Dehumanisation and the Holocaust

All the Jews had to wear all the same clothing so that they could be recognised as Jews. Gentiles who saw these people in these clothes knew that they were Jews and they could treat them how they liked not as humans as to the Gentiles the Jews were not humans. This is dehumanisation because they are not being treated as humans by wearing those clothes they are labelled as Jews, and not humans. This made such atrocities ‘easier’ to commit as they were being labelled as non – human and Jews so a picture is put into their heads that they are not human so it doesn’t matter how they feel.

The Viennese anti- Semitic picture paper depicts the Jew as a world-devouring vampire.

“From now on you are all numbers. You have no identity. You have no place or origin. All you have is a number. Except for the number you have nothing.” The head of the concentration camp said these words. Numbers were engraved onto all the Jews left arm and were known from then on only by their number. This is a big example of dehumanisation as they are not at all being treated as humans they are being treated as some object. This made such atrocities ‘easier’ to commit, as they were not known as names or even humans but by numbers.

There is a table showing the life loss of the Jews during the Holocaust, and it is showing that it is very easy for people to casually say that millions of Jews died, as if it didn’t matter. They say it as if it were not millions of PEOPLE who were just killed, but as though those killed were some sort of object. This is dehumanisation. If one of the people casually saying this had one of their relatives or a close friend killed then they would care but ‘seeing as it is just millions of “Jews” it doesn’t matter.

Dehumanisation was a big thing during the Holocaust and all the Jews were dehumanised for believing something different to all the Gentiles which is very unfair.