Night Essay: Dehumanization

Helio Tejeda
Mrs. Bosch
Honors English 10
5 January 2008
Dehumanization in Night
The author of Night, a novel documenting the horrible and gruesome events of the holocaust, Elie Wiesel expresses his experiences and observations in which he and his fellow Jews were dehumanized while living in concentration camps (a hell on earth). All Jews, as a race were brutalized by the Nazis during this time; reducing them to no less than objects, positions which meant nothing to them, belongings that were a nuisance. Nazis would gather every Jew that they could find and bring them to these infernos, separating the men and women. Families, not knowing it would never see each other again. Individuals within the categories were divided even more, based on their health, strength, and age. They would be judged by a Nazi officer, which would then decide their fate, if they would have the opportunity to live or if they would be sentenced strait to execution. In these camps, babies became target practice, being tossed in the air like an object with no significant value and shot at with no remorse. The more mature could be sentenced to execution, tossed into pits of fire while fully conscious burning them alive. In addition, the ones who passed inspection received treatment as if they were slaves and dogs, making them follow any command, any disobeying of these demands would consequence them to be shot without hesitation. These dehumanizing crimes were the punishments forced on the Jewish race by the Nazi influence, turning Jewish nationality into a nuisance against what they believed.
One of these unique dehumanizing crimes committed against the Jewish persuasion, included making the Jewish people dig trenches, which would eventually become their deathbed and discarding the infants by throwing them into the air converting them into targets. This was a story told to young Wiesel by Moishe the Beatle (a town homeless) who was abducted by the Hungarian police. He was sentenced to the same fate, forced to dig his own grave, but by a miracle managed to escape and returned to warn the town for what was in store for their future. He explained to Wiesel in detail what had occurred there, “Without passion or hast, they shot their prisoners, who were forced to approach the trench one by one and offer their necks” (Wiesel 6). Nazis must have been the most impassionate and cruel people, to force people to dig their own grave. As soon as they had finished their job, execute them one by one as if they were cows in a slaughterhouse. Moishe also explained how the infants were executed, “Infants were tossed into the air and used as targets for the machine guns” (6). The cruelty of man when there are no restrictions to hold his true savage ways, his actual state of being. To kill people without compassion is cruel, but to murder innocent infants who are new to the world, that is beyond cruelty, that is having no human regard toward the people you are murdering.
Another particular dehumanizing crime includes the burning of fully conscious people. At the concentration camps, there were crematories, in which the ill, healthy, men, or women was tossed in. “Not far from us, flames, huge flames, were rising from a ditch. Something was being burned there” (32). The only things that are thrown into crematories are dead animals. It is out of respect to that person or animal that they are thrown into these crematories. Not, as cruelty, but as a last wish. However, it is complete disregard from the Nazis to throw living people into burning fire, to feel unexplainable pain until their death. To murder a person while they suffer in complete agony is inhumane. Not all death is or should be painless, but purposely causing pain to torture a subject is mercilessness.
The final act of dehumanization directed toward the Jews by the Nazi is the treatment of humans as dogs. All orders had to be followed or you would be shot. If you were told to run in a group, any person seen that slowed down the pace would be shot immediately. “’Run!’ And we ran” (36). The Jewish people of the camp who were “fortunate” enough to pass inspection and live followed all orders out of fear. Fear was the only motive needed for these people to obey every command they were given. It was not only fear of death, but also fear of abuse, and fear of what was going to happen to them as they did follow their orders. Dogs, that is how each Jew was treated, like an animal. Disregarding each person’s life, Nazis would base their judgment on each Jew based on their orders. And based on their orders, each judgment lead the Nazis to believe each Jew was a dog and they should be treated with no humanity.
Dehumanization is one of the worst acts that can be committed against another person. The dehumanization of the Jewish race as a whole is one of the most unexplainably gruesome acts of all history. Treating people like property, an animal, not caring about any aspect of that person or (in this case) a whole race, leaves you in silence. Turning a person from an equal to having the same properties as an object is the most disrespectful act. The Jews had no chance to defend themselves against the armed Nazis. Knowing this, the Nazis set out to punish and exterminate what they believed wrong. Abuse of power and hatred toward what the Nazis believed to be wrong led to the complete disregard for the Jewish race and caused dehumanization to occur.

Work Cited
Wiesel, Elie. Night. New York: Hill and Wang, 2006.