Dehumanization

1. Dehumanization Abbie Somerville

2. “Through the windows we could see barbed wire, we realized that this must be the camp”(Wiesel 21). When they reached the camp, they weren't even treated like human beings. They were fed little pieces of bread. They also felt like prisoners because they were trapped and not let out.

3. “Household treasures, valuable carpets, silver candelabra, prayer books, Bibles, and other religious articles littered in the dusty ground beneath a wonderfully blue sky; pathetic objects which looked as though they had never belonged to anyone” (Wiesel 12). This is an example of dehumanization because they are taking away things that belong to them. Not only this, but it makes them seem like they have nothing to their name, or their religion.

4. “When the three days were up, there was a new decree: every Jew must wear the yellow star”( Wiesel 9). This quote makes the Jews stick out, which in their case in the concentration camps made many of them get killed or worked to death. Because they wore the star and Hitler blamed everything on the Jews, there were still a lot of people that were killed inhumanely.

5. “The doors were nailed up; the way back was finally cut off. The world was a cattle wagon hermetically sealed”( Wiesel 18). In this quote, there were a tremendous amount of Jews in these cattle cars. They were as it says, being treated like cattle, because they had so many people packed in a small space and they were not even treated like humans.

6. “In front of us flames. In the air that smell of burning flesh”(Wiesel 21). Poor innocent humans were being burned. They did nothing wrong, it was all because they were Jewish.

7. “Babies! Yes, I saw it – saw it with my own eyes… those children in the flames”(Wiesel 24). Babies were being burned because they were not old enough to work in the camps. They were useless in the eyes of the people running the camps. All the soldiers wanted people to do is work till their death.

8. “I’m your father… You're hurting me… you're killing your father! I’ve got you some bread… for you too… for you too…”(Wiesel 74) The boy killed his own father, just because he was hungry. He had bread for himself, and his son but his son was so greedy that he wanted more for himself so he killed his father.

9. “Dysentery? That’s not my business. I’m a surgeon. Go on! Make room for the others”(Wiesel 79). This quote makes the people at the camp sound even worse. It makes you realize that they didn’t even care if someone you knew died, you were simply just a slave to them. All Elie wanted for his dad was for the doctor to help him, but instead he said just to let him die, because they need room for other people.

10. “ A-7713?” “That’s me” (Wiesel 38). In the camps all the people there were given a number. That’s what they were known by, not their name. The people didn’t care about your name, you were just another Jew to them.

11. “Three days without food or drink. We were not allowed to leave the barracks. SS men guarded the door” (Wiesel 70) These people were being treated very poorly. They have gone days without food or water. The soldiers and leaders of the camp didn’t even care, they didn’t even treat them like normal human beings.