Max Wang

Ms. Chalew

English 2 H

22 Oct. 19

Final Draft
“When the Nazis described Jews as Untermenschen or subhumans, they didn't mean it

metaphorically…They didn't mean they were like subhumans. They meant they were literally

subhuman” (David Livingstone Smith). During Nazi rule, Jews were stripped of their personal

identity and values to mere objects that the Nazis could manipulate and control. In the novel

Night by Elie Wiesel, the author reveals what happened in the Holocaust by describing the loss

of identity and abuse experienced by the Jews to show how Nazis used dehumanization for

power and domination over the Jews.

One of the most simple and effective ways the Nazis used dehumanization toward the

Jews was to neglect their identity and to treat them on the simple basis of race. For example,

when the Nazis penetrated Hungarian territory with the government's approval: “The Jews of

Budapest lived in an atmosphere of fear and terror. Anti-Semitic acts take place every day, in the

streets, on the trains. The Fascists attacked Jewish stores, synagogues” (9). The attack on the

Jews is a clear example of disrespecting Jewish individuality because the Nazis attacked

innocent Jews based on race rather than action. Dehumanization is displayed in this example as

Jews were not viewed as individual people but as mere “undesirables” because they were Jewish.

Furthermore, the Nazis took things to another level when the author states: “Everything had to be

handed over to the authorities under the penalty of death…three days later, a new decree: every

Jew had to wear the yellow star” (11). This quote further demonstrates the Nazis' malice in

disdaining Jewish people because the act's purpose blended Jewish identity while depicting their
existence as shameful by making them stand out, resulting in the homogenization of the

population and total control over the Jews. However, this unification proves to be degrading to

the Jewish people, which Wiesel describes in the following quote that takes place in a

concentration camp: "The three veteran prisoners, needles in hand, tattooed numbers on our left

arms. I became A-7713. From then on, I had no other name" (42). In this example, the Nazis

disregarded the Jews as objects to be tortured and used, stripping the individualism of the Jews to

reduce them to meaninglessness. By removing the: name, value, and identity of the Jews, the

Nazis managed to dehumanize and gain power over the Jews.

The Nazis disregarded the Jews as human beings and took away their fundamental human

rights, essentially treating them as animals and objects. For instance, the Nazis neglect the Jews'

emotions by separating their loved ones, which Wiesel emotionally describes on page 29: "'Men

to the left! Women to the right!'...Eight words were spoken quietly, indifferently, without

emotion....Yet that was the moment when I parted from my mother…we were alone" (29).

Through the separation of families, the Nazis managed to achieve chaos, crushing the hopes and

dreams of the Jews. This event messed with their mental state causing many Jews to give up and

lose hope of survival. Additionally, Wiesel further depicts the Nazis' negligence of the Jewish

people by showing a SS officer taunting a young Elie about where they would put his grave: "'Do

you see that chimney over there? See it? Do you see those flames...that's where you're going to

be taken. That's your grave, over there.” (31). To the Nazis, the Jews were subhuman; if they no

longer served any use, they would instantly kill the Jews that they didn’t need, acting as objects

to be tortured and neglected, leading to dehumanization. Furthermore, after Elie survives the

Holocaust at the end of the book, he looks in the mirror and states, “From the depths of the

mirror, a corpse was contemplating me. The look in his eyes as he gazed at me has never left
me” (115). Elie sees himself as unrecognizable and lifeless because of his experiences in the

concentration camps, which shows the effect of the Holocaust as many survivors like Wiesel

never fully recover since they lose everything that makes them who they are, essentially

stripping them of their identity. Overall, through the experiences of indescribable suffering

implemented by the Nazis, the Jews were reduced to half-dead corpses with no feelings,

emotions, or anything that made them human.

During the Holocaust, the Jews went through one of the most gruesome and tragic times

in human history. It was one of the worst atrocities ever committed in human history caused by

none other than Hitler and his Nazis. With the dehumanization of the Jewish people, the Nazis

managed to keep power and control. The Nazis managed to do this with two methods. The first

was making them all indistinguishable, removing their personal individualism. The second was

treating them so horribly that they became lifeless and emotionless, essential corpses begging for

death. In the novel Night by Elie Wiesel, the author writes about his horrific experiences in the

Nazi concentration camps to promote awareness of history and to prevent something like this

from ever happening again.