First Essay Question In the book night a constant and recurring theme is the Nazi’s cruelty and attempt at dehumanizing the Jewish captives. All through out the book there are examples of this. A prime example is the numbering of the Jewish prisoners. Once the Jews arrived at any concentration camp they were promptly given numbers to identify themselves by. Then all the time they were in the concentration camps they would only be known and identified by that number. This system allowed great organization for the Nazis and also helped dehumanize the Jews. Because by calling them by numbers instead of names, the Germans effectively made them feel like categorized objects instead of real humans. Another example of the cruelty and attempts at dehumanization is the initial train ride to the concentration camp. On the train ride there the Jews are put into overstuffed cages like animals. During the ride they were fed minimum food and water and could only relieve themselves in the corner of a small area. This is an obvious attempt to make the Jewish people feel not only unequal to the Germans but like complete animals. Constantly during the book the Jews are treated like objects to be traded used or thrown away at any Nazi officers’ discretion. To this end the inmates are first judged and looked at up and down to see first if they’re fit to do any work, then, as if they’re livestock, they are bartered or assigned to different work sites. The efforts of the Nazis to dehumanize the Jews work for the most part. The Jewish prisoners resort to more animalistic traits and care more about basic survival needs then any thoughts of comradeship, escape, or any thoughts of kindness because of the dehumanization. Though the Nazis did many horrible things during the Holocaust one of the most cruel and terrible things was the attempt at dehumanizing an entire race.
Second Essay Question I think