Essay, Research Paper: Holocaust

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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