Blackness of Death (Genocide) - based off the book Night) Essay

Around the time of World War II, Nazi Germany used their propaganda to portray Jewish people as non-human animals. For example, drawings were published that characterized Jews as having horns. Jews were viewed as objects of derision. The Nazis used dehumanization as a way to sway public opinion toward their evil goals. They used tactics like separating them from society by putting them in ghettos. Secondly, they used a cloth yellow star so it is visible to the public what they are. An instant judgment was cast at the viewing of the star. Further degradation was perpetrated on the Jews when the Nazis moved them into train cars, much like cattle being moved into cattle cars (21-22). Once they arrived at the labor camps, families were separated by gender and age, Men to the left! Woman to the right1!(27). Elie and his father however didnt not follow such rules because they lied about their age so they could have stayed together and be put to work. After they were separated and formed into groups they were shaved and cleansed as a form of delousing. They were branded and scared for life like animals. Elie was forever given the identification number of A-7713 (39). The Nazis systematically convinced almost the entire German population that Jews were not human beings like the average German. There was ineffectual resistance by both the Jews and the German population at large.

Portrayals of night were used throughout the novel. In the first chapter Elie describes how in the ghetto, as his father was telling stories, "Night fell," foreshadowing the news of their deportation. The concept of "night" falling on the Jews becomes a running subject throughout the book. There are several instances where the phrase precedes some dreadful event. Darkness and night is sometimes seen as the absence of god and the province of the devil. God is often symbolized as the coming of light. That night in the cattle car Madame Schachter hallucinates about the fire of the inferno, hell on earth. She sees the furnace that will consume her.

stars were only sparks of the fire which devoured us. Should the fire die out one day, there will be nothing left in the sky but dead star, dead eyes(18), in this instance the light and fire of the stars symbolizes hope and god. With the absence of these stars there will be nothing but dark night and ashes. In chapter seven Elie was attacked, for unexplained reason, at night. This shows the realm of danger in nightfall. If light symbolizes the coming of a new day and life, night is used to foresee the darkest times of life, the time of the blackness of death.

In Rwanda, in recent years the ethnic cleansing of one particular tribe over another is an example of recent genocide. The two tribes have distinct facial features that separate them from one another, which is similar to the Aryans and the Jews. The Nazis used the differences of appearances and culture to isolate and dehumanize the Jews Much like the ruling tribe in Rwanda attempted to exterminate the opposed tribe. Another example of genocide is recent activities in Darfur Sudan. The government and para-military forces are exterminating the refugees of the south.

Elie Wiesel, in night, describes one of the blackest periods of human history. The methodical isolation and dehumanization of a group of people, Jewish people, and the Nazis attempt to exterminate them. Examples of this mentality and method can be seen throughout recent history. It is a grim definition of organized humanity. The last century and this centuries groups of people by ethnic cleansing and genocide have also been countered by people using; A Force More Powerful organized non-violent conflict (A novel By Peter Ackerman). It is my belief that the Jews of Nazi Germany could have organized resistance to their plight. The position of the Jews when the Jewish prisoners contemplate overpowering the Nazi guards just before they enter the camp was dissipated. you must never loose faith, even when the sword hangs over your head. Thats the teaching of our sages Recent history like no other century records groups of people organizing non-violently to resist terror and oppression. Why the Jews could not do this is tied up in their culture, faith, and history. Perhaps if they had resisted the Nazis in non-violent manner the genocide could have been avoided.