Violation Of Human Rights In Night By Elie Wiesel

The breaking of the human spirit is prevalent in all periods of history dating back to the beginning of time. There is an ongoing civil war of hatred that is prominent in humanity. Despite the obvious fact that all humans should have equal rights, people still deprive each other of these simple liberties. Such as during the Holocaust. The Holocaust was a horrific event where Nazis humiliated and tortured people of minorities, especially those that identify as Jewish. These people were belittled to nothing besides worthless animals in the eyes of many. The behavior of the Nazis, and their treatment toward these humans are an extreme violation in relation to the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights”. In Elie Wiesel’s memoir, Night, he describes

Each, and every one of the acts committed by the Nazis breach the rights set in the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights”. In relation to Article 2 of the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights”, the Nazis are violating this right by discriminating against Jews, and minorities. The Nazis had a profuse amount of practices to dehumanize their prisoners, including beatings, starvation, theft of possessions, separation of families, slaughter, forced labor, and many more. Elie himself faced many of these things. The Nazis gave their prisoners identification numbers according to Wiesel, “three ‘veteran’ prisoners, needles in hand, tattooed numbers on our left arms. I became known as A-7713. From then on, I had no other name” (Wiesel 42). This tactic robs the humanity of the individual as, from there on out, people view them as nothing more than a numbered animal. Which is what humans saw them as, animals. The police herded their prisoners onto cattle cars for long distance transportation as stated by Wiesel, “The next morning, we walked to the station, where a convoy of cattle cars was waiting. The Hungarian police made us climb into the cars, eighty persons in each one” (Wiesel 22). Referring back to the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights”, the Nazis violate countless rights amongst the acts they committed. There is no greater loss than that of humanity, so one can never truly relate to the

Watching others being beaten and slaughtered became so routine to Elie that it no longer phases him. It is hard to imagine that people could treat infants, or even fellow adults in this fashion, but the Nazi soldiers did not see the Jews as fellow human beings with unique personalities. The prisoners eventually became so used to being treated as worthless animals, that they became savage in a sense. They turned on each other as demonstrated when Meir turns on his own father, “Meir. Meir, my boy! Don’t you recognize me? I’m your father…you’re hurting me…you’re killing father! I’ve got some bread…for you too…for you too…” (Wiesel 96). The prisoners literally began to dehumanize each other. Dehumanization is still prevailing in the world today as seen in countries such as those dominated by patriarchy where women are subjected to doing whatever their husbands demand, and do not even have the simple right to drive. In some countries, women are seen as property. They are there to make children and obey their husbands, nothing more. Across the world in certain countries, homosexuals are prohibited from getting married due to other people’s religion and opinions. This alone defies Article 2 of the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” as it is prejudiced against homosexuality, and the Article clearly states, “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of