The stripping of Eliezer’s clothes, removal of his gold crown, and how being at Auschwitz makes his beliefs and faith disappear are all instances where he is a victim of dehumanization. With Eliezer’s friends being made into soup, Jewish people getting burned, and how babies were being used for target practice are great exemplifications on how Eliezer’s friends were also victims of the dehumanizing actions that the Germans portrayed towards the Jewish people. One lesson that is shown is that although they cannot choose the circumstances they are in, they choose the way they decide to deal with these circumstances. Up to 6 million Jewish people died because of their beliefs and religion during the period of the Holocaust. The fact that we live in a world that gives anyone the opportunity to believe in what they would like makes us very
During this time in the book the Nazis are starting to separate men and women into two separate groups. After being separated they transport them to different concentration camps. This starts the process of social dehumanization because it takes away the support given by one's family members. Elie recalls “... the moment when I left my mother” (Wiesel 29). When Elie and his family are first Taken from their home he loses contact with his mother and sister.
In the novel, Night, Elie, his father, and his fellow Jews lost their innocence through dehumanization, loss of faith, and experience of death and violence. Throughout the tragic times of the Holocaust, in an attempt to excuse their actions, the Nazis dehumanized the Jews. This was a crucial factor in the Jews losing their innocence in Auschwitz. In Night the Nazis treated Elie, his father and his fellow Jews more as ‘things’ than people. The Jews were worked to death, and killed as if
This is where—hanging here from this gallows…” (Wiesel, 65) Eliezer’s struggle for identity is shown again in the above quote. Eliezer recognizes that his faith in God is not enough to save him from the horrors of the concentration camp. “One more stab to the heart, one more reason to hate. One less reason to live.” (Wiesel, 109) This is stated after Eliezer is told that his father’s neighbors are beating his father. “We were the masters of nature, the masters of the world.
The mental and emotional damage would be there forever. They stripped every humanity away that was inside of them. In the beginning of the book one of the first places we saw dehumanization was when they beat Madame Schachter. “ Once again the young men bound and gagged her. When they actually struck her people shouted their approval.”(pg 26 Chp.
The cruelty and hardships Elie experiences brings forth a distrust in humanity. During Elie’s first exposure to the anti-Semitic movement, “all he [feels is] pity”(Wiesel 7). Eli’s reaction exemplifies his progressive severance of relationships to prolong his illusions of hope. Within the “hermetically sealed cattle car”, Elie encounters the “shattered” Mrs. Schachter (24). The insane woman highlights the Jews disgust towards the somewhat inevitable insanity they face.
This is shown in the quote, “I was thinking of my father. He must have suffered more than I did.” (Wiesel 56). Death was an everyday thing in concentration camps. It was inevitable for some, and people barely grieved anymore. Wiesel knew that if he dwelled on death too much, he would never get out alive, so he was basically numb the entire time.
The 20th century was a time of both success and sadness, triumph and tragedy, however, no event in European history has been quite as disheartening as the Nazi Holocaust, the darkest hour in European History. In less than a decade, The Nazi Party murdered well over 6,000,000 Jews. 6,000,000 mothers, children, fathers, even babies. This tragedy was justified on the grounds that the people of the Jewish population were subhuman, a burden to the Nazi regime. Similar to the Jewish population of Europe, the people of Salem in The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, were unfairly sentenced to death without any justifiable reasoning, other than suspicion and hatred.
The torture these Jews had to go through, caused many changes in the Jews that were in the concentration camps. One major change was their connection with family members. All of this is shown in the novel Night, Elie Wiesel's relationship with his father changes from weak and distant, to strong and caring, and then to the point where he is almost a burden for him all
During the time Elie was there with his father, he began to lose his faith in god, his family, and humanity through all of the experiences he had to go through while being in the Nazi concentration camp. Eliezer begins to lose faith in god. He starts to struggle a lot, physically and mentally, and he feels like god is punishing him. Elie tried very hard to help his father and also himself and he even asked god to take him out of his misery. He becomes very confused because he doesn’t understand why god would let such a thing happen and why the Germans are wanting to kill all of the jews.