In Elie Wiesel’s novel, Night, the values and identities of the Jews have stripped away as dehumanization played a momentous element in their lives during their time spent as prisoners. This is shown through the unfortunate events of prohibition and forceful assimilation the Jews endured in Sighet and Auschwitz-Birkenau, public humiliation including trauma and physical abuse encountered in Buna, and constant eviction and starvation experienced in Gleiwitz and Buchenwald, where their agonizing years as victims of the Holocaust came to an end.
The Germans committed their first act of dehumanization in Sighet by prohibiting the Jews from standard human rights. Day-to-day acts such as leaving the home whenever desired, owning gold or jewelry, worshipping in the synagogue, and dressing in preferable attires of choice were prohibited. The invasion allowed the Germans to bestow their acts of harassment upon the Jews, leading to the forceful assimilation of the Jewish citizens of Sighet making it unable to differentiate between different parties. This is evident in the quote, This quote portrays the thoughts of the author as a fellow villager himself who understood that the prohibition and assimilation dissolved their values and status amongst society. On the other hand, it was important to sacrifice their customs and traditions in order to avoid meeting the harsh consequences that would have otherwise affected the Jews if they retaliated. Therefore, the Jews obeyed the rules the Germans set for the sake of their loved ones.
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Furthermore, the Germans not only stripped the Jews of their possessions and basic human rights but also divided their homes into two ghettos with strict restrictions pertaining to staying within the boundaries. This portrays the first step towards dehumanization as an order to stay within a perimeter is similar to restricting animals inside a cage. In another quote in the novel, the author says, This shows that after being stripped off their belongings and being prohibited, they were forced to assimilate to one standard way of being identified. Elie and his family were separated after arriving in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Soon after, the Nazis removed each Jew from their birth name and were given a tattooed number. Therefore, separating Elie from his family, damaged his identity, dehumanizing him and other Jews alike. Normally, this would affect anyone but being attacked with all these prohibitions and assimilations at the age of adolescence can heavily affect one, considering their accommodation; a concentration camp.
The second biggest form of dehumanization the Jews encountered by the Germans in Buna was public humiliation and trauma. Acts such as shaving their heads, making them appear unclothed, providing them with clothes that do not fit, and physically abusing them were some forms of humiliation. They also endured a great load of trauma by being forced to witness hangings and viewing the dead individuals' faces afterward involuntarily. This is evident in the quote, This quote shows that physical abuse was used in public to ensure to instill fear in the hearts of those watching. It also led to trauma and further humiliation. The Jews were afraid to protect one another whether they received blows or witnessed it, as the impact was the same: fear over fear. Elie describes each blow to be so severe that one could not feel it after a while as it was that painful. Elie himself has felt firsthand the wrath of the German officer, Idek, previously to his father’s beating which is why he understood how excruciating it felt and couldn’t dare to stand up for his father. The physical punishment these victims received dehumanized them to the point of not feeling any sense of remorse or care when it is being done to others.
In addition, another quote from the novel says, Regularly, one would not appeal to the idea of being naked in front of others but nonetheless, the Jews obeyed as they no longer valued anything but surviving. With their identity stripped away long ago they felt no such thing as embarrassment or fear as they have been through uncountable acts of dehumanization. The fact that Elie mentioned that the sight looked as if on the Last Judgement day significantly emphasizes how strict and scared all the prisoners were. They feared men just as an animal would fear its commander, which shows how badly they have all been dehumanized. Hence, considering all they have been through concerning dehumanization, the acts that had broken them from their humanity and hope are public humiliation, trauma, and physical abuse endured in Buna.
Lastly, one of the third major acts of dehumanization that took place during the Holocaust is the constant eviction of the Jews from site to site and the persistent starvation endured over long periods of time. The Nazis generally did not have a single ounce of care regarding the health of the Jews as they forcefully made them run endless hours in the winter with just blankets supporting them against the climate. They fed them morsels of food similar to portions eaten by infants and did not respond or feel remorse when the Jews decided to eat snow to fulfill their week-long starving stomach. This is evidently shown in the following quote, This moment was towards the end of their horrific journey which represents exactly how much dehumanization has consumed every part of what remained in their life. It further shows that even random individuals that had come across the cattle car the Jews were being transported in, treated them in a dehumanized manner. The worker watching with interest doesn’t sound surprising as there were 80 grown men shoved into one cattle car, looking equivalent to animals being transported to a farm in the outside world. Another quote supports this point, This statement was said by Elie Wiesel on the last page of the novel stressing the fact that dehumanization has consumed them as a whole as they no longer valued anything but filling their stomachs with the food they have been deprived of. Therefore, constant eviction and starvation experienced in Gleiwitz and Buchenwald by the Jews without the slightest mercy from the Germans was the final stage of dehumanization in the novel. The Holocaust also known as Shoah between 1941 to 1945 is the most religiously documented example of the damage of dehumanization. Jews were the foremost victims of this genocidal forecast.
Conclusion
From the beginning of time, Hitler and his Nazi followers were assured that the Jewish individuals composed a deadly and terrifying threat to all that was noble in humanity. They were disregarded by humanity; from public humiliation, physical abuse, and starvation to eviction, and were forced into assimilation at many junctures of their lives. Throughout, Elie’s whole journey there were unnumbered amounts of dehumanized acts provided by the Germans towards the Jews which signifies the importance of gaining knowledge regarding their past situation as it is a way of honoring them; the prisoners of the Holocaust who had once been men of great dignity, turned into animals by the hands of the Nazis.
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