Dehumanization In Night By Elie Wiesel

The Holocaust was a genocide of primarily Jewish people. They were treated horribly and forced into concentration camps and ghettos. In his memoir, Night, author Elie Wiesel writes about his experiences during the Holocaust. He survived three concentration camps: Auschwitz, Buna, and Buchenwald. While in these camps, Wiesel experienced starvation, extreme working conditions, and he witnessed thousands of brutal murders. He did not have basic necessities like clean water, a good place to sleep, or toiletries. Wiesel’s experience of dehumanization during the Holocaust destabilized the foundations of his identity, which is seen through his relationship with his father, his faith, and his guilt from survival.

One way that Wiesel shows his dehumanization

In the first few chapters of the book, Wiesel frequently talks about his faith. He said that he lived to worship and that his faith was important to him. Wiesel writes, “Why did I pray… why did I live? Why did I breathe?” (Wiesel 4). Wiesel comparing praying with living in breathing demonstrates how important his religion is to him. About halfway through his imprisonment in the concentration camps, Wiesel began to question his beliefs. While all the other prisoners were praying during a Jewish holiday, Wiesel wrote about how he couldn’t understand why the God he devoted everything to would make him suffer. He explained that he couldn’t bring himself to worship someone who brought death and torture to people. Before the Nazis took over his life, Wiesel’s religion and his God were important to him. However, once he was imprisoned in the concentration camp for a few years, he stopped believing. This decrease in faithfulness occurred due to the dehumanization and brutality Wiesel experienced. His religion and faith were clearly a large part of his personality, and after that was gone, he lost a key piece of his

These actions broke the foundations of his identity, seen through his relationship with his father, his faith, and his guilt from survival. Wiesel had a few things that were important to him, including his faith, his father, and his innocence. After spending years in concentration camps, all of these important things were taken from him. This book, specifically the theme of losing identity, is important because people need to understand that it can’t happen again. Everyone needs to treat people like humans and realize that they don’t have to look like them, act like them, or even believe what they believe in. Regardless of all of these factors, they are still humans and deserve to be treated as such. Wiesel’s book shows what happens when everyone ceases to treat people as humans; they lose their identity and lose the life inside of them. Wiesel went from a carefree, happy, faithful young boy to someone who felt that they had no purpose. Now, it is up to the people of today to not let anything like that happen