As the saying goes, “History repeats itself." The meaning of this phrase becomes more relevant as the world progresses forward. When Elie Wiesel wrote his poignant memoir “Night”, he envisioned it would serve as a testament and a reminder for future generations about the Holocaust, in hopes that they will learn from his experiences. However, many horrifying events depicted in the memoir still reflect the violence of our modern world, illustrated by countless wars and conflicts. From the use of dehumanizing language, the mass murdering of innocent people, and the forced separation of family and communities, this essay explores how the current situation in Israel and Occupied Palestine is reminiscent of the Holocaust.

Firstly, the Palestinian Genocide is like the Holocaust when it comes to the mass murdering of innocent people, many of whom were native Palestinians. In Night, there is a description of Auschwitz, the concentration camp where the narrator Eliezer was taken to initially: 

Not far from us, flames, huge flames, were rising from a ditch. Something was being burned there. A truck drew close and unloaded its hold: small children. Babies! Children thrown into the flames… (Weisel 32).

This is a very horrifying example of massacre—innocent babies thrown into the fire and killed. This is eerily like the Palestinian Genocide since innocent civilians have died from Israel’s indiscriminate bombing and gunfire. Over 40,000 people have been killed in Palestine to date, also with approximately 100,000 injured (AJLabs). This is a horrifying example of the needless killing of innocent lives. Innocent citizens who have had nothing to do with the armed military conflict between Israel and Hamas are being massacred; this is especially reminiscent of the murder of innocents that happened in the Holocaust.

Secondly, the Palestinian Genocide is like the Holocaust in regard to the forced separation of families and communities. In Night, Eliezer's family had to move out of their communities and villages into special living quarters called ghettos, which were designed to keep Jews contained before they were transported to concentration camps. The neighborhoods were often small and cramped and there was barely enough room for the multitudes of people who had been driven out of their homes. As mentioned on page 11 of Wiesel’s memoir, “Two ghettos were created in Sighet……we gave some of our home to our relatives who had been driven out of their houses.” Afterwards, the Jews living in the ghettos were forced into cattle cars and transported to concentration camps, which tore them apart from their old neighborhoods and communities. Eliezer’s father mentions how “the news is terrible […] The entire ghetto was to be liquidated entirely. Departures were to take place street by street, starting the next day” (Wiesel 13). Once the Jews arrived at the concentration camps, men and women were separated, as were children from their parents. This is shown on page 29 of the memoir: 

An SS officer commanded, “men to the left! Women to the right!” Eight words, spoken quietly, indifferently, without emotion. Eight simple, short words. Yet that was the moment when I left my mother...I didn’t know this was the moment in time where I was leaving my mother and my Tzipora forever. 

Similarly, a recent UNICEF report shows that over 17,000 children in the Gaza Strip alone have been separated from their families, with their parents either dead or missing since the genocide began in late 2023. These orphaned children often have to rely on their extended family when possible, while others are forced into orphan facilities which have detrimental long-term effects. For example, the Palestinian Orphans Home Association, which faces criticism due to the lack of a stable living environment for orphaned children, generating concerns regarding the orphans’ psychological health.

The Palestinian Genocide and the Holocaust also share the aspect of deploying dehumanizing language towards its victims. The act of dehumanization is defined as speaking to and treating people in a way as if they were less than you or as if they were not humans. According to Brown, “Dehumanizing always starts with language, often followed by images.” This means that in a situation where one is being dehumanized, disrespectful words are first thrown at them, then comes physical horrors like bloodshed, killing, and massacre. We see an example of this in on page 19 of Night: “‘Faster! Faster! Move, you lazy good-for-nothings!’ The Hungarian police were screaming.” This quote comes from when Elizer’s ghetto was liquidated and they were taken to the first concentration camp, Nazi officers dehumanized Jews by calling them “lazy good-for-nothings." The Nazis spoke to the Jews as if they were not people, using disrespectful commands, forceful tones, cruel words, and foul language to order them around. These kinds of actions by the Nazis are a clear example of dehumanizing language and ignoring people’s most basic rights to be respected. 

The similarity between Night and Palestinian Genocide is shown here, since authority figures of Israel are saying dehumanizing things to Palestinians while destroying their homeland. For example, when Gaza was seized, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said, “There will be no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel, everything will be closed. We are fighting against human animals and will act accordingly” (Sharma). Here, the use of the words “human animals” to describe the innocent citizens of Palestine alone by itself is a very clear example of disrespectful and cruel dehumanizing language.

Some could argue that the Holocaust and the Palestinian Genocide are not similar at all, and that the two situations are different. It could be contended that Germany was not at war with the Jews, but rather undergoing an ethnic cleansing, while on the other hand, the current situation between Israel and Palestine should be considered a war. In the case of the Germans, it was an unprovoked attack on the Jews, however, it can be argued that Israel was provoked by acts of “terrorism” supposedly carried out by Hamas, even though this assumption was recently proved false. It was initially believed that on October 7th, 2023, Hamas carried out an act of terrorism, which included public decapitation, the rape and slaughtering of children and women, as well as the taking of hostages. However, this myth has been recently debunked and the claim of Hamas terrorism turned out to be a lie. It was then revealed that Israel had manipulated this propaganda to fearmonger and dehumanize Palestinian men and act as an excuse to the way Israel showered Palestine with excessive bombing which slaughtered extreme numbers of innocent civilians. However, even though one might argue that the situation is different, the abusive methodologies used, such as dehumanizing and large-scale massacre, are essentially the same in both the Holocaust and the Palestinian Genocide.

If we look at the Holocaust and look at the horrifying things that have happened, then what have we learned? Elie Wiesel wrote his memoir as a cautionary memoir of how easy it is for us to lose our humanity, and to discourage us from acting in inhumane ways, but still, it persists. Why do we still revert to dehumanizing language, prejudice against our fellow mankind, and relentless torture of others? Does the dark side of human nature stop the evolution of humanity? Does humanity still have a chance in the future? We may never know the answer.

Works Cited

AJLabs. “Israel Killed More than 40,000 People in Gaza. What Does That Look Like?” Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 27 Aug. 2024, www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/27/israel-killed-40000-people-in-gaza-what-does-that-look-like. Accessed 25 Sept. 2024.

Brown, Brené. “Dehumanizing Always Starts with Language.” Brené Brown, 17 May 2018, brenebrown.com/articles/2018/05/17/dehumanizing-always-starts-with-language/. Accessed 15 Sept. 2024.

Sharma, Parth. ““We Are Fighting Human Animals”: Dehumanization of Palestinians.” Palestine Chronicle, 21 May 2024, www.palestinechronicle.com/we-are-fighting-human-animals-dehumanization-of-palestinians/. Accessed 15 Sept. 2024.

UNICEF. “Stories of Loss and Grief: At Least 17,000 Children Are Estimated to Be Unaccompanied or Separated from Their Parents in the Gaza Strip.” Unicef.org, 2 Feb. 2024, www.unicef.org/sop/press-releases/stories-loss-and-grief-least-17000-children-are-estimated-be-unaccompanied-or. Accessed 15 Sept. 2024.