Dehumanization of the Jews Essay

Dehumanization is the process of making a person less human by taking away the important things in their life and what makes them who they are; not only the material things but their ideas and morals as well. The Nazi’s dehumanized millions and millions of Jews during the Holocaust. In Elie Wiesel’s recollection of his experience in the German’s concentration camps, he explained how brutal the Nazi’s could be, how they could take a person’s life away in the matter of seconds, and how they change a person’s outlook on life entirely. The Jews were dehumanized from the very beginning of the Holocaust and only grew to be worse. Dehumanization is the process of making a person less human by taking away the important things in their life and what makes them who they are; not only the material things but their ideas and morals as well. The Nazi’s dehumanized millions and millions of Jews during the Holocaust. In Elie Wiesel’s recollection of his experience in the German’s concentration camps, he explained how brutal the Nazi’s could be, how they could take a person’s life away in the matter of seconds, and how they change a person’s outlook on life entirely. The Jews were dehumanized from the very beginning of the Holocaust and only grew to be worse. The Nazi’s didn’t make anything easy for them. The Jews endured a continuous struggle that they could do nothing about. In the beginning, it all started with the German’s forcing them out of their homes and sending them to the ghettos. The Nazi’s stripped them of their rights, took away their belongings, and removed them from their daily lives. This left them with nothing. They left behind their lives. â€Å"To live? I don’t attach any importance to my life any more. I’m alone,† states an early deportee, Moshe the Beadle. (pg. 5) The Jews were ridded of all sense of security. Once they arrived at the concentration camps, they were struck with another loss of â€Å"themselves. † At the camp, they received tattoos. These tattoos were a series of numbers which represented â€Å"who† they were in the concentration camps. They were known as numbers, not people, numbers. A name is sacred. A name is who you are, without it, you’re only a being. They were people with friends and family that knew them by this name, their name. It was just another way to break away the ties of humanity. In the camps, the prisoners were treated like animals. They had to work all day long. They had to eat when they were told to eat. They had do everything they were told. If anyone misbehaved they would be shot down like dogs. Wiesel asks, â€Å"Was there a single place here where you were not in danger of death? † (pg. 37) A human is meant to be free, do as they please, and not live life in fear. The Jews weren’t allowed to have these luxuries anymore. They were worn down to nothing, which is exactly what Hitler was trying to do. Dehumanization was carried on throughout the Holocaust. The Nazi’s wanted the Jews gone. They made them flee their homes and their personal lives. They were left with nothing. They were given numbers in replace of their own name, the name that makes them the person they grew up as. They Jewish prisoners were treated like animals. They worked, hardly ate, hardly slept, and worked some more. If someone was to do the slightest thing wrong, they were shot down. The person they used to be is gone. The Jewish weren’t given a chance to fight for their lives. The Nazi’s made this impossible. They had to hold onto the little bit of hope left in their wounded hearts.