Examples Of Dehumanization In Night By Elie Wiesel

1315 Words6 Pages

Dehumanization was a central component of the Holocaust, allowing the Nazis to justify and perpetrate the murder of millions of innocent people. The book Night by Elie Wiesel, is a memoir of Wiesel describing his own experience as a Holocaust survivor. In 1933, while World War II was occuring, led by Adolf Hilter, the Nazi took control of Germany creating the appalling event called The Holocaust. The Nazi despised the Jewish and sent them to concentration camps to be forced into labor and for many to be killed. It’s said that over 17 million people were killed. The Holocaust had many dehumanizing effects and losses of humanity in the form of forced labor, mass extermination, and stripping of personal identity.
Forced labor was a central part …show more content…

Millions of Jewish people were forced to work in ghettos, concentration camps, and other labor camps. They were subjected to long hours of hard physical labor, often in harsh and inhumane conditions. This forced labor was dehumanizing and robbed individuals of their freedom, dignity, and sense of self. In the “Forced Labour Camps” article, the author wrote, “As in most Nazi camps, conditions in forced labour camps were inadequate. Inmates were only ever seen as temporary, and, in the Nazis view, could always be replaced with others: there was a complete disregard for the health of prisoners. They were subject to insufficiencies of food, equipment, medicine and clothing, whilst working long hours. There was little or no time for rest or breaks” (Forced Labour Camps). This quote shows details that describe the inadequate conditions that existed in the Nazi forced labor camps. The author notes that inmates were seen as temporary and could be replaced with others, indicating that the Nazis did not …show more content…

The mass extermination during the Holocaust was a deliberate attempt to eradicate an entire group of people. The Nazi regime employed various methods such as gas chambers, shootings, and forced labor camps to accomplish their goal. The victims were stripped of their rights, dignity, humanity, and were reduced in numbers atrociously. The scale of killing was unprecedented and resulted in millions of deaths. The mass extermination reduced Jewish and the loss of human life was staggering, and it had an immeasurable impact on the survivors and society as a whole. The author wrote in the “Antisemitism” article, “Even more, 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and imprisoned in camps like Dachau and Buchenwald, a forerunner of the mass imprisonment and extermination of Jews in the years to come.” (“Antisemitism”). This quote speaks of how mass imprisonment was a prelude to the mass extermination of Jews in the Holocaust, which is a devastating feature that dehumanized and took away the lives of many Jews. The Nazis used the concentration camps to incarcerate and torture Jewish men, women, and children, causing immense physical and emotional suffering. The purpose of the camps was to dehumanize and degrade Jews so that it would be easier to justify annihilating them. The quoted statement shows that the Nazis were already beginning to implement their plan for mass extermination,

Open Document