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Mr. Franks
16 November 2015
Being Human
Jews to the Nazis were like the scum of the earth. No hesitation in the Nazis existed when
treating them as if they were. When forced to live and work in concentration camps, Jewish
inmates during the Holocaust had no decision, but to become the walking dead the Nazis created
them to be. Included in the book, Night, by Elie Wiesel, actions of the Nazis, such as impairment
of the innocent, provoking family members to rebel against one another, and destroying the
Jews determination to live, prove that they did nothing, but succeed in dehumanizing their
Jewish prisoners.
For no genuine reason, Jews were beaten, starved, and tragically even killed. On Elies
first day at Birkenau, the reception center for Auschwitz, he witnessed a true nightmare. Not far
from him were flames burning babies, little children, and anyone else the Nazis deemed
insignificant. On his encounter with Dr. Mengele, the Angel of Death warned the Jews, Here,
you have got to work. If not, you will go straight to the furnace. To the crematory. Work or the
crematory-the choice is in your hands. (36) It was made clear that no kind of mercy was going
to be given to the Jews who had only two options to work like slaves or be burned to death.
I was putting one foot in front of the other mechanically. I was dragging with me
this skeletal body which weighed so much. If only I could have got rid of it In
spite of my efforts not to think about it, I could feel myself as two entities-my
body and me. I hated it. (81)

Elie was so overworked that he could no longer feel like himself. Not only did this happen him,
but to everyone else in concentration camps. They were no longer humans, they were walking
skeletons.
In order to survive, loved ones had to be betrayed, left, and forgotten by those with ruined
hearts as a result of the Holocaust. As soon as Rabbi Eliahou left after
asking if anyone had seen his son, Elie quickly remembered:
His son had seen him losing ground, limping, staggering back to
the rear of the column. He had seen him. And he continued to run on in front,
letting the distance between them grow greater. (87)
It was evident Rabbi Eliahous son had believed that separating from his father was essential to
staying alive. It was never like that before, for his sons thoughts were caused by the Nazi
regime. Another time when family was no longer vital to Jews was when German workmen
would throw pieces of bread at the famished in wagons while traveling. It was undoubted the
Jews would fight with one another for a chance to grasp a piece of the treasure, even if it meant
fighting a family member. Elie wrote about a specific time this happened, one most haunting:
Meir. Meir, my boy! Dont you recognize me? Im your father
youre hurting me youre killing your father! Ive got some bread for you
too for you too He collapsed. (96)
When Elies father had died because of great sickness, Elie could not shed a single tear. Instead
of crying over his fathers death, Elie felt a great weight lifted off his shoulders, he felt that all of
his responsibilities for his father had held him back all the time. Part of being human is having
the ability to love. However, the Nazis managed to obliterate the pleasure of having any emotion
from the Jews, who could no longer feel human by any means.

Not only did the Nazis take away their freedom, but the families and faith the Jews clung
on to as their motivation to survive. In fact, many Jews were so broken that they were not scared
of death; some even welcomed it when faced with a life threatening
event:
We were not afraid. And yet, if a bomb had fallen on the blocks,
it alone would have claimed hundreds of victims on the spot. But we were no
longer afraid of death; at any rate, not of that death. Every bomb that
exploded filled us with joy and gave us new confidence in life. (57)
The Jews were mistreated very brutally until they could not feel any fear for death. Elie
described this, I witnessed other hangings. I never saw a single one of the victims weep. For a
long time hose dried-up bodies had forgotten the bitter taste of tears. (60) Elie explained that all
Jews held captive were stronger than cold, or hunger, stronger than the shots and desire to die,
and condemned and wandering, mere numbers. (83) It explicates the true effect of the
Holocaust. The Jews lost all determination in living, displaying dehumanization at its finest.
The Nazi regime proved that it is possible for humans to live with such numbness.
Millions of Jews were beaten, starved, and killed; however, the list never ends. To put it shortly,
dehumanization was at play. Due to impairment done by Nazis, destroyed wills to live, and
caused rebellion of ones family, the Nazis dehumanized the Jews in the Holocaust in the cruelest
ways possible. What is it like to be human? Sadly, that is a question Jews in the Holocaust forgot
even existed.