Wallace 1 Kenny Wallace
Mathews High School
The Dehumanization of Jews In Night
During the Holocaust, Jewish prisoners were given numbers - not names, a true signal of
nonexistent recognition to an entire religion, culture, and race. Elie Wiesel transforms from
being a happy Jewish boy in Sighet, to becoming just another piece of detritus in his surrounding
society at Nazi concentration camps. Wiesel endures harsh treatment that reduces his own faith,
belief, hope, and strength; all while being treated like nothing more than dust on the floor. The
Jews were dehumanized and became nothing more than “things” to the Germans, whom had
unjustly seized control of as many Jewish people as possible. Many parts of the novella Night
exemplified this mindset, and in the end, helped Hitler to stride closer towards the German final
goal of complete liquidation of all Jewish people. Elie and his people were stripped of their
clothing, mortality, faith, and self-confidence; all while being regarded as less than actual
people. Jews were faced with prodigious hardship and suffering during the Nazi reign and were
treated with a status of being less than a normal human being.
During Wiesel’s retelling, the former Jewish prisoner describes how Jews were
transported in cramped cattle cars in less than satisfactory conditions for a human. “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, the could watch the blooming countryside
flit by. After two days of travel, thirst became intolerable, as did the heat” (Wiesel 23), explains
Elie. This quote explains Elie's experience of being shoved in a cattle car with seventy nine
other people. The Germans took no notice of how minute the amount of space the Jews
had. Because these people were dealing with little air in such a congested and suffocating area,
many Jews would probably die while traveling. The Germans saw each death as “just another
Wallace 2 one”, and no death was thought of like the loss of a person, but instead, a death was thought of as
the load off of a useless object. Essential needs were not taken into consideration during the
cattle car journeys, causing severe discomforts such as thirst, cramping, air deprivation, and heat
exhaustion, in which Jews had to endure all at one time.
Every concentration camp Elie was imprisoned at, food was supplied, but calling the food
that Jewish inmates received actual “food” would be a stretch. Rations provided were miniscule,
and what was provided for the Jews offered little nutritional value. With little to no nourishment
in the food the Jews were given, the energy levels and deteriorating bodies of most prisoners
continued to break down and encounter more damage. “And I nibbled on my crust of
bread. Deep inside me, I felt a great void opening” (Wiesel 69), explained Elie in writing. When
Elie realizes the low depths of life that have become apparent, Elie feels devastated that now
being a prisoner means the amount of food prepared is all that will be provided, and that amount
of food is not sufficient. Wiesel knows how the body breaks down without food though, so what
is provided must be consumed. In all reality, stale bread and watery soup is not even served in
food pantries on a regular basis. The Germans were truly treating those whom had been
imprisoned as less than humans. Wistfully, the Jews had to buy into the dehumanization that
was occurring as well in order to simply stay alive. If the Jews did not eat what little was
provided, an imminent death would be likely to come soon. So the prisoners ate the rations
given in order to remain alive, but only as depleted, frail, and lifeless figures, a less than human
appearance that the Germans no doubt reveled in witnessing. Elie only nibbles because the
situation that has made itself present has created a life or death survival situation. Wiesel is
shocked to see the torture and limits the Germans have imposed, and how all Jews are subjected
to such struggle.
Wallace 3 When a Jew was taken away to a concentration camp, male or female, though a female
rarely survived very long, none were recognized as equals in the eyes of Hitler’s Germans. Jews
were scums and should not have been given respect of a normal human being from the
perspective of the Nazi party. The Jewish status was dropped so low, these unfortunate people
had all possessions taken away, including each person’s name. Without a name to distinguish
each individual, the Jews were truly being thrown into a pile. The mindset the Germans took
revolved around thinking the present nameless creatures were nothing at all to society. “I
became A-7713. From then on, I had no other name” (Wiesel 42), Elie stated. When numbers
were assigned to the incoming Jews in Elie’s experience, Elie began to realize the grating reality
of what the Germans really thought of the Jewish race. One of the first instances of
dehumanization occurred when the Germans do finally reconstruct and change the names of all
of the Jews. After thinking about the way the Germans will look at every prisoner after being
renamed, Elie concedes defeat and proclaims “A-7713” is now the new name of Elie
Wiesel. When the Jews came together, all had similar “names”, signaling the equivalence
between the entire mass of population. Although the Jews were now of the same status namewise and were unified, the status the Jewish people sat at was now one below of a normal
person. The Jews, as a whole, had now been swarmed together, but all together as an inferior
race.
While German supremacy dominated, Jews were in a direct bout with extreme hardship
and suffering, and were treated with a status inferior and less human than the ever-present
German nemesis, along with the powerful leader, Adolf Hitler. Elie Wiesel describes the
nightmarish journey multitudes of Jews endured during the Nazi reign by bringing out exact
experiences such as when the Germans piled dozens and dozens of Jewish people into
Wallace 4 suffocating cattle cars. Food was scarce and the rations Elie remembered receiving consisted of
repugnant bread and soup, neither of which were sufficient to energize a person. Jews were less
than normal people during the Holocaust, and the gap distinguished by the Germans between the
Jews was monumental and staggering. Wiesel did not have the name of “Wiesel” according to
officers, but instead a series of numbers identified this then Jewish teen, a true symbol of
dehumanization. The Jewish race as a whole was catastrophically torn apart under German
control, and Elie Wiesel lived on against the most dubious of odds, in order to recount the
endless number of instances an entire race of people were dehumanized.