Examples Of Dehumanization In Night By Elie Wiesel

Words: 278
Pages: 2

Dehumanization is the process that the Nazis used to reduce the Jews in their minds as objects that were a nuisance to them. Examples of such mindset occurs to Eliezer, his father, and his fellow Jews during the following occurrences.

The first occurrence of dehumanization happens on pages 94 and 95, Elie Wiesel writes, “All through these days and nights we stayed crouching, one on top of the other, never speaking a word. We were no more than frozen bodies.” This is how the nazis viewed them, just bodies they must dispense of. To the nazis the Jews weren't humans that felt, lived or had compassion. They were just flies they had to swat.

Secondly, dehumanization occurs on page 46, he recounts, “For us, this was the only equality: nakedness.” Eliezer and his fellow Jews only felt equality when they were stripped from everything they possessed, physically, and mentally. The nazis stripped them until they were nothing, even taking the gold from their teeth. The Jews were objects they could scrap and throw away.
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I became A-7713. After that I had no other name.” Wiesel (54.) The Jews became numbers to the nazis to rationalize their actions. The sad thought became painfully clear to them as they sat rotting in the concentration camps. They were never going to leave with respect or the last shred of humanity they could remember from before the war.

The process of dehumanization occurs throughout the course of the novel “Night,” to Eliezer, his father, and his fellow Jews when they were seen as frozen bodies, numbers,