers was treating the prisoners like animals. An example of them being treated like animals occurs at the station where the Jews of Sighet are being liquidated to the trains to Auschwitz by the Hungarian Guards The Jews were crammed in the synagogue before that, causing discomfort to many. Elie gives us a glimpse into history through this quote, “The Hungarian Police made us climb into the cars, eighty persons in each car. They handed us some bread, a few pails of water. They checked the bars on the windows to make sure they would not come loose. The cars

Have you ever been faced with overwhelming inhumanity?I believe we all have at least once in our lifetime. In the memoir, Night the narrator Elie Wiesel recounts a moment he saw “Three “veteran” prisoners, needles in hand, tattooed numbers on our left arms. I became A-7713”(Wiesel 42).The inhumane circumstances of the camp has lead to being dehumanized. This is just one of the several themes related to inhumanity circumstances that the book “Night” describes. Two significant themes related to inhumanity discussed in the book are about the horrific struggles the Jews have went through, the dehumanizing and the forced torture they were put through are losing faith/hope and are feeling unbalanced with who they are.

The appalling residing situations, the lack of necessities, and the brutal treatment by the SS officials all contribute to a profound experience of dehumanization. The prisoners are subjected to intense bodily and emotional abuse, which similarly diminishes their experience of self-worth and humanity. The deplorable residing conditions and the consistent fear of survival serve to emphasize the dehumanizing nature of the Holocaust. Also, the destabilization of deeply held ideals and the erosion of familial connections function as poignant examples of the emotional and psychological toll of

Almost immediately upon arrival to the concentration camp the orders “Men to the left. Women to the right.” echoed over all of the sacred ears and trembling bodies of the Jews. This is an example of dehumanization because the Nazis did not treat or think Jews to be humans, but rather animals. On page forty-two it says “I became A-7713. From then on, I had no other identity.” The tattooing of numbers on the Jews shows

Three prisoners brought a table and some medical instruments.the three ‘veteran’ prisoners, needles in hand, tattooed numbers on their left arm”(42). During the Holocaust, Jews were no longer called by their names, but instead by numbers. Due to this, the Jews no longer felt human, which is the literal process of dehumanization. By making the Jews feel worthless, it made it very easy for them to give up their lives. The more the Jews were dehumanized, the closer they were to their breaking point.

Survival in Auschwitz written by Primo Levi is a first-hand description of the atrocities which took place in the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz. The book provides an explicit depiction of camp life: the squalor, the insufficient food supply, the seemingly endless labour, cramped living space, and the barter-based economy which the prisoners lived. Levi through use of his simple yet powerful words outlined the motive behind Auschwitz, the tactical dehumanization and extermination of Jews. This paper will discuss experiences and reactions of Jews who labored in Auschwitz, and elaborate on the pre-Auschwitz experiences of Jews who were deported to Auschwitz and gassed to death on their arrival, which had not been

Elie Wiesel wrote Night, ten years after his release from the camp of Auschwitz. As a fifteen-year-old boy, his prime concerns have been studying the Talmud and living in a Jewish home, but when his family and the rest of the Jews are taken to Auschwitz, Elie becomes a number tattooed on his arm. In order to ensure one would survive through the camps, Jews would have to put their focus on themselves only, however, there were times in which the Jews would kill each other, including their own family for something as little as a crumb, this is also known as the popular term “survival of the fittest”.

The holocaust is one of the world's most tragic events, approximately 6 million Jews died and the concentration camp Auschwitz is the world's largest human cemetery, yet it has no graves. In Elie Wiesel's autobiographical memoir Night, he writes about his dehumanizing journey in the concentration camp, Auschwitz. Firstly, Elie experiences the loss of love and belonging when he is separated from his mother, sisters, and eventually his father. Also, the lack of respect that the Nazis showed the prisoners which lead to the men, including Elie to feel a sense of worthlessness in the camp. Finally, the lack of basic necessities in the camp leads to the men physically experiencing dehumanization. As a result, all these factors contribute to the

Dehumanization is understood as the process of humans being deprived of what makes them human, but the Nazis took it a step further to encourage mistreatment between the prisoners . The Holocaust is a ghastly event in the history of the world, that killed around 6 million Jewish people, but the horrors don’t stop there. The way the prisoners were treated in the concentration camps left lasting effects on the survivors. In Elie Wiesel’s memoir, Night, he recounts the horrific actions of the Nazi party against the Jewish people . The lasting effects of dehumanization do not take long to show, and the effects are only worsened through the numerous reminders from the Nazis that they aren’t worth anything.

In the Auschwitz documentary Kitty Hart-Moxon gave an explanation of what had occurred during the Holocaust; selection and explains how to survive. Kitty Hart-Moxon stated, “When you arrived on the train, women and children and the elderly were sent directly to their death in the gas chambers. You could hear people suffocating for about twenty minutes, and then it was over” (Documentary: A Day In Auschwitz). If you weren't fit and didn't pass the selection test you were considered weak, and got put to your death. In the Auschwitz documentary Kitty Hart Moxon explains if you passed the selection “You were stripped down of your clothes and valuables, your hair was shaved off….and you would be tattooed with a number.” (Documentary: A Day In Auschwitz). Now, comparing the Auschwitz documentary to the excerpt Night, Elie Wiesel focused on one subject: selection. “ We knew what it meant. An SS would examine us.. to see if we were fit enough.” (Wiesel 308). The victims and prisoners went through a selection process. Men were separated from women along with children. A Nazi, usually an SS physician, looked quickly at each person to decide if he or she was strong and healthy enough for forced labor. The SS officer then selected the weak; victims did not know that individuals were being selected to live or die. Carefully examining both of the mediums subjects, the Auschwitz documentary had a wide

Primo Levi, in his novel Survival in Auschwitz (2008), illustrates the atrocities inflicted upon the prisoners of the concentration camp by the Schutzstaffel, through dehumanization. Levi describes “the denial of humanness” constantly forced upon the prisoners through similes, metaphors, and imagery of animalistic and mechanistic dehumanization (“Dehumanization”). He makes his readers aware of the cruel reality in the concentration camp in order to help them examine the psychological effects dehumanization has not only on those dehumanized, but also on those who dehumanize. He establishes an earnest and reflective tone with his audience yearning to grasp the reality of genocide.

Dehumanization means to deprive one of their human qualities. Dehumanization is a very harrowing act that the Nazi soldiers used to create fear in the Jews. After creating this fear in the Jews, the Nazis would force them to obey their orders. The fear that comes from dehumanization makes one more likely to obey, because how can someone take a stand and say that they are not going to listen when they have been brought down to a point where they feel as if they are nothing. By using Dehumanization, the Nazis were reducing the Jews to no less than objects, positions which meant nothing to them, belongings that were just a nuisance. In Night, it is quoted that “I was nothing but a body. Perhaps even less…” (pg. 52). The minorities of society fell victim to dehumanization at the cruel hands of SS guards and the inhumane camp where they were held captive for what seemed to be endless periods of time.

When the Jews got to the barracks, they were told to strip and only could keep their shoes and belts in hand. The Jews were dehumanized in many ways, and it all started the minute they set foot in Auschwitz. When they got to Auschwitz there were two lines, men to the left and women to the right. The men were later separated into another two groups, if you were of suitable age and health you would go the the left heading towards the barracks, but if you were not of suitable age and health you were sent to the right probably towards inevitable death. A few days after being sent to Auschwitz is when they were the most publicly humiliated, mortified, and exposed. “Our clothes were to be thrown on the floor at the back of the barrack… belt and shoes

The Jews had been starved while being detained in forced labor camp. Those who weren’t fit to work were killed and cremated. The most eye-opening description of the Jewish peoples’ state in the concentration camp came at the very end of the book. After being freed, Wiesel looked in a mirror for the first since his arrival at the camp. Wiesel described his reflection as a “corpse” and stated “the look in his eyes… has never left me.” (Wiesel 115). Not only had the Nazis carried out a brutal campaign on the Jews’ physical being, but they had also infiltrated deep into their psyche. Upon arrival at camps, all Jews’ were forced to hand over all of their clothes and wearing matching uniforms. After that, the prisoners’ were sent to the barber. Wiesel described the process, stating, “[The barbers’] clippers tore out our hair, shaved every hair on our bodies.” (Wiesel 35). After this process, every Jew was tattooed with a number. This process lead to the ego-death of every prisoner. They were no longer people: they were numbers. Nothing differentiated one Jew from another, besides the numbers tattooed on them. This horrendous act could only be classified as psychological torture, carried out by monsters who had lost control of their own