Examples Of Dehumanization In Night By Elie Wiesel

Avoid the habit of staying silent, especially when discussing brutal events that shouldn't be repeated, such as dehumanization, which is the act of separating someone of all the characteristics that make them uniquely human, such as uniqueness, soul, and identity. In the eyes of the Nazis, the majority of Jewish prisoners in concentration camps were in an equal position. Some prisoners did survive in the camps but they completely lost themselves while trying to return home. We refer to the Jews who were detained in camps as prisoners, but the Nazi regime treated them no better than animals. In his autobiography Night, Elie Wiesel writes about the dehumanization of "imperfect" people, particularly Jews, who had their identities taken away from them and were either put to death (a practice known as the "Final Solution" developed by Adolf Hitler) or felt lost after their survival, but who were also treated like animals before being put to death.

“An SS came toward us wielding a club. He commanded: ‘Men to the left! Women to the right!’” (29). Jewish prisoners lost some of their personal identity because they were unable to interact with familiar faces due to their gender-based separation from their families when they arrived at the Auschwitz camp. No first or last names were used to identify a prisoner; only their number was used. As A-7713, Elie could only be recognized by the tattooed number on his body. “Our clothes were to be thrown on the floor at the back of the barrack. There was a pile there already. New suits, old ones, torn overcoats, rags. For us it meant true equality: nakedness. We trembled in the cold.” (35). When everyone in the camp was given uniform clothing to wear, each Jew's uniqueness was lost because no one could express themselves through wearing different clothing