Examples Of Dehumanization In Night

Dehumanization is the process of depriving a person or a group of positive human qualities. This process was widely used across concentration camps in Nazi Germany. Hitler used this tactic to gain power over the people he imprisoned. Dehumanization is a disturbing process that nobody should have to endure and its terrible that so many innocent people had to experience it. Dehumanization makes people lose the will to live and made it easier for the Nazi’s to exterminate the Jews. Not only was dehumanization a way to gain authority over people, but it allowed the Nazi’s to view the prisoners as something other than humans. Hitler used dehumanization in an attempt to achieve his ends and was displayed throughout the novel Night in many ways including selections, being numbered, and shaving the prisoner’s heads. To begin, human selection was one of the first steps the reader saw of the dehumanization process. In the novel Night, specifically page twenty-nine, Wiesel wrote “An SS came toward us wielding a club. He commanded: ‘Men to the left! Women to the right!’”. This division was the first event to occur upon arrival to the camps. As a result of this division some were sent to the crematorium while others were given access to enter the concentration camps. Once this division took place another soon followed on page thirty-one and thirty-two “’Your age?’ he asked, perhaps trying to sound paternal. ‘I’m eighteen.’ My voice was trembling. ‘In good health?’

‘Yes.’ ‘Your