The Nazi's Use of Triangles in the Concentration Camps Essay

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

The concentration camps from World War II are part of a painful and tragic incident that we have learned about in school for many years. And while we are taught the facts, we may not fully understand the emotional impact it had upon the humans involved. Upon reading Night by Elie Wiesel, readers are given vivid descriptions of the gruesome and tragic behaviors that the Jews were forced to endure inside he treacherous concentration camps. Among all of the cruelties that the Jews were exposed to, a very significant form of the callous behaviors was the demoralization of the prisoners. Each inmate was given a tattoo of a number, and that tattoo became their new identity within the camp. Every prisoner was presented with tattered uniforms that became

The Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp could be both a good, and bad place to be. The camp had mainly held Jewish people, and other political prisoners. Many prisoners would come from other camps, but few would go, alive that is.

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

“…Imagine now a man who is deprived of everyone he loves, and at the same

Throughout the course of the concentration camps, the Nazis complete actions to physically alter the prisoners, making them all look the same. For instance, towards the beginning of the novel the Nazis shave the prisoners heads to rid them of all the hair on their bodies and give them the exact same clothing to wear, making no one look unique or have a sense of style for themselves. The loss of humanity was made evident when Elie states “we had to throw our clothes at one end of the barracks...for us, this was the true equality: nakedness” (Wiesel 32). Wiesel’s statement displays the fact that they are grouped into one being, leaving no room for individuality. The Nazis also identified the prisoners with a tattoo number instead of calling them by their own names, making the detained lose their sense of identity. The loss of recognition was made evident when Elie said “I became A-7713. After that I had no name” (Wiesel 39). His statement claims that he was no longer Elie, making it evident that he has lost any sense of his identity, later leading to him to lose hope in any humanity. Wiesel effectively utilizes events throughout the novel to represent the lifelong intellectual damage that was put into place by the

“‘Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are the common men, the functionaries ready to believe and to act without asking questions’” (Quotes About Holocaust, 1). The Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz was the brutal murder site of millions of innocent Jews and other perceived enemies of Germany. Here, death and suffering was the norm and there was no escape from the wicked acts of the Nazis until the prisoners’ long awaited liberation. However, Auschwitz changed the victims’ lives forever.

On the front of this brick are symbols depicting a few of the many terrorizing things the Natzis executed during the Holocaust. Shown on top of the brick is a Jewish star; many know this as the Star of David. But, the Star of David in flames represents how Adolf Hitler was trying to create a mass murder of Jewish people and burn their religion. The hand reaching up to grab the star emblematizes the endeavor to save the Jewish religion. Next, there is a number imprinted on the left arm of the captive, this is their identity. Tattooing a number on their arm was an act of dehumanization. The prisoners no longer had a name, just a number to be classified by. Lastly, there is a hand reaching for the electrical barbed wire. The electric wire and

85 years ago, over a 12 year period, nearly six million Jews were killed in a genocide called The Holocaust. The Holocaust was led by the Nazi Party and Adolf Hitler was their leader. The mass murders took place at concentration camps throughout Europe. The majority of concentration camps resided in Poland and Germany. Many people believe there were only a few concentration camps. “However, researchers found that the Nazis had actually established 20,000 camps between 1933 and 1945” (“How Many Camps,” n.d.). In this paper I will be discussing the largest concentration camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Upon arrival at a concentration camp, victims did not realized what these “camps” consisted of. Some say that they didn’t exist. Others knew exactly what occurred at these camps from gossip or friends that had escaped. Uniforms were issued to each individual according to the crime they had committed. A yellow triangle placed on the uniform displayed that you were Jewish. Pink triangles displayed homosexuality. Triangles with a brown tint exhibited gypsies. Red triangles paraded communism. Triangles that were green displayed that a prisoner was a criminal. A double lined electric barbed fence surrounded all camps in Europe. Snipers then sat in stands to view the camp from above. At night they would use spotlights to guard the surroundings. Scattered around the grounds would be about a dozen soldiers marching the premises looking and scavenging around for mishap. It was as if the people within the camp were animals, restrained and punished when committing a wrongdoing. “When someone would disobey or not listen to a guard, we would be forced to strip down to the nude and roll around in hot coals until the body bled from everywhere. Once this was complete, you either died from infection or suffered severe burns.” (David 91). Seven million were forced to work at a concentration camp during the Holocaust. This boosted the economy because this was unpaid labor. Concentration camps existed because the Nazis couldn’t just exterminate all Jews or

When I got to the first concentration camp. They told us to take off our clothes and put on other clothes that looked much worse. Then they would tell us to stick out our left arm so they could tattoo our numbers on. During the Holocaust, concentration camp prisoners received tattoos only at one ... non-Jewish persons of virtually all European nationalities.

Final Outline For Concentration Camps Research Paper The Concentration Camps Introduction A. Summary of the Holocaust 1. The Systematic, bureaucratic annihilation 2. January 1933 3. Leader was Adolf Hitler and it involved over six million Jews 4.

To begin, arriving at the camps was scary and dehumanizing for all. They separated families, stripped them of their belongs, shaved their heads, and were giving a tattoo

The SS was formed in 1925 by Adolf Hitler under the SA for the sole purpose of providing security for Hitler and other Nazi leaders, security for political meetings, and soliciting subscribers for the party's newspapers. The SS stands for the Schutzstaffel and its main focus was initially was protection and eventually rose through the Nazi power structure under its most infamous figure, Heinrich Himmler who was put in charge of the SS in 1929 when there were only 280 SS members. He initially fell under the command of SA commander Ernst Rohm whom became his arch nemesis. He decided to take command and control of the SS because he saw an opportunity to develop an elite corps in the Nazi party that was founded on racial purity.

Throughout the years the symbols of gay pride have come about and evolved due to many reasons. During the Holocaust many more groups than Jewish people were imprisoned in concentration camps. Among these were gay people, whom were labeled in camps especially noticeably so that all others would know if a homosexual person was approaching them. Initially, the letter A sewn onto the breast or trousers signaled this, A stood for “arschficker,” which is the German word for “ass-fucker”. Some other early camps used a blue bar, or a large black dot and the number 175. Later, the camps developed the triangle identification system, in which had color coded triangles for each group of people. Homosexuals were designated a pink triangle, in addition