Night By Elie Wiesel Essay Research Paper

Night By Elie Wiesel Essay, Research Paper

Genocide throughout History

Throughout the history of mankind, horrific acts of genocide have been committed. The Crusades, the Native American being murdered by the Europeans, the Forced Famine in the Ukraine and the Killing Fields of Cambodia are all examples of genocide (Altman,55). The word genocide comes from the Greek phrase genos meaning race or tribe and Latin root cide meaning to kill (Altman,13).

Genocide can be defined as acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part a national, ethnic, racial, religious group by killing members of the group, causing serious bodily of harm to members of the group, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about it’s physical destruction, imposing measures intended to prevent birth within the group and forcibly transferring children of the group to another group (Altman,14).

When a planned genocide is occurring, ethnic cleansing is usually hand in hand. Ethnic cleansing is the systematic destruction of cultural heritage (Sells 1). Genocide and acts of ethnic cleansing are usually executed by an organized group of people with a clear goal: annihilation of the chosen victims. One of the most horrific genocides of all time was committed by the Nazi’s against the Jews during World War II. After the Holocaust occurred, the nations of the world vowed to prevent another genocide. However, ethnic

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cleansing and genocide’s still occur today in places like Bosnia and Kosovo. The portrayal of genocide in Elie Wiesel’s Night demonstrates the Nazi’s goal of annihilation, which parallels the goal of the Serbs in Kosovo.

The Holocaust in Germany during World War II was one of the most horrific moments in human history. The Goal of the Nazi’s was to exterminate all 11 million Jews in Europe; this included those Jews in neutral and unconquered countries (Altman, 56). The Nazi’s accomplished their goal by rising to power, using techniques such as propaganda. Hitler portrayed his victims as evil (Altman, 14). The term Hitler used was “Untermenschem” meaning subhuman (Ayer, 9). Jews were not the only victims of the Nazi’s. Gypsies, communists, male homosexuals, Jehovah witnesses, Poles, political enemies, and the physically and metally handicapped also suffered (Ayer, 9). Even thought Hitler killed many people, Jews were his most targeted victims. Hitler’s process of exterminating his victims was inhuman and extremely organized. Hitler used the Jews as a scapegoat for all of Germany’s problems. Hitler made glorious speeches to his people about the importance of the Third Reich Empire or “master race.” Hitler strongly believed that German speaking people were superior to all others. Hitler explained to his people the necessity of an empire and “lebensraum,” translated to living space. Hitler began to act upon his goals when he established the Nuremberg Laws. These laws placed sever restrictions on Jews by not allowing them to own businesses or shop in stores owned by members of the Third Reich. The transportation of Jews into ghettos came about. Ghettos were designated areas in Europe’s cities that were blocked off. Jews

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were forced to live in the ghettoes, in horrible conditions. On average there was approximately 13 people to a room. The starvation of the Jew’s in the ghettoes was part of Hitler’s plan. Ringelblum was a victim of Hitler’s cruelty, forced to live in a ghetto during the year of 1941.

“Lice infest every room, death lies in every street. The children are no longer afraid of death. In one courtyard, the children played a game of tickling a corpse.” He writes (Altman, 53). After years of suffering in the ghettos, the Jews were killed. They were transported in cattle cars to concentration camps scattered across Europe (Anderson, 1). The concentration camps were Hitler’s “final solution” to the Jewish problem.

The living conditions in these concentration camps were atrocious. While the Jews were alive in the camps, they were not treated like humans; they were treated like animals. Elie Wiesel describes his terrifying experience in Aushwitz. “Not far from us, flames were leaping from a ditch, gigantic flames. They were burning something. A lorry drew up to the pit and delivered its load- little children. Babies! Yes, I saw it with my own eyes… those children in the flames” (Wiesel, 30). In the concentration camps families were torn apart. Only the strong survived initial selection. Women, children and the elderly were the first to be executed. The Nazi’s motto for children was “Nits breed Lice” (Ayer, 39). The Nazi’s goal was to kill off the Jewish children before they grew into adult “undesirables.” Men were kept alive to work in forced labor camps. Ellie Wiesel describes his terrifying experiences in a concentration camp. In the death camps millions of Jews were murdered in the gas chambers and then burned in the crematories. The Nazi’s used other methods to exterminate their victims as well. The

“Einsatzgruppen” was a Nazi execution squad. They would force their victims to dig their own graves, strip naked, then stand on the edge of their grave, where they were shot (Altman, 55). Hitler ordered the liquidation of a ghetto in Poland. The Polish Jews were shot down in the streets and hanged. All those who survived the initial attack were driven into a