The Nazi’s rule is taken into account to be the foremost oppressive and discriminative rule in present time. During this rule, which lasted until the period of the Second war, the Nazi engaged in widespread discrimination against European Jews. One of the Most known cam was Auschwitz concentration camp, where millions of Jewish prisoners were killed. Before being killed, the prisoners were taken through a process of dehumanization by the Nazi guards.The theme brutally informs us about the systematic nature with which the Germans allotted the action of murder of Jews and other people anyone who opposed their political ideology. Throughout his memoir, Levi and the other prisoners of Auschwitz are dehumanized in a number of ways. Two such traumatic examples of dehumanization are being forced to stay naked in cold and being treated like animals. However, amidst the darkness of the camp, Levi also shows us how he and the others try to hang on to their humanity by covering their naked body in cold and supporting each other psychologically under the brutal circumstances.
The first major action within the dehumanization process was the order for the inmates to undress and provides away their clothes that were then replaced by ill-fitting rags and w boots with wooden soles. According to Levi, all the prisoners including him were naked, and their personal belongings were discarded and their hair were shaved off. By being clothed in filthy rags and mismatched shoes, the inmates were set aside from humanity and there was feeling of humiliation among the author and other prisoners. Levi notes that through being made to put on the unrecognizable rags, the previously dignified persons were transformed into a mass of depressing puppets (24) .“Death begins with the shoes”(Levi 26) Also in the camp, Jewish prisoners are only allowed wooden shoes, which are painful and cause dangerous sores that may result in lethal infections. In the narration, there was a moment where prisoners were made to wait for long hours without clothes in cold water.This reflects both the prisoners’ low station and also the general disregard with which the Germans treat them.
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According to the Author He had been placed in a place where no man is viewed as human any longer and where inside this spot, if a man needs to endure whether intellectually or truly, it is dependent upon that man to oppose the dehumanizing treatment by the Nazi’s. Levi holds on to this humanity in camp by noticing his surroundings and getting support from his companions. There are people who reconnect Levi to his humanity, Lorenzo and Alberto were two individuals who had seeks after Levi and whom Levi trusted all through his hard times in journey in the camp. Both Alberto and Levi were in the Lager together to help and help each other through any snags that they looked inside the camps. Alberto is the one individual that Levi trust and the one in particular who knows Levi by and by. Alberto helps Levi in a manner by which he directs Levi through the detainment rules and guidelines. Alberto realizes that he should do as he is advised in order to be survived.
The Nazi had the option to distance the Jewish individuals from the remainder of the human network or community. Levi and other prisoners were living in horrible conditions in the camp and were treated like animals. The prisoners were housed under sub-human living conditions where even the minimum amount of cleanliness was difficult to keep up. The living quarters of the prisoners was little cabins that are stuffed and the prisoners are required to sleep on uncomfortable bunks made of planks of food covered by straw and due to overcrowding, at two individuals occupy almost all the bunks (Levi 29). The author couldn't stay in bed loosened up conditions due to crowded area in the living quarters. The process reduced the aspirations of the prisoners and for most of them, their only desire was to survive. Levi declares, “We are slaves, deprived of every right” (23). They did not expect any justice and were satisfied with being alive. The author was experiencing physical pain on the back as they attempted to rest on the hard bunks in wound stable positions. Levi sees himself as fortunate when he finds a vacant bunk during his first day. He extends himself cheerfully and is pleased at having a hard square of wood to rest on (Levi 29). This outlines how the dehumanization procedure diminished the yearnings of the detainees since a free individual would not have gotten a kick out of resting on a hard board of wood. The author was frustrated and jealous, because of his own lack of hope, shown through his observations and descriptions of others. According to Levi, the discomfort of living in the crowded space was worst as the inmates are surrounded by filth and. Most of them had to rest alongside their neighbors who had feet absorbed human waste. The scary condition of the camp had affected the author physically, emotionally and psychologically.
Alberto has been there for Levi all through Levi's whole journey inside the work and despite the fact that Alberto ends up dying, he had the option to help Levi from biting the dust intellectually and genuinely. He gave Levi expectation, support, and a decent perspective on the most proficient method to survive. His behavior and thinking emerged as a urging way to guide Levi and to teach him the best way to keep his humanity or humankind.Also Lorenzo not only saved the author physically by giving him food, but he more so saves him mentally and helps him to remain humane. In addition, according to the Levi, Lorenzo asks for nothing in return because he was a good man who “did not think that one did good for a reward” (119). Throughout the memoir, where there is a lack of hope, comes a lack of humanity. For example, when Levi and his friend Alberto felt in an utterly hopeless and broken position, they no longer even understood what it would be like to have the strength to fight for humanity. (150). Both two of them are considered as genuine men who won't deny themselves or others of their humanity. They oppose all endeavors of dehumanization whether it is them or by another person.
The Author has highlighted some of the horrible experiences that he experienced in the process of dehumanization in the camp. In addition, he also draws our attention towards the activities of the Nazi were somewhere successful in lessening the detainees to sub-human level. It was due to the brutal treatment that prisoners were made to disregard the idea of essential human rights. Levi's understanding of the Holocaust suggests a more intense importance behind its occasions or actions. The author’s ends up serving the cause of humanity after experiencing the brutal treatment and dehumanization of the army
Work Cited
- Levi, Primo. Survival in the Auschwitz, The Orion Press,1959.