The Dehumanization of the Jews Essay
The genocide of the Jews during World War II is probably the most well-known terror in world history. Many question how this could have happened, how could millions of people be exterminated so thoroughly without resistance? What begin as a simmering hatred of a people group progressed in a systematic execution of the Jews not only physically, but it took every ounce of their human rights until they had nothing left; they were ground into the dirt. With the help of Elie Wiesel’s personal story in his memoir Night, he gives us insight on the physical and psychological terror that they endured at the hands of Hitler that dehumanized the Jews in a systematic, step-by-step process. Hitler didn’t mindlessly; …show more content…
He was a sick mastermind. Maybe it was slow so that the Jews would not actually realize until it was too late what was really going on. As Hitler came to power, he despised the Jews and their success and to combat this, rumors began to spread about the Jews, full of poison, to enter all Germans’ minds. ‘“The “Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda” of the Nazi party, Josef Goebbels created a negative image of the Jewish people, by blaming them for the economic and social problems of Germany and the world. The propaganda has its goal to dehumanize the Jews by naming them an “inferior race.”’(Dehumanization of the Jews by the Nazi Regime). The hatred spread like a disease infecting the minds of all Germans through media, posters, and even …show more content…
The monstrosities he and fellow Jews were subjected to gives any person nightmares. He lived his life with his family in a peaceful Jewish town called Sighet. He knew comfort, the love of a family, protection but that all changed the day the German officers waltzed into their town and took over everything. They were forced from their homes, their possessions were stolen from them, and they were coerced into ghettos. “There no longer was any distinction between rich and poor, notables and the others; we were all people condemned to the same fate-still unknown.” (Night p.21). They were encircled like animals with barbed wire. Elie and his family were given a false sense of security. Then they were herded like livestock into cattle cars with no food or water and there was nothing good waiting for them on the other end. Elie was separated from his mother, like calves are taken from their mothers. They were sheared, their clothes were taken, and they lost all dignity when they were forced to run naked about the camp, enduring frigid temperatures and starving from lack of food and water. They were reduced to mere shells of humanity; they marked time by the meals they longed
The genocide of the Jews during World War II is probably the most well-known terror in world history. Many question how this could have happened, how could millions of people be exterminated so thoroughly without resistance? What begin as a simmering hatred of a people group progressed in a systematic execution of the Jews not only physically, but it took every ounce of their human rights until they had nothing left; they were ground into the dirt. With the help of Elie Wiesel’s personal story in his memoir Night, he gives us insight on the physical and psychological terror that they endured at the hands of Hitler that dehumanized the Jews in a systematic, step-by-step process. Hitler didn’t mindlessly; …show more content…
He was a sick mastermind. Maybe it was slow so that the Jews would not actually realize until it was too late what was really going on. As Hitler came to power, he despised the Jews and their success and to combat this, rumors began to spread about the Jews, full of poison, to enter all Germans’ minds. ‘“The “Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda” of the Nazi party, Josef Goebbels created a negative image of the Jewish people, by blaming them for the economic and social problems of Germany and the world. The propaganda has its goal to dehumanize the Jews by naming them an “inferior race.”’(Dehumanization of the Jews by the Nazi Regime). The hatred spread like a disease infecting the minds of all Germans through media, posters, and even …show more content…
The monstrosities he and fellow Jews were subjected to gives any person nightmares. He lived his life with his family in a peaceful Jewish town called Sighet. He knew comfort, the love of a family, protection but that all changed the day the German officers waltzed into their town and took over everything. They were forced from their homes, their possessions were stolen from them, and they were coerced into ghettos. “There no longer was any distinction between rich and poor, notables and the others; we were all people condemned to the same fate-still unknown.” (Night p.21). They were encircled like animals with barbed wire. Elie and his family were given a false sense of security. Then they were herded like livestock into cattle cars with no food or water and there was nothing good waiting for them on the other end. Elie was separated from his mother, like calves are taken from their mothers. They were sheared, their clothes were taken, and they lost all dignity when they were forced to run naked about the camp, enduring frigid temperatures and starving from lack of food and water. They were reduced to mere shells of humanity; they marked time by the meals they longed