Category: Night by Elie Wiesel

Dehumanization refers to the practice where the Nazis progressively deprived the Jews of fundamental human qualities, which in turn disrupted or irritated them. Wiesel being a young Jewish boy at the occurrence of the holocaust encountered both physical and mental torture while also viewing his fellows being tormented at the concentration camps. In the book titled “Night”, the Nazis became inhumane, making Eliezer and other Jews completely dehumanized. Explicitly, Eliezer was dehumanized through betrayal, mental conditioning, and starvation.

Firstly, Eliezer witnessed severe dehumanization when his friends were compelled to betray their loved ones and close families for them to survive. For instance: “I observed an old man dragging himself on all fours… he had a bit of bread under his shirt. With remarkable speed, he drew it out and put it to his mouth” (Wiesel, 2006, p. 101). The piece of evidentiary material depicts how an individual can kill his father over a loaf of bread. The event transformed Ellie’s identity, outlook, and attitude on how starvation can prompt an individual to murder his father over bread. The incident changed Eliezer’s attitude where the fulfillment of getting the bread at that particular period outweighed the life of his father. The extract also illustrates how the Jews were vehemently dehumanized at the concentration stations to a point of killing their close kin over food.

Secondly, the Jews passed through extreme starvation as a kind of dehumanization. Fasting hunger were a significant characterized their situation in Auschwitz. Eliezer delightedly viewed Germans through portions of bread when the author notes: “In the wagon where the bread had landed, a battle had ensued. Men were hurling themselves against each other, trampling, tearing at, and mauling each other. Beasts of prey unleashed and animal hate in their eyes.” (Wiesel, 2006, p. 101). It transformed Eliezer’s identity on fundamental humanity to the level where a fraction of bread becomes significantly essential than basic human principles.

Thirdly, dehumanization happened when mental conditioning denied Eliezer his Jews morals and beliefs. The Holocaust incident transformed him to such an extent where he no longer became sorrowful for the individuals killed. He states: “The thousands of people who died daily in Auschwitz and Birkenau, in the crematoria, no longer troubled me.” (Wiesel, 2006, p. 62). Therefore, this evidentiary piece depicts how mental torture and persistent death threats on him absolutely frozen him. The situation is dehumanizing since individuals should not be compelled to death. An instance of emotional indoctrination occurred when Eliezer’s father got punished since he could not march coherently. It is a depressing example since the concentration camp acclimatized his cognizance. He further felt that his father deserved some punishment because he failed to walk appropriately. These instances transformed Eliezer’s attitude, identity, and outlook by showing how inhumane treatment can mentally desensitize and alter its victims.

In conclusion, the memoir shows how Eliezer experienced and witnessed various instances of dehumanization across his journey and being held captives by Nazis. Throughout the effects and process of starvation, family abandoning, and emotional taming, dehumanization remained a bulbous reality and concern manifested in Wiesel’s Night. In his hard times, he encountered betrayal by the family, extreme hunger, and psychological conditioning as a kind of severe dehumanization. Moreover, several of these types of listed dehumanization overlap and can be caused by one another. The situation depicts that when fundamental human needs are denied, individuals can turn animalistic. The impact of dehumanization immensely contributed in attempting to live since the objective was survival but its numerous acts had obstructed that aim for many.

Reference

Wiesel, E. (2006). Night. Hill and Wang.

Night by Elie Wiesel is one of the most remarkable books of the twentieth century. The novel describes one of the most horrible periods in the history of humanity. Downing calls the novel “a story of shame” that “forces one to see oneself in a “fallen” state, the fall of humanity and all of civilization” (128).

Wiesel describes his ‘life’ in Auschwitz. This blunt description enables people to see the way Nazis confused, demoralized and killed innocent people. More so, the novel shows the way people were dehumanized.

Deception was one of the major tools used by Nazis to demoralize the prisoners. Thus, the very first words seen by the prisoners coming to Auschwitz (the inscription on the gates of the concentration camp) can be regarded as a kind of embodiment of Nazi’s strategies used to dehumanize the prisoners.

The prisoners of the Nazis little knew about their future and they were likely to deceive themselves. The prisoners never knew where they were taken or what was going to happen next.

However, it is important to note that Wiesel states that people tended to deceive themselves as when the first groups of Jews were taken away “it was rumoured that they were in Galicia, working, and even that they were content with their fate” (6).

Even when the teenager told the truth about the people who were taken away, no one believed him. Perhaps, it was easier to believe there was still hope.

Nazi also resorted to deceit which was, in fact, one of their most potent tools of demoralization and dehumanization.

Thus, the very first words the prisoners saw when they moved through the gates of Auschwitz could be regarded as the embodiment of Nazi’s strategy, i.e. deception. These words were: “Work makes you free” (Wiesel 40).

Therefore, the prisoners were given a hope that they were coming to a working camp. They still had slight hope that they could be free after they completed some amount of work.

Nazis claimed that there was a choice as they told the prisoners: “If you don’t [work] you will go straight to the chimney” (Wiesel 39). However, work had nothing to do with the prisoners who were doomed irrespective of their hard work.

Notably, the work itself was nothing more but a way of demoralization and dehumanization. The prisoners had to dig trenches or move heavy stones. This work was quite meaningless as the prisoners did not build anything.

The work at Nazi camps had another aim. The only meaning of the work fulfilled was to exhaust the prisoners, to destroy human beings and to create mere “famished stomachs” (Wiesel 52).

Of course, these creatures could not rise, they could not free themselves, they could not even escape. This was the major aim of Nazis. They wanted to control the crowd of semi-human beings.

On balance, it is possible to note that Nazis used deception to control prisoners who were doomed to die in concentration camps. The prisoners never knew what was to happen next.

They were given a false hope that work could make them free. In reality, this work turned them into wretched creatures who could only think of their basic needs without thinking of compassion or even family ties.

Wiesel describes this horrible deception which made him almost lose his faith in God and humanity.

Works Cited

Downing, Frederick L. Elie Wiesel: A Religious Biography. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2008. Print.

Wiesel, Elie. Night. New York, NY: Hill and Wang, 2006. Print.

Introduction

The night is the novel by Elie Wiesel, Jewish-American author and activist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for his struggle for life, humanity, and peace. The work is devoted to the life of Jewish during the Holocaust. The life of the father and the son who were sent to Gestapo became the central theme of the novel’s plot. Their relationship reflected the changes in their mood and world perception while they were suffering the troubles and the horrors of Hitler occupation.

The Relationship between Eliezer and His Father

At the beginning of the novel, we meet Eliezer and his father, the main characters, the destinies of whom we will follow up to the end of the novel. The story begins in 1941 in Hungary. It was the time when the Jewish were persecuted in Europe. Realizing the threat caused by the moods in the society, the father prohibited his son’s visits to Mosche, a caretaker in local synagogue. Nevertheless, Eliezer continued visiting him. He liked their discussions of the Kabbalah, the ancient Jewish text.

“He wanted to drive the idea of studying Kabbalah from my mind. In vain. I succeeded on my own in finding a master for myself in the person of Moische the Beadle” (Wiesel 4).

In the Auschwitz

When the father and the son were sent to the Auschwitz, their world perception changed significantly. The horrors which they observed there influenced Elizier’s way of thinking and his visions about God. Seeing the killings every day, he lost his faith in God. Eliezer strives to be close to his father. Noticing how the strength left him, the son tried to be his supporter and caregiver. Their relationship changed at this point. Eliezer realized his duty of being strong to support his father. “I did not fast, mainly to please my father, who had forbidden me to do so. But further, there was no longer any reason why I should fast” (Wiesel 66).

Buchenwald

The continuing sufferings exhausted Eliezer and his father morally and physically. Eliezer lost all his beliefs and persuasions which he had before. While in Buchenwald, he lost his father and did not know where he was sent to. At this moment, Eliezer started to think to stop his search of his father.

He thought that it would be better for him to be on his own as he would not survive if he supported his father. “Here, every man has to fight for himself and not think of anyone else. Even his father. Here, there are no fathers, no brothers, no friends. Everyone lives and dies for himself alone” (Wiesel, 105). Nevertheless, Eliezer changed his mind and became ashamed of his thoughts.

The relationship between Eliezer and his father are closely interconnected with his belief in God. Eliezer rebelled against God after he had seen the killings and horrors at the camps (Patterson et al. 261). It was the tragedy of the ordinary people, the shame of their destinies, their feelings, and actions (Capps 81).

Conclusion

The relationship between Eliezer and his father is one of the central themes in Wiesel’s novel. In the Nazis’ camps, he supported his father. They were always together. Along with the changes in world perception and the understanding of reality, Eliezer became disappointed with God. In spite of his mental torments, his faith in his father won, and he continued his search in Buchenwald.

Works Cited

Capps, Donald. The Depleted Self: Sin in a Narcissistic Age, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993. Print.

Patterson, David, Berger, Alan L. and S. Cargas. Encyclopedia of Holocaust Literature.Oryx Holocaust series, Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002. Print.

Wiesel, Elie. Night, South Melbourne, New York: Bantam Books, 1982. Print.

Introduction

Night, by Elie Wiesel explores the barbarism and despotism in Nazi camps during the World War II, very fine narrative style and obvious theme of nothingness and hollowness of human civilization. Night, by Elie Wiesel is a true picture of Holocaust, developing great interest for the readers who are much interested in such horrific description of stories. The readers are horror-stricken by observing such horrendous scenes of genocide and persecution of Jews, homelessness and wretchedness of people who are deprived of their precious possessions, very depressing state of mind of people.

It is a very appalling situation, depicted in this marvelous piece of fiction where innocent people are victimized of merciless tortures and loss of faith in God in fits of desperation. It is critical interpretation how human civilization leads toward annihilation and extermination of good qualities of human beings like passion of love and pity, intimacy, carefulness, fraternity and peacefulness etc.

“Behind me, I heard the same man asking: Where is God now? And I heard a voice within me answer him:… Here He is – He is hanging here on this gallows.”[1]

Discussion

Wiesel raises a challenging questions about humanity and suffering by depicting such dark aspects of human civilization where darkness is prevailed everywhere and nowhere light of hope is seen under the stress of worst cruelty and brutality. Wiesel narrates his past experiences so vividly that readers are involved deeply, arousing their suspense and curiosity what would happen next! Night, by Elie Wiesel is a masterpiece of factionary story where Wiesel characterizes thoughtful feelings of a young orthodox Jew who was sent with his family to the German, Nazi camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald.

The recurring themes of Night, by Elie Wiesel reflect the poignant feelings of disgust of writer against mankind and gradually his loss of faith in God, helplessness and hopelessness of a child who entirely disgusts with his father s’ moral degradation. He expresses his feelings of repugnance in this way:

“Here there are no fathers, no brothers, no friends,” a Kapo tells him. “Everyone lives and dies for himself alone.”[2]

Night is a very fantastic novel, reflecting Wiesel s’ personal feelings of despair and hatred how Holocaust has left indelible imprints upon his innocent mind.

In Night,” Wiesel said, “I wanted to show the end, the finality of the event. Everything came to an end — man, history, literature, religion, God. There was nothing left. And yet we begin again with night.” [3]

The narrative character of Night, Eliezer is a very devout religious and studious orthodox jewish youngster who engages himself all days and nights in his specific prayers according to Jewish faith. The religious theme recurs that there is no more spiritual faith and everyone is doubtful about the existence of omnipresence of God as he thinks God doesn’t care of his innocent people who are dying due to the barbaric and despotic behavior of advocates of Nazism in German.

Wiesel narrates whole story of his past experiences in such impressive manner that the reader finds himself physical with him to see all inhuman acts of human beings with their companion without any compassion. The readers realizes how holocaust has left the deep impacts upon the mind of writer and he feels the loss of his home, family, community and self-esteem. It is a book full of unforgettable chronological series of events to show the devastation on the larger scale during World War II.

“There was no longer any joy in his eyes. He no longer sang. He no longer talked to me of God or the Kabbalah, but only of what he had seen. People refused not only to believe his stories, but even to listen to him”. [4]

The residents of the ghetto were deported and people were treated by Hungarian police mercilessly who were beating them with clubs and rifle butts to rip out of their homes.

“It was from that moment that I began to hate them, and my hate is still the only link between us today.”[5]

Eliezer s’ feelings of desolation and dejection are clearly interpreted when he attempts to support his father in fits of shocking grief and gloominess as he doesn’t want to leave his father alone, hopeless and helpless, he becomes caregiver of his father in such adolescent age, having resentful and hateful feelings for his father who is alarming source of his own existence. He feels that he is losing his inherent feelings of love and intimacy for his intimates due to the threatening situation around the Nazi camps. He feels no longer any strong bond of love and affection with his comrades.

“I do not know whether it has ever happened before, in the long history of the Jews, that people have ever recited the prayer for the dead for themselves”[6]

He shows his loss of faith in human relationships is directly linked with his loss of faith in God who sees all merciless acts of human beings silently. The people are not much concerned to offer funeral prayers of dead persons there is no more intimate relations with each others. Everyone wants to struggle for “fittest of survival” in such horrifying scenes of death and decay everywhere. He shows his feelings of strong aversion against such massacre of jewish people around the nazi camps in the most poignant style that everyone is wonder-struck with fear and horror to see horrifying scenes of tyrannical policemen.

“Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.” [7]

In this wonderful literary piece of writing, Night, the novelist tries to capture the minds of readers by presenting the true picture of holocaust victims and their state of mind which are lying under pressure of despondency and vacant mindedness. He has portrayed so artistically the dark aspects of human civilization in chronological manner to snatch away the masks of so-called civilized outlooks of human history.

The book presents very realistic and shocking events so vividly that everyone is enthralled by its clarity of thoughts which are portrayed so movingly. The author portrays the truthful picture of callous actions of humans with each others without discrimination of children, adults and old ones. It is indirect sarcasm on human history which is full of such horrified events of past. Night is a personal story in correspondence with historical events to show how human beings become callous and brutal for their own companions and writer arouses such challenging questions in the minds of readers that human civilization is still facing such impending dangers of death, decay, despondency and brutality in future!

References

1. Night, pp. 61–62.
2. Night, p. 105
3. (Elie Wiesel quoted in Reichek, Morton. “Elie Wiesel: Out of the Night,” Present Tense, 3 (1976), p. 46. Web.
4. a b Night, p. 4.
5. a b c Night, p. 17.
6. Night, p. 31.
7. Night, p. 32.

In the introductory part of this book, Elie is introduced as a teenage boy. During this period, Elie’s teacher, warned the Jewish residents about the future plan by Hitler to destroy the Jews communities (Wiesel 4).

Initially, everyone thought that the teacher was psychologically disturbed. A few months after his warning, Gestapo forced the Jewish communities into the ghettos. During the following months, more Jews were forcefully turned out of their homes into the concentration camps by the Nazi fundamentalists. During this horrifying process, Elie and his father were separated from the rest of their family.

According to the book, Elie detailed that this was his last time he had ever seen some of his family members. Through this book, Elie argued that life in the concentration camps shaped his destiny (Wiesel 7). This paper seeks to analyze Elie’s experiences in the concentration camps, and focuses on how the holocaust changed his life.

The book illustrates that before the attacks on the Jewish communities, Elie spent his childhood learning Jewish religious traditions. As such, his mother taught his many Judaism teachings. After the attack, Elie’s life changed completely. According to the book, experiences in the concentration camps changed his life as a Jew and as a man (Wiesel 56). The book notes that when the Jews were forced into the concentration camps, Elie and his family remained calm and obeyed every directive from their oppressors.

During their first day in the camp, Jews population increased with each passing hour. With an increase in the population, situations in the camp worsen. They were forced to live on minimal food and water. Further the book provides details on the third day, when the camps were filled with horrifying flames and stinking burnt flesh of those who had been killed by the German soldiers.

During the same day, the author’s mother and his three little sisters disappeared from the camp, and Elie and his father had an emotional trauma due to this. The author says that he continuously feared that his family members could have been killed. After losing his mother and sisters, Elie remained with his father who later died of dysentery. All through these experiences, Elie was emotionally affected.

In the camps, the Jews were physically affected by the poor living conditions. The book reveals that before the horrific experiences, the Jews were healthy. However, a few months after the attack, the Jews became emaciated. These conditions were escalated by the little food and water offered in the camps. Elie asserts that the quality and the amount of the food they gave him in the camps made him weak. Similarly, the author attributes their change in health to hard work conditions they endured in the concentration camps (Wiesel 24).

Before the holocaust, the author remarks that the Jews lived together in harmony and never fought against one another. However, in the concentration camps, enmity grew among the Jewish prisoners. The author attributed the enmity among the Jews to the scarcity of food in the camps. At one incidence, fellow Jewish prisoner fought with Elie’s father over a plate of soup and bread. After the fight, Elie abused his neighbors disregarding them for their behaviors.

More than once, Elie had to bribe their neighbors with bread and soup so that they could leave his father in peace. With respect to these behaviors, the effect concentration camps had on the Jews lives is revealed. In the book, we note that it is unusual for Jewish neighbors to fight one another. However, in the concentration camps, poor living conditions and inadequate food and water led to the rampant fights.

Another major effect the concentration camp had on the author and the Jews was their religion and faith. The author illustrated that before the holocaust, they believed that God was their protector. Through this perception, the Jews believed that God was always ready to punish the Jewish enemies.

Similarly, the book reveals that the Jews believed that everything that happened was attributed to God’s plans. For instance, Elie illustrated that when they heard the rumors of the planned horrific attacks against them, their rabbis consoled them asserting that God would not let anything bad happen to his people (Wiesel 46).

As a result, the Jewish community collectively believed that God was by their side and nothing bad would happen to them. However, during and after the holocaust experience many Jews doubted God. For instance, during the early days in the concentration camp the author believed that God was testing their faith. Some Jews believed that God was punishing them for their historical wrongdoings. Despite these injustices, the book notes that the Jews’ faith in God remained firm.

As days passed by, several Jews were killed and burnt publicly. With these occurrences, the author and some Jews began to doubt their faith in God. It was not until when he saw babies being thrown into the fire by the German soldiers that the author changed his perception about God completely. Since then, he rebelled against God and religion. He was shocked that the God they had faithfully served had allowed their oppressors to undertake such horrifying deeds against His people.

To him, God had remained silent to their prayers. The book notes that at the end of the holocausts, only few individuals still had faith in God. Many believed that God was a cruel being. The book illustrates how the energy once spent on worshiping and praising God was transferred to cursing, challenging, condemning, and denouncing God. At the end of the book, the author questioned whether man was God’s ally or a toy.

After being released from the concentration camp, Elie’s activities signified the effects the concentration camps had on him. In the book, it is detailed that as a young boy, Elie had never expected that one day he would be a writer. Instead, he thought that he would be a religious leader. However, the sufferings and the experiences in the concentration camps later forced him to be a writer. By being a writer, Elie has managed to detail his first hand experience during the holocaust.

After his release from the concentration camps, we realized that the author had no interests in religious studies anymore. Later, Elie became an activist challenging human oppression and injustices. All these acts have been motivated by his experiences in the concentration camps. It is alleged that the author married a holocaust victim. Through this, we can argue that the common experience the couple shared played a key role in their union. In general, Elie’s experiences in the concentration camp shaped his destiny.

Works Cited

Wiesel, Elie. Night. New York: Hill and Wang. 1982. Print.

Elie Wiesel was a devout Jew during his childhood, just before the Holocaust wounded his soul. He survived the events of the Holocaust, but in his waiting for the Lord’s intervention, just like it was in the bible, his doubts in God and his mercy began to develop. The book ‘Night’ tells us of the journey that Wiesel took in his dilemma whether to forgive God’s cruelty towards his people or to define his own fate.

He finds it difficult to understand the role of God in the world, and poses many questions to try and understand why God would stand by and watch the horrors of the Holocaust. When the Jews of Sighet first heard of the crimes of the Nazis, they strengthened their faith in God, and believed that God would provide them with security from such horrifying things, as Wiesel stated, “And we, the Jews of Sighet, were waiting for better days, which would not be long in coming now” (5).

The Jews, Wiesel included, believed that God had greater plans for everyone, and everything that happened was for their benefit, since God was both their defender and righter of wrongs. The faith that Wiesel had in God was enormous, in spite of the increasing abuse and hatred that the Nazis had for the Jews (Wiesel 5).

Just like the other believers, he believed that their suffering was a punishment from god for their evil deeds, and therefore they did not resist or fight back. God was supposed to present himself at the last moment and show his glory for their perseverance, but this did not happen. “God is testing us. He wants to find out whether we can dominate our base instincts and kill the (Wiesel 42) within us. We have no right to despair. And if he punishes us relentlessly, it’s a sign that he loves us all the more” (Wiesel 42).

Eventually, Wiesel got to a point where he did not want to praise and thank God anymore. His fellow men were suffering and dying, yet God was still not manifesting his power. `For the first time I felt revolt rise in me. Why should I bless His name? The Eternal, Lord of the Universe, the All-Powerful and Terrible, was silent.

What had I to thank Him for?” (Wiesel 31). The Jews had lost faith in God, and despair crept in, since they wondered who would save them. By this point, Wiesel was already feeling betrayed, and at the hanging of the angel-faced pipel, he declared that God was dead to him, bringing an end to his long lived faith in God (Wiesel 62).

The events of the Holocaust brought a lot of anger to Wiesel, which he directed to both God and men, for their cruelty. He could not understand the numerous killings, and it appeared that the lack of intervention from God implied that he approved the killings. Many believers had died, but Wiesel was alive and hurting.

He therefore redirected his energy to accusing God and asking for him to explain his ignorance of the cries of his people (Douglas 5). In addition to the Jews doubting the love that God had for his people, and amidst all the questions, Wiesel and other Jews decided to become God (Douglas 7).

This meant taking charge of their lives and doing things that they had never done before, and the most significant one was to hate. The Jews had been humiliated and killed while believing that God has a greater plan for them. They believed that hate would lead them to fight back, as they no longer believed in suffering and persevering for a God who failed to answer the cries of his people (Douglas 7).

The questions raised by Wiesel bear no answers. What comforted him were the words that he had received from Moshe during his childhood, telling him that the relationship between man and God was based on question and answer, where the answers for the questions that people asked God came from the depths of the soul, where they stayed till death (Wiesel 2-3).

The variety of questions came from his childhood observations, whereby the people initially shared their possessions but eventually became violent towards each other, killing for food, and not caring for others.

Wiesel’s lack of faith led him to stop fasting when Jews were required to, and he no longer observed the Sabbath day. He believes that the many questions that he has will be answered one day, by God himself, and hopes that no other Holocaust will happen, as he continues to wonder why the first one was, in the first place. One thing that Wiesel advices is that faith alone is not enough to stop tragedy, but the decisions and active participation of people.

Works Cited

Douglas, Robert. “Elie Wiesel’s Relationship with God.” 1995. Web.

Wiesel, Elie. Night. United States: Bantam Books, 1982.