The Holocaust has proven to be a disastrous event in history. The details

of this tragedy are shown in the book Night by Elie Wiesel. Night was set in

several concentration camps during the Holocaust, but the most memorable was

Auschwitz. Wiesel suffers through the agony of watching his own father die,

during Wiesels stay at the concentration camp. Thus, the psychological beatings

were far worse then the physical beatings.

Physical abuse during the Holocaust was monstrous. First, day after day

defilement breaks down the body. Shlomo Wiesel had taken several blows to

head for not marching correctly. The shots to the head were what lead to the

cause of Shlomo Wiesels death. Next, starvation and dehydration are cruel

punishments that drain the soul. The Jews were literally starved until death. Elie

says after leaving the camps, “From the depths of the mirror, a corpse gazed

back at me.” This is said to show that Wiesel was on the verge of death from

starvation. Finally, the whippings the children received were extremely harsh.

The children endured as severe battering as the adults were given. Elie was

whipped 25 times for walking in on the Kapos business. To conclude, the

bodily torture of the Holocaust was brutal.

The Intellective aspect of the Holocaust mistreatment was disastrous.

First, forced to leave your home and everything they worked for to move into a

ghetto is a tragic experience. The Wiesel family among the others had to leave

behind their life to make a transition into the ghetto system. Secondly, the

loneliness of the concentration camps were mentally detrimental. Families

getting separated could cause mental breakdowns. Madame Schacter was

separated from her family then she went crazy. Madame Schacter in a mad rage

yells on the train car, “Jews listen to me! I can see fire! There are huge flames! It

is a furnace!” (23) Then, being degraded by the Nazi party and is hard to

recover from. The SS officers and the Nazi party treated the Jewish people as if

they were animals. Thus, the psychological slandering is a longer lasting effect

of the Holocaust.

Physical abuse is just part of the longer lasting and more devastating

psychological abuse. First, repetitive physical abuse leads to everlasting

psychological abuse. The Nazi’s were successful in the beating down of the

Jews, because it made the Jewish people feel like a lower form of being. Next,

another part of mental abuse is watching the suffering in the eyes. Elie watches

a young boy suffer as the boy was attempted to be hung but was too small. A

voice in the crowd yelled, “Where is God?”. Elie replied with, “Where is he?

Here he is- He is hanging here on this gallows....” (62) Finally, another aspect of

the Jews mental bashing was the losing of faith. The Jews constantly

questioned God because of the harsh conditions they were brought through.

Elie asked,” What are you my God?”(63). Thus, there are many angles of the

psychological torture.

Mental brutality is worse then the physical thrashings. First, physical

beatings during the Holocaust were horrible. Next, psychological abuse from the

Nazi party was atrocious. Then, the physical abuse was just a little part of the

more damaging mental punishing. To conclude, the body heals, yet the mind is

forever scarred.

The Auschwitz Tragedy

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