Upon their arrival at Auschwitz, Elie Wiesel and his companions are shocked by unspeakable atrocities and are quickly reduced to instinct. “We were no longer holding on to anything. The instincts of self-preservation, of self-defense, of pride had abandoned us all” (36). The lack of humanity shown towards prisoners deprives them of the fundamental roles they once held in civilized society and forces many of them to commit unbearable acts in order to survive. Men are torn from the lives they previously led and no longer work or hold leadership positions; the sense of autonomy they once held in their lives is gone. Innocent men are shaved, starved, beaten, and treated like “dirty dogs,” while performing forced labor (85). They see children being systematically burned alive and many family members murdered. The physical and psychological trauma of the camps reduces prisoners' self-esteem. The overwhelming horror of Wiesel's experience, combined with the shame perpetuated by SS officers, results in a frightening disconnection from himself. In Night, Elie Wiesel manages to communicate the almost ineffable loss of human dignity that comes from the trauma of war and violence. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The Nazis structured concentration camps in a way that deliberately dehumanized prisoners and tested their limits of endurance. Bruno Bettleheim, a survivor of Dachau and Buchenwald, wrote extensively about his psychoanalytic observations of the camps. He observed himself, his fellow prisoners and the SS officers, and analyzed the different motivations of each. The SS officers' goals included "breaking the prisoners as individuals and transforming them into docile masses...to provide the Gestapo with an experimental laboratory in which to study effective means of breaking down civil resistance, as well as minimum standards nutritional, hygienic and medical. requirements necessary to keep prisoners alive…” (Bettleheim 49). The Nazis wanted to push the limits of human endurance for their own political purposes. The calculated nature of the camps is reflected in Wiesel's account of their arrival, as prisoners are stripped of their clothing and personal belongings. Men lose the individual signifiers that delimit their individuality and their status in society. In the camps, prisoners are only known by a number tattooed on one arm. Wiesel recalls: “I became A-7713. From that moment on, I had no other name” (42). Deprivation of this essential element arouses in men an additional feeling of uselessness, perhaps more than starvation or brutality. Psychologist Judith Hassan, speaking about the long-term impact of trauma among Holocaust survivors, wrote: "No name, only a number, deprives a person of a basic human right: to have an identity...Once" liberated,” her identity as survivors did not foster a sense of belonging or status in the outside world” (Hassan 185). The reduction of one's identity was psychologically traumatic for the prisoners, in addition to the physical horrors they witnessed. The symbolism of simply removing one's name reveals the Nazis' intent to truly erase the lives of prisoners. In many cases, lesser indignities were more harmful to prisoners than other punishments. By observing his fellow prisoners, Bettleheim suggests that "we felt deeper and more violent attacks against certain SSwho had committed minor dastardly acts than against those who had acted much more terrible” (Bettleheim 66). Men were more upset about verbal abuse or a slap than serious physical injuries; These insults deeply hurt the prisoners. The loss of pride in their lives was one of the Nazis' goals for the prisoners upon their arrival. In Night, Elie's father asks where the toilet is, and the kapo "slapped my father with such force that he fell and then crawled on all fours" (39). This lack of decency shocks Elie; it is one of the first moments that begins to take on the dignity of his father, and by extension, that of Elijah. He feels ashamed for not defending his father and cannot react as he would in a normal environment. Bettleheim acknowledges that maintaining his pride was essential to his psychological survival. “…if the author were asked to summarize in one sentence what, throughout the time he spent in the camp, was his main problem, he would answer: safeguarding his ego in such a way that, if fortunately if he were to regain his liberty, he would be much the same person as he was when deprived of his liberty” (Bettleheim 62). By separating his experiences from his view of himself, Bettleheim attempts to stay sane. On the other hand, Elie Wiesel's memoirs demonstrate an almost total loss of self linked to the trauma. This is not surprising. Judith Hassan writes, “Life was no longer governed by the same set of values ​​that existed until the trauma began” (Hassan 18). Thus, the camps were not civilized environments and the indignities they suffered alienated the prisoners from themselves. The instinct for survival often contradicts Elijah's filial instincts. When his father is punished for weakness, Elie's anger is sometimes directed at his father rather than at the SS officers who caused the initial pain. While his father is beaten because he works too slowly, Elie writes: “I had seen all this happening without moving. I kept silent. In fact, I thought about running away so as not to suffer the blows... Why couldn't he avoid Idek's wrath? (54). While the traditional father-son dynamic brings structure and hope to the arrival, Elie struggles to support his father in the camps. He tries to give his sick father his rations, or to train him to walk properly. However, subconscious resentment grows in Elijah's heart, further dehumanizing his civilized self. When he searches for his sick father, he says to himself: “If only I didn’t find him!” If only I were relieved of this responsibility, I could use all my strength to fight for my own survival… Instantly I was ashamed, ashamed of myself forever” (106). Elie's complex relationship with his father is filled with immense love and immense guilt. He tries to help her, but he does so out of fear for his life. As he clings to his father as a vestige of his previous life, the trauma of the camps alters his relationship in ways that would never happen in normal society. Bettlheim interpreted this disconnect from real life and life in the camps by observing his fellow prisoners. “The feeling of the prisoners could be summed up by this sentence: “What I do here, what happens to me, does not matter at all; here everything is permitted as long as it contributes to helping me survive in the camp” (Bettleheim 63). The extreme danger forced men to adapt and adopt new ways of life. While in a civilized society the parent-child bond seems indissoluble, the Nazis created an environment that deliberately destroyed these bonds. Other prisoners in the camp experienced similar difficulties. One of the first acquaintances that Elie and his father met at..