Dehumanization In Night By Elie Wiesel

One of the ways Elie felt dehumanized was when his father was abused by the head of the block. “ The Gypsy stared at him for a long time, from head and toe. As if he wished to ascertain that person addressing him was actually a creature of flesh and bone. ”pg 39

Elie is sent to a concentration camp due to him being Jewish; during the concentration camp Elie experiences many traumatic events such as, starvation, physical abuse, babies being thrown into a furnace, and seeing his own dad having no will, then dying. Elie questions the existence and benevolence of God because he struggled to understand why God would allow for him and others to endure such suffering. Weisel's trauma shaped him into a stronger person, who advocated for remembering and learning from the Holocaust, and also created an organisation to fight indifference, intolerance, and

Elie was a normal teenage boy before the holocaust. He was well fed and got plenty of sleep and had nice things. Throughout the holocaust

Within Elie Wiesel’s memoir, Night, there are many important quotes. Although that is true, there is one that sticks out the most. On page 115 of the book, Wiesel states, “From the depths of the mirror, a corpse was contemplating me. The look in his eyes as he gazed at me has never left me” (Wiesel 115). This quote truly displays the theme of dehumanization portrayed by Wiesel.

He had a deep spiritual outlook and devoted abundances of time to learning the Torah, as well praying each day at the Synagogue and even sought out a mentorship under Moché the Beadle in studying the kabbalah. Elie's faith is put to the test, however, when he is brought to the concentration camps and forced to endure its brutal conditions. He experiences horrific atrocities and cruelties and finds it difficult to comprehend how God could permit such evil to exist. His once unwavering faith is shaken as he starts to doubt himself and his confidence in God after the death of a young pipel, “‘Where is He? Here He is—He is hanging here on this gallows….”

Night by Elie Wiesel is a powerful and haunting memoir that tells the story of the author's experience as a young Jewish boy during the Holocaust. It is a moving and deeply emotional account of the atrocities that Wiesel and his family endured at the hands of the Nazis, and it is a testament to the strength of the human spirit in the face of unimaginable suffering. One of the most powerful aspects of Night is the way that Wiesel writes about the experience of being a prisoner in a concentration camp. Through his vivid and descriptive language, he brings to life the horrors of life in the camps, including the brutality of the guards, the squalor and overcrowding of the barracks, and the constant threat of death. Wiesel also writes about the

(52) This quote illustrates the dehumanization that he and other prisoners experienced during the holocaust. As a Jewish prisoner in a concentration camp, Elie was stripped of his identity and reduced to a mere number. He was deprived of basic human needs such as food, warmth, and rest. The Nazi’s treated him and other Jews as if they were disposable objects, not worthy of respect or

The Nazis started treating Jewish people worse than animals. Elie’s family was ultimately removed from their home forever and placed in a ghetto. They had to give up their prized possessions in order to avoid the Nazis. Worst of all, they lost their freedom. Eventually, they were transported by train to a concentration camp having no idea what was in store for them.

Dehumanization is a major theme within the novel “Night”. Dehumanization means to make someone less human, to cross that thin line between human and animal. Elie and the other people in the novel all lose their sense of self due to the situation that they were forced into. To make the Jews lose their sense of self the Germans took away their rights, created fear, and starved them.

Dehumanization is to deprive someone of human qualities such as individuality, compassion, character, or citizenship. The Nazis dehumanized the Jews because they were viewed as an undesirable, worthless racial group that was responsible for all of Germany’s problems. The Germans started to dehumanize the Jews from the minute they arrived at the concentration camp. Elie Wiesel experienced all of this dehumanization. He writes about his tragic experience in his book Night.

The dehumanization process used against Jews began even before they reached Auschwitz. Before the prisoners first arrived, they are on a train for multiple days with barely any food or water. Even after they arrive, they have to run and complete other tasks before they can be entitled to food. During Elie’s whole time at the concentration camps, he always has the same food, which is one ration of soup and bread.

Following the many months after the death of Elie’s father, the liberators made their way into Buchenwald, the camp in which Elie was located, and set all of the prisoners free. As stated by Elie Wiesel, no one thought of revenge or of their hunger, they solely thought of throwing themselves onto the provisions (Wiesel 119). The people who were terrified throughout this entire nightmare, were finally free and did not want to think about the hate that had consumed their captors. After this horrendous journey, Elie was a different man than he was only a year ago. The night had left him scarred mentally and physically.

The way the Germans are treating Elie makes him believe that God is no longer by his side and that faith is no longer helping him. Once more, Wiesel expresses how the Germans are dehumanizing the Jews is by stating, “I knew that I was no longer arguing with him but death itself, with death that he had already chosen”(105). The concentration camps have made Elie believe that death is undeniable and that he no longer can fight to stay alive.

Elie went through many horrible things during the Holocaust. This included dehumanization, physical abuse, and a major lack of human rights. Many people who were forced into labor camps during the Holocaust were completely dehumanized. This dehumanization happened as soon as they entered the camp as they were stripped of their clothes, shaved bald, and tattooed with an ID number.

Watching others being beaten and slaughtered became so routine to Elie that it no longer phases him. It is hard to imagine that people could treat infants, or even fellow adults in this fashion, but the Nazi soldiers did not see the Jews as fellow human beings with unique personalities. The prisoners eventually became so used to being treated as worthless animals, that they became savage in a sense. They turned on each other as demonstrated when Meir turns on his own father, “Meir. Meir, my boy!