Everyone is guilty of dehumanizing others in some way, shape or form. In wars, dehumanization is inevitable, in fact it is central to the idea of war itself. The German Nazi government in power during World War II thought of Jews in this way, leading to the extermination of six million Jews in the Holocaust in various concentration camps. Elie Wiesel’s experience as a Holocaust survivor is documented in his memoir, Night. The theme of dehumanization of war in Night shifts from the way the Nazis treat prisoners like Elie to the they treat each other and themselves.

The beginning of the story highlights the way the Nazi dehumanized their prisoners. Elie had arrived with his family at Auschwitz, then he was separated from his mother and younger …show more content…
During the trip to Gleiwitz, those who could not continue without stopping were left for dead. “Now and then, someone kicked me violently from behind and I would wake up. The man behind me was screaming, ‘Run faster. If you don’t want to move, let us pass you’” (87). The prisoners’ situation made them behave like animals, trampling over those who tired and could not continue. The prisoners took a train to another camp in Buchenwald, each one wanting nothing more than food and water for their own survival. Workers and other onlookers watched as workers tossed pieces of bread into the train wagons, first one wagon, then the others, and “in the wagon where the bread had landed . . . beasts of prey unleashed, animal hate in their eyes. An extraordinary vitality possessed them, sharpening their teeth and nails,” (101). These people were so desperate for food that they would fight for a single scrap in order to survive. Their survival instincts took over, causing them to think of their own survival at the cost of others. After Elie and his father arrive at Buchenwald, the Blockalteste says to Elie, “Don’t forget you are in a concentration camp. In this place, it is every man for himself, and you cannot think of others. Not even your father. In this place, there is no such thing as father, brother, friend” (110). The block leader encouraged the type of behavior