Kate Johnson Ms. Nikolai ELA English 10 Sophomore Academy 02-01-23 Dehumanization Night by Elie Wiesel is a memoir that recounts witnesses to his experiences in multiple concentration camps during the Holocaust. Many people were kept in concentration camps for years during World War II, and while they faced many hardships and fought many battles, possibly the hardest challenge to overcome was that of dehumanization. Dehumanization is the act of regarding, representing, or treating a person or group as less than human, (dictionary.com). During his experiences, Elie witnessed many instances where he, his family, or other Jews in the camps were treated so inhumanely that they felt reduced to little more than ‘things’. The Nazis were harsh, cruel, …show more content…
During their journey, the Nazis forced them to run faster and farther than they thought possible and were motivated by fear of death if they were to not oblige. “The SS made us increase our pace. ‘Faster, you tramps, you flea-ridden dogs!’” (85). While attempting to run a near-impossible distance, they were called names and yelled at, and were treated and talked to as if they were so much less than humans. During their journey, many of the Jews were shot because they could not keep up, and while the sound of the Nazi guns rang through the air, they were reminded of how little their lives meant to their captors. Once they made it to the next camp, they were treated as if they were dead. They were thrown onto the ground, lying on top of people while more people were thrown on top of them. While they had no way of knowing if these people were alive or not, they were, at this point, accustomed to death. When Elie was crushed under the weight of others, he was unable to think of anyone but himself, not able to make himself care about the lives of others. “I dug my nails into unknown faces. I was biting my way through, searching for air. No one cried out,” (93). After all the time he had spent with the