Inhumane Treatment in "Night"

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The resistance of the Holocaust has claimed worldwide fame at a certain point in history, but the evidence that the evil-doers themselves left crush everything that verifies the fantasy of the Holocaust. For an example, in Poland, the total Jewish population of over thirty-three hundred thousand suddenly plummeted to three hundred thousand. Ten percent of the population survived the Holocaust in Poland. Almost every country that the Nazis have conquered has the same percent of survival as Poland. In Elie Wiesel Wiesel’s memoir Night, the activities in the concentration camps, the suffering of Jews, and the disbelief of the inhumane actions of the Nazis result in making people resist the truth.

Activities in the concentration camp struck fear within the hearts of the people who witnessed them, which led to one conclusion, people denied the Holocaust. Nazis showed no mercy to anybody, including helpless babies. “The Nazis were considered men of steel, which means they show no emotion” (Langer 9). S.S. threw babies and small children into a furnace (Wiesel 28). These activities show the heartless personality of the Nazis. The people had two options, either to do what the S.S. told them to do or to die with everyone related to them. A golden rule that the Nazis followed stated if an individual lagged, the people who surrounded him would get in trouble (Langer 5). “Are you crazy? We were told to stand. Do you want us all in trouble?”(Wiesel 38). S.S guards struck fear in their hostages, which means they will obey without questioning what the Nazis told them to do due to their fear of death. Sometimes, S.S. would punish the Jews for their own sin, but would not explain their sin to the other Jews. For example, Idek punished Wiesel f...

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... the disbelief of the inhumane actions of the Nazis. Today, some people do not believe that the Holocaust ever happened. Society should accept the fact that the Holocaust happened and prevent it from happening in the future. By focusing on the traits that led to the Holocaust and society must prevent it from happening again. Poland’s tragedy claims to be a small proportion of the total number of people killed during the entire Holocaust. If the society decides not to survey for the trait, the Holocaust can always stir up again.

Works Cited

Auni,Ora. Readings on Night. New York: Toutledge, 1995.

Hamaoui, Lea. “Historical Horror and the Shape of Night.” Elie Wiesel : Between Memory and Hope. Ed Carol Rittner. New York: University Press, 1990.

Langer, Lawrence. The Dominion of Death : Yale University, 1978.

Wiesel, Eliezer, Night. New York: Bantam Books, 1960.

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