Night By Elie Wiesel Research Paper

From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany murdered 6 million Jews. The Nazis treated and murdered Jews as if they were pigs in a slaughterhouse. The Nazi Party's justification for the horrors they committed is often credited to dehumanization. By viewing Jews as less than human, they rationalize treating them as less than human. Elie Wiesel's memoir Night recounts his experience as a Jew during the Holocaust of being treated as less than human. The memoir follows Elie’s experience of the Ghetto in Sighet and the Auschwitz and Buchenwald camps, including the jarring moments in between. Numerous ways in which the Nazis dehumanized inmates, and more importantly, how it affected the Jews, are shown throughout Elie’s memoir. The horrific circumstances Jews

The Nazi Party had an understanding of their need for self-preservation in their dehumanizing circumstances, but they manipulated it to their advantage. In Elie’s memoir, many of the cruel officers were inmates themselves. Hierarchical positions were assigned to prisoners, where they dehumanized those below them as a preventative measure against those above them harming them. One of these officers was Franek, a camp foreman who had previously been kind to Elie by assigning him and his father to work together. In this scene of the memoir, Franek is not the “pleasant and intelligent young man” he used to be as he notices Elie’s gold crown, which he demands Elie give up. Elie notes his “eyes were shining with greed,” contrasting the man he was (Wiesel, 55). The juxtaposition in Elie’s description shows how Franek changed during his time in the camps, from someone good-natured to someone acclimated to sacrificing others if it was of benefit to him. While in the camps, Elie and the other prisoners—including Franek—were constantly dehumanized, with their lives constantly at risk. As Franek continued to be degraded and watched the dehumanization of those below him, he became more reliant on his advantageous position, resulting in further persuasion to dehumanize those below him. In doing so, the cycle of dehumanization continued throughout the camps, and he transformed from

At times, their survival was reliant on the demise of others, and the more dire the situation, the more likely they were to give into self-preservation. If they did not have the necessities for survival, they would be less able to maintain relationships, no matter how rudimentary. At one point in Elie’s memoir, he and the remaining inmates are forced into a densely packed train car without food or water. As they traveled, they passed through German towns, one of which was where people threw bread. As all the prisoners in the car were starving, they began “hurling themselves against each other, trampling, tearing at, and mauling each other.” The “beasts of prey” were relentless as they “[sharpened] their teeth and nails” with a notable “animal hate in their eyes” (Wiesel 101). The animalistic diction and metaphors of the statement show the state in which the prisoners were dehumanized, and how they acted in consequence. The diction throughout the scene highlights the animalistic behaviors of the prisoners as they ruthlessly fight one another. Comparing the brawling inmates to animals emphasizes how severely they have been dehumanized as they strive for the most fundamental of needs. They are so starved and reduced to their survival needs that they are willing to kill one another for a piece of bread. The destruction of civility between the inmates