The picture of a railway straight track going directly through the arch of a building represents a factory, mechanical, going straight in and straight out, they don’t have a choice of where they are going. This was where the Jews were taken and they don’t have a choice whereas they should have a choice of where they want to go, but they are forced to go directly in or out, which is not human like. This is dehumanisation. This made such atrocities ‘easier’ to commit as they are not being treated as humans, and so it is as though you can do anything to them, as they are not human.
“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. They are known as numbers instead of ‘people’.
They were treated as cattle and were carted around everywhere, not as thought they were humans but something of a much lower quality.
“Mengele’s concern was for the kids, the twins to be healthy, so he could do experiments. ‘You will only get out of here through the chimney,’ he told 5 year olds.” They were told scary stories so that they would not run away and do what they said just so they could be used for experiments and other actions of that kind.
Dr. Mengele decided the fate of the people with his forefinger. It swayed from side to side and if it pointed left then they went to the gas chamber. They were not at all treated like humans as their life was being played with. This is dehumanisation.
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.