Dehumanization In Night By Elie Wiesel

In the book Night by Elie Wiesel, The author shares his story and describes the conditions he had endured in order to survive in concentration camps during the Holocaust. Among these conditions, the prisoners had to experience dehumanization by the Nazis. In the novel Elie and the others had to experience dehumanization through many different concentration camps they went to and the mental and physical tolls these camps had on them. Dehumanization is the process of treating others as if they are less human, essentially depriving them of their human qualities, personality, and dignity. There are many instances in the book where dehumanization is a key concept such as when the Jews had to endure prohibition and forceful assimilation in Sighet,

In Night, Elie vividly recalls the horrors of what he witnessed in the concentration camps and the dehumanization of the Jews that occurred while reminding us of the importance of preserving our humanity and treating others kindly regardless of race or background. The dehumanization that the Nazis carried out also helped Hitler achieve his goal of killing Jews while torturing them to the point where they didn't want to live.
Dehumanization can be seen in multiple ways throughout the novel, one of the first instances is when the Jews must endure the prohibition and forceful assimilation in Sighet. Dehumanization first started with the Jews being taken from their homes and lives and not being able to own anything of value. In the text, it stated “The same day, the Hungarian police burst into every Jewish home in town: a Jew was

One of these acts occurred when they were being evacuated from Gleiwitz to Buchenwald where they were all stuffed into a train under horrible conditions and starved. In the text, it stated “One day when we had come to a stop, a worker took a piece of bread out of his bag and threw it into a wagon. There was a stampede. Dozens of starving men fought desperately over a few crumbs. The worker watched the spectacle with great interest”(Wiesel 100). This piece of textual evidence shows how the people acted as if they were animals and amused themselves with the lives of the Jews and their despair. Another example is the evacuation from they are evacuating from Buna to Gleiwitz where the prisoners have to go through torture, physical exhaustion, starvation, and even hypothermia. In this evacuation the prisoners are forced to run in horrible conditions, and if they stop they’re dead. In the text, it stated, "Faster, you filthy dogs!" We were no longer marching, we were running. Like automatons. The SS was running as well, weapons in hand. We looked as though we were running from them. The night was pitch-black. From time to time, a shot exploded in the darkness. They had orders to shoot anyone who could not sustain the pace. Their fingers were on the triggers, they did not deprive themselves of the pleasure. If one of us