Nazi Deception and the Demoralization and Dehumanization of Eliezer and his Fellow Prisoners - Essay Example

When Elie Wiesel first reached the concentration camp in Auschwitz a sign caught his attention that said "Arbeit macht frei" which translated into “work makes you free” (Wiesel 40). There was a great deal of irony within that phrase. Like in all other concentration camps, in Auschwitz, Jews were persecuted and forced to work for the Nazi forces. The working conditions of these concentration camps were inhumane, and the death of these workers due to starvation and exhaustion were a common sight.

Hard work in these concentration camps never paid off in terms of freedom. In fact, Jews in these camps were even deprived of basic needs such as food water and in some cases even shelter. The Nazis used the sign as a mode of deception, and they were well aware of the fact that providing freedom to Jews was never an option. The sign was put up to provide a fake incentive to the Jews to work harder for them. The concentration camp located in Auschwitz was well famous for the amount of work that was forced upon the Jews and the torture that was brought upon them as well.

Different works were assigned to the prisoners at the concentration camp. Some were forced to dig huge craters and few of the prisoners Elie saw carrying bags of sands “Prisoners were at work. . According to the author the idea of deception was to confuse the prisoners into ensuring that then they would not be able to trust anyone. In the book the Nazis provided the prisoners with false hope regarding their freedom. They realized that the Nazis were not planning to keep their promise about ensuring their freedom prisoner’s trust in other individuals was also shattered.

This led to the prisoners losing value in relationships with friends and family and anyone close to them. Eventually, these prisoners would fall into a state where they would act in a completely non-human manner. Once in a non-human state these prisoners started attacking everyone and anyone that they felt was a threat to them or they felt possessed something that might be of value to the attacker “Dozens of inmates were there to receive us, sticks in hand, striking anywhere, anyone without reason” (Wiesel 35).

In short Nazi’s deception had such a powerful affect on the prisoners that it primarily dehumanized their fundamental nature and forced them to act as animals. Night and has been compared with the likes of The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, and If This is a Man by Primo Levi (Franklin). There has been a great deal of controversy regarding the content. A number of scholars believe that Wiesel’s book night may not be completely a memoir and that parts of the books may be fiction (Franklin).

Nevertheless Night has been one of the best books to have been written recounting the holocaust. The book gave an account of how concentration camps did not just inflict physical torment on the Jews there but were also subjected to mental torture as well. Nazis gave prisoners within the concentration camps a false hope of freedom and gave them an incentive to work harder at these