Dehumanization In Night Wiesel

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What is it like to feel like less than a human? This is what the Jewish prisoners during the Holocaust felt like. Dehumanization makes people feel like they are less than human. The Holocaust was one of the most cruel events of dehumanization in history. The Nazis were successful in fully dehumanizing Jewish prisoners in concentration camps. This brutal treatment often led to the loss of hope in these camps, part of the Nazis goal. In Night, Eliezer Wiesel’s memoir, he tells of the many instances where he experienced dehumanization during his time at several concentration camps. The Nazis eliminated people’s humanity in many ways, including starvation, nakedness, and taking away their names in exchange for a number. Starvation causes great suffering and deprives people of an essential part of life. This was one of the many ways the Nazis dehumanized Jews. The Jews in concentration camps were given only small portions of unsubstantial food. This made the prisoners weak and exhausted, while they were expected to still perform hard labor. “Bread, soup-these were my whole life. I was a body. Perhaps less than that even: a starved stomach. The stomach alone was aware of the passage of time” (Wiesel 38). In Night, Wiesel even recalls the soup …show more content…

They did this by making them strip naked as soon as they arrived at the camp. “‘Strip! Fast! Los! Keep only your belts and shoes in your hands…’ We had to throw our clothes at one end of the barracks” (Wiesel 26). Along with being naked in the cold, all the hair on their entire body was shaved. They had to run full speed in the cold wind. Eventually, they were then given prison clothes, most garments did not fit properly. Every prisoner wore the same clothing which surely made all Jews feel equal. Nudity made all prisoners feel identical, which helped promote the process of making the Jews feel

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