Dehumanization in the Holocaust
Can you imagine being forced to leave your home to be packed into cattle cars for days at a time with no food, only to go work like a slave in concentration camps where they brutally beat you and take away your identity like your life has no meaning? The book Night follows the story of a young Jewish boy named Elie Wiesel as he is ripped from his home, friends, family, belongings, and identity to go work in concentration camps where it’s every man for himself and nobody's life has any meaning. The most obvious examples of dehumanization in Night were shown through the Nazis, the selection, and the Death Marches.
The Nazis were one of the main contributors in the process of dehumanization. For example, on page 2 it says …show more content…
‘“ Men to the left! Women to the right! Eight simple, short words. Yet that was the moment I left my mother. There was no time to think, and I already felt my father’s hand press against mine: we were alone…. I didn’t know that this was the moment in time and the place where I was leaving my mother and Tzipora forever. I kept walking, holding my father's hand” ( Wiesel 29). This shows dehumanization because families were torn apart most of them never saw each other again. “” Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you.” For the first time his voice quivered. “ In a few moments, selection will take place. You will have to undress completely. Then you will go, one by one, before the SS doctors. I hope you will all pass, but you must try to increase your chances. Before you go into the next room, try to move your limbs, give yourself some color. Don’t walk slowly, run! Run as if you had the devil at your heels! Don’t look at the SS. Run, straight in front of you!” ( Wiesel 71). The Nazis are going to examine the prisoners and see if they need to be executed or if they can keep working and go work in different camps. The selection is degrading toward the
Can you imagine being forced to leave your home to be packed into cattle cars for days at a time with no food, only to go work like a slave in concentration camps where they brutally beat you and take away your identity like your life has no meaning? The book Night follows the story of a young Jewish boy named Elie Wiesel as he is ripped from his home, friends, family, belongings, and identity to go work in concentration camps where it’s every man for himself and nobody's life has any meaning. The most obvious examples of dehumanization in Night were shown through the Nazis, the selection, and the Death Marches.
The Nazis were one of the main contributors in the process of dehumanization. For example, on page 2 it says …show more content…
‘“ Men to the left! Women to the right! Eight simple, short words. Yet that was the moment I left my mother. There was no time to think, and I already felt my father’s hand press against mine: we were alone…. I didn’t know that this was the moment in time and the place where I was leaving my mother and Tzipora forever. I kept walking, holding my father's hand” ( Wiesel 29). This shows dehumanization because families were torn apart most of them never saw each other again. “” Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you.” For the first time his voice quivered. “ In a few moments, selection will take place. You will have to undress completely. Then you will go, one by one, before the SS doctors. I hope you will all pass, but you must try to increase your chances. Before you go into the next room, try to move your limbs, give yourself some color. Don’t walk slowly, run! Run as if you had the devil at your heels! Don’t look at the SS. Run, straight in front of you!” ( Wiesel 71). The Nazis are going to examine the prisoners and see if they need to be executed or if they can keep working and go work in different camps. The selection is degrading toward the