“We line up. Someone has marked down our numbers, someone up ahead yells, “March, March,” and now we are running towards the gate, accompanied by the shouts of a multilingual throng that is already being pushed back to the barracks. Not everybody is lucky enough to be going on the ramp . . . We have almost reached the gate. Links, zwei, drei, vier! Mützen ab! Erect, arms stretched stiffly along our hips, we march past the gate briskly, smartly, almost gracefully. A sleepy S.S. man with a large pad in his hand checks us off, waving us ahead in groups of five.”

• In the example I chose the prisoners of the concentration camp are being marked down by their numbers that the Nazi’s gave to them to dehumanize them. By giving them numbers it takes away from the fact that these are human beings and turns them more into objects in the eyes of the Nazis. The Nazis are making the prisoners march towards the barracks, and they get checked by a S.S officer who then sends them in groups of five.

• The critical part of this example that made an impression on me is the steps which the Nazis took to dehumanize these prisoners. By numbering them and essentially taking away their names it was a way for the Nazis to cope with what they were doing and make the prisoners forget that they are humans.

• The significance of this part in the context of the story, is this a crucial step that the Nazis took to dehumanize their prisoners. When a prisoner would be brought to a concentration camp the first thing that would happen is they would shave their hair, put them in uniform, and give them a tattoo with a number that was unique for that prisoner.

• How can a group of people justify such horrific acts against other human beings?
• Was the dehumanizing process more for the Nazis to cope with their actions or so the prisoners begin to forget they’re humans?