Individuality

Night has many thematic ideas, some of which are quite depressing.  One such theme, was that of individuality.  The Nazis committed terrible acts of violence, and murder on Jewish persons in the 1940's and tried to justify these acts by dehumanization.  The Nazis dehumanized the Jewish people in the concentration camps.  All inmates were given the same clothing, and same haircut,  and were marched around like animals to work all day.

Individuality is a trait, extremely dominant to the human species.  Us humans love to be individuals, and show how each one of us is different than another.  People dress differently, and cut their hair, put makeup on, just to show how they are different than the next human being.  The Nazis took away this individuality, and freedom of personal expression so they could justify killing the Jews, and treating them like animals.  They were marched, washed, clothed, fed, all according to schedule, and exactly the same procedure for each person.

The Nazis were humans too, even if they treated Jews with no human respect.  The guards of the prison camp were trained to kill without reservation, and on the spot.  One way the guards could justify doing such terrible things, was that each inmate looked the same, and wore the same cloths.  They were dehumanized to the point they had lost their own names.  Elie Wiesel experienced this and said how he "becomes A-7713.  After that I had no other name." (39) All these acts of dehumanization worked towards lightening the consciences of the guards,  who were told to kill and torment the helpless Jews.