The yellow star of David was pinned to the clothes of all Jewish people in German occupied territory during almost all of the time Hitler served as Chancellor. The star of David pin was a used by the Germans to single out Jewish people; it was used to condemn them as lesser and ultimately dehumanize them. In Night, Wiesel talks about the dehumanization and the systematic shedding of their previous life until there is nothing left except surviving. One of the reasons why the holocaust is considered to be so sadistic is because of what dehumanizing Jews did. For the guards it rationalized their violence, it broke bonds that Jews had with their religion, and caused prisoners to turn on each other. We know this occurred from multiple instances of abuse in Night whether it was from a guard or fellow prisoner. We also, learned from the scholarly article if the violence can be rationalize people will perform increasing inhumane acts on other humans. This was one of Hitler’s first steps in the process of the holocaust consistently through the initial stages building up to being sent to a camp is about the dehumanization. There is instance in the book when Elie is looking back at the ghetto and there is all of their personal belongings piled up. Elie says “It no longer belonged to anyone. It was there for the taking. An open tomb.” (Wiesel 17). This is reflection on how dehumanized they become how vulnerable. The tomb references the death of their pre-Holocaust lives. Elie writes that they no longer belong to anyone because of that death of the pre-holocaust survivors. The usage of the star of David in this way also, supports Jewish people’s loss of faith it takes the symbol of their religion stigmatizes it. The negative connotation attached to being Jewish were so intense that it makes people resentful of their own faith.
