Essay on Dehumanization in Night by Elie Wiesel

The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines dehumanization as “to deprive (someone or something) of human qualities, personality, or dignity.” In Nazi Germany, people of the Jewish faith were a prime example of this practice. Elie Wiesel recounts a few of the horrors that they experienced in concentration camps through his novella Night. Throughout the Holocaust, the Jews were forced to live and work in poor, unsanitary conditions. They also weren’t even treated as humans because they became the subjects of science experiments performed by Dr. Josef Mengele and they weren’t provided the basic necessities. Finally, the Jews were stripped of their possessions, clothes, and even names. By taking the Jews’ names, they were now nothing more than a series of numbers to the Nazis. By the end of this whole process, the Jews were nothing more than a “thing” to the Germans.

During Wiesel’s retelling, he describes how Jews were transported by cattle cars, and then once they arrived at their destination, the living conditions weren’t much better than the cramped cars. “Lying down was not an option, nor could we all sit down. We decided to take turns sitting. There was little air. The lucky ones found themselves near a window; they could watch the blooming countryside flit by. After two days of travel, thirst became intolerable, as did the heat,” (Wiesel 23).  In this quote, he explained his experience of being shoved into a cattle car with seventy-nine other people on their way to Auschwitz. The Germans realized that because there wasn’t enough air in the cattle cars some Jews would die while being transported, and they could reduce the number of what they viewed as useless objects of an inferior group. We can also infer that the essentials were never taken into consideration as the Jews were subjected to endure cramped conditions, dehydration, hunger, air deprivation, and heat exhaustion for days on end. Once they had finally arrived at Auschwitz and were separated, they were forced to strip and run to the barber, where they had all of their hair shaved. The next morning, they were forced to soak in disinfectant, and then they were finally given clothes. Wiesel recalled that “In a few seconds, we had ceased to be men. … I too had become a different person. The student of Talmud, the child I was, had been consumed by the flames. All that was left was a shape that resembled me. My soul had been invaded—and devoured—by a black flame” (Wiesel 37).

At every concentration camp Elie Wiesel was subjected to, the Jews received a small ration that held little nutritional value. With the little nourishment Jews were given, their energy levels and bodies continued to deteriorate as they did the strenuous work. The Jews had to sadly buy into the dehumanization they were being subjected to just to stay alive. With the little food provided their strength was deteriorating and caused lice and diseases to run rampant through the cramped living quarters. Throughout the Holocaust, Dr. Josef Mengele practiced many different experiments on the Jews and other prisoners. The most infamous experiment was on twins, where they injected bacteria into one of their bodies to see what would happen. Mengele also did the initial medical exams at Auschwitz and decided the Jew’s fate, whether it was the gas chambers or working blocks. Many prisoners eventually realized the low depths of life that became apparent during the Holocaust in Nazi Germany.

The Jewish status had been dropped so low that the poor souls had all things, including their name, taken away. Your name is a huge part of who you are because it gives you your identity and individuality. Without their name, the Jews were truly thrown into one big pile. The German mindset revolved around believing that the nameless creatures were worth nothing to all of society.  Wiesel stated, “I became A-7713. From then on, I had no other name,” (Wiesel 42) leaving him as nothing but a series of numbers to the Nazis. Wiesel recalls that when his family arrived in Auschwitz, they had to leave all of their beloved objects behind on the train, along with their illusions (Wiesel 29). This was the case for all the Jews in the concentration camps. These were a few of the first instances of dehumanization because they made all of the Jewish people’s significance the same, causing who they were before to not exist at all. 

While the Germans and the ideology of the perfect Aryan race ruled over Germany, the Jews were battling extreme hardships and suffering and were treated as less than human. Elie Wiesel told the familiar story of millions of people’s lives during the Holocaust through his novella Night. He described the ghastly journey between concentration camps and their horrendous living conditions. The meager rations they were provided did little for their strength and morale, and many prisoners were also subjects of Dr. Josef Mengele’s infamous experiments at Auschwitz. Finally, the prisoners became less than human when they became known as a series of numbers. The Jewish race was catastrophically picked apart by Nazi Germany, and Elie Wiesel was remarkably spared from the awful death that millions suffered. Wiesel continued to live against all odds and has been able to recount the instances where an entire human race was dehumanized.