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