Inhumanity In Eliezer Wiesel's Night

Even though Eliezer was able to persevere, he was dehumanized by the Nazi’s in an atrocious and cold-blooded fashion. When a human is emotionally and physically stripped of their pride, it weakens his or her will to live. The Nazis targeted the Jews' humanity, and slowly dissolved their feeling of being an independant human. Elie Wiesel states “He took his time between lashes, only the first really hurt...twenty-four…twenty-five. It was over. I had not realized it but I had fainted.” (Wiesel 62). In the case of the Jews doing anything askew, they were to be punished in barbaric ways. This whipping by the Nazi’s had a drastic affect on Eliezer's identity, because before his punishment Eliezer had not yet altered his inquisitive mindset. Eliezer was at the wrong place at the wrong time, and as a result he was thrashed and trounced on by one of the German soldiers. This traumatized Eliezer and brought fear upon him, changing his attitude.

When Stein, a forgotten relative, approached Eliezer and his father on their eight day of living in the concentration camp, Auschwitz, he wanted information on his wife and two kids whom Eliezer's mother had corresponded with in the past. Stein and his family had been separated two years ago and he desperately wanted to know how they were doing. While Eliezer did not have any knowledge about Stein's family, caught between indecision, he decided to lie. He

He had seen a woman whom he recognized from the camp while reading the newspaper on the Metro. They spent the evening reminiscing and before parting Eliezer asked,”May I ask one more question?” The woman answers by saying that she is Jewish and then explains how she got into the concentration camp. From an observant family during the Occupation, she had false papers and passed as Aryan. When she was deported to Germany, she eluded and at the depot, nobody knew she spoke German. She says “It was imprudent of me to say those few words to you, but I knew that you would not betray me…” This refers to the time she helped Elie after Idek vented his fury on him. And Eliezer, at that time was starting to find people who he could trust and trust him

When Eliezer was incarcerated at Auschwitz, he was constantly in fear. One example of fear in Night is Eliezer’s initial fear of death. For example, when Eliezer has to lie about his age and profession to the officer, his voice shakes as he does so. Not much longer after, he believes he is going to die in the pit of fire. He is sweating and starts praying. The SS ultimately direct him to the left towards the barracks. Eliezer is also very fearful of being separated from his father. When he was assigned his first job, he desperately asked the foreman to work alongside Shlomo. Another example was at Gleiwitz

Can glimmers of light shine through the darkest time of life? Countless horrible acts occurred during the Holocaust, including the slaughter of millions in the space of 4 years. Jews were starved, killed, beaten, and so much more due to their religious beliefs. In the midst of all of the cruelty, some light—some kindness—can still shine through.

Targeting people due to their identity. Murdering tens of thousands of innocent people. Disrespecting the deceased. These three scenarios all depict man’s inhumanity to man. The oppression of mass amounts of people is often portrayed in not only life, but also in literature and film. In the novel Night by Elie Wiesel, Wiesel describes the inhumanity he endured while in Auschwitz during the Holocaust. Additionally, in the film Hotel Rwanda, the producers portray the acts of atrocities toward Tutsi and Hutu refugees during the Rwandan genocide. Inhumanity is a universal cruelty toward human life which man often “turns a blind eye to” due to their apathy.

At this point Eliezer’s mom had been killed, but he didn’t want this person to lose hope, so he lied to him and said she was fine. He also didn’t want to tell him the truth, because the relative kept giving Eliezer food. Eventually, a transport showed up with news about other prisoners, including Eliezer’s mother. The relative wants to know more, saying “Surely they will have news” (45). After the relative spoke with the transport, Eliezer never saw his relative again, stating: “he left, he never saw him again, he had been given the real news” (45).

Right off the bat Eliezer is exposed to dehumanization when he is packed into a cattle car with his fellow jews like sardines, which implicates that the Jews are like animals and they are being treated as such. Nevertheless, each train car was filled with 80 people, leaving little room for people to lay down, for which they decided to take turns to do. Justifiably, Eliezer’s sanity, along with everybody else’s, continuously degrades over the duration of the trip in the train car which he has no option but to endure for the

Wiesel also uses imagery, of Eliezer loosing the ability to express emotion, to show the dehumanization of Eliezer and the other Jews who are led to undergo drastic emotional changes. Unfortunately, the Jews suffer tremendous difficulties in the concentration camps. The torture that the enslaved Jews experience has obvious physical effects, but it also has mental changes on them. The events that have taken place at the concentration camps has shaken Eliezer so much, that at the sight of his stricken father, he replies, “My father had just been struck, before my eyes, and I had not flickered an eyelid. I had looked on and said nothing.” (Pg. 37 old book) After the Kapo beats his father to the ground for asking permission to use the bathroom, Elieizer is surprised at himself because he is incapable of doing so much as lifting a finger or saying anything in his father's defense. Like the other Jews, he is dehumanized with his main concern becoming self-preservation. Thus, Eliezer looses his compassion for others, including his father. When his father dies due to dysentery, Eliezer states, “I did not weep and it pained me that I could not weep.

At the beginning of the memoir, Elie describes the extent of psychological abuse that he is subjected to, and already the reader can sense a theme of darkness. The atrocious cruelty showed by Nazi soldiers toward Jews, is beyond all realms of rationality. Through strategic verbal abuse, Nazi soldiers slowly deprive the Jews of their stimulus and ability to react. The author reveals, “Our senses were numbed, everything was fading into a fog…The instincts of self-preservation, of self-defense, of pride, had all deserted us” (Wiesel 36). This daily psychological pressure is intended to extinguish any trace of humanity in Jews. The Nazi soldiers know that if they deprive the Jews of their innate nature and interests in life, it would be easier to instill fear and exponentially erase hope. The author affirms, “I stood petrified. What had happened to me? My father had just been struck, in front of me, and I had not even blinked. I had watched and kept silent. Only yesterday, I would had dug my nails into this criminal’s flesh. Had I changed that much? So fast?” (39). In this section of the memoir, Elie underscores the Nazis’ success in creating a mental paralysis and an incapacity to react to injustice. The Nazis are using one of the most invasive forms of torture, the psychological abuse. They are progressing every day in their brutal plan, and consequently, the Jews’ anguish becomes more intense and precise. Caleb Lewis in

The quote “Man’s inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn” is very relevant in the Holocaust texts Night by Elie Wiesel and The Last Days directed by James Moll because it really sums up the Holocaust. Both these texts give insight to what happened inside the camps and how the survivors were changed forever. These texts both show that in times of extreme inhumanity, one can lose his faith, which leads to a loss of innocence.

The mental aspect of dehumanization seemed to cut as sharply as any weapon used by the Nazis. Adolescent Eliezer seemed to have a strong spiritual connection before he endured life in the concentration. This seemed to be the case as he shared that at an early age, he found a master named moishe to teach him Kabbalah. The two would meet every evening and remain in the synagogue long after the faithful had gone (pgs.4-5). Conversely, after he and his family endured the camps, he began to make statements such as, “ Why would I bless Him? Every fiber in me rebelled. Because he caused thousands of children to burn in His mass graves?( Wiesel 67). Eliezer being the faithful young man he is, never would consider words like those in his vocabulary. Along with the narrator’s religious pathing fading away in the midst of the camp. Eliezer and the rest of the Jewish civilians in the camp have to withstand the unkempt conditions of the bunks in which is the same place they sleep eat ,and release their bodily fluids. By this, I can look up to Eliezer, because knowing myself. I would not be able endure one second of being in the bunks, let alone years just as the narrator and his father had to

the horrific events in the concentration camp and the ever-present risk of death does Eliezer

To deem anyone a victim, he, she, or it must receive harm, negative feelings, or lies, and what is causing the harm must have more power over the victim. This perpetrator receives this power using coercive force, whether or not it is on purpose or a mere accident. This person uses this power to make the victim fear him or her. Nonetheless, there are different types and degrees of victimizing.

After 3 weeks at Auschwitz, they get deported to Buna, which is a turning point for the relationship between Elie and Chlomo. The camps influence Elie and give him a crooked mind focused on staying alive and nothing else. This leads to him disregarding his father. This twisted way of thinking, due to the camps, is making Elie cheer during bomb raids at Buna. He states his thoughts “But we were no longer afraid of death, at any rate, not of that death” (57). This shows that he is willing to die to see the camps destroyed. The most horrifying event that demonstrates his twisted mind is when Eliezer pays no heed to his father while he was being repeatedly beat with an iron bar. Eliezer, rather than acting indifferent and showing nothing, actually feels angry with his father. “I was angry at him for not knowing how to avoid Idek’s outbreak” (52). The new lifestyle of the camps affected Elie and his relationship with his father for the worse.