The Cause Of Dehumanization In World War II Prisoners

The Cause of Dehumanization in World War II Prisoners The horrors and crimes of World War II dehumanized a massive population of people and to One of the most infamous genocides to ever take place was known as the Holocaust. Over six million Jews and five million non jewish people were murdered under the order of the Nazi regime. There were countless concentration camps where prisoners were used for forced labor and inhumane medical experiments, but for most prisoners, it became a final resting place. Only a third of the Jewish population survived the death camps. Elie Wiesel, one of the Jewish survivors, wrote about his experiences in his memoir Night. During their time in concentration camps, prisoners were treated like animals. The dehumanization …show more content…
No one could believe that anybody could commit such horrifying crimes. Wiesel recalls officers yelling at the prisoners to run faster in the middle of the night: “Get on with you lazy swine” (17). The first night in camp the officers showed no mercy. SS did not see them as humans which made it easy for them to murder all these people, because they viewed them as swine. Prisoners were forced to stay in less than fitting living conditions, “There was no floor. A roof and four walls. Our feet sank into the mud” (Wiesel 35). By making people stay in a small, muddy room, it shows that the SS are better and that the Jews are just prisoners waiting to be killed. As they forced their prisoners to run, SS shout, “Faster, you swine, you filthy sons of bitches” (Wiesel 81). The men run on the death march for if they stopped they will be shot and killed. If they do not obey orders from the officers, they will die. Wiesel remembers his first night at Auschwitz and seeing a truck filled with children's bodies: “A lorry drew up at the pit and delivered its load - Babies!” (30). There is outrage as he writes …show more content…
Upon arrival at Auschwitz when everyone is forming lines, a fellow prisoner responds to another prisoner’s comment: “You shut your trap, you filthy swine, or I’ll squash you right now!” (Wiesel 28). The man who yelled at the others was vicious for no reason. He was angry at the people from Sighet for coming to Auschwitz, but hey had not heard about it. Towards the end of the book, the prisoners are forced out of the camp and on a death march. Some of them were trampled, and some split from their families. “He had seen him. And he had continued to run on in front, letting the distance between them grow greater” (Wiesel 87). Wiesel is reminded of how Rabbi Eliahou's son saw his father and continued to run because he thought maybe separating himself from his father could make him stronger and give him a better chance of survival. But even if it was for a good reason, it was a cold thing to do. He knew he would be split from his father, and he just kept running. Wiesel’s father asked where he could use the restroom and the man in charge, another prisoner, responded by beating him. Wiesel writes, “Then, as if he had suddenly woken from a heavy doze, he dealt my father such a clout that he fell to the ground, crawling back to his place on all fours” (36-37). The head of the block was another prisoner. When Mr. Wiesel asks where the lavatories are, the Gypsy prisoner beat him down to the ground. Mr.