In the first 54 pages of All But My Life, the stage of genocide shown is dehumanization. Dehumanization is when a group of people is looked upon as not human or below other people. This happens when the Jews in All But My Life, including Gerda and her friends and family are looked upon as equal to dogs. The event is when Gerda passes the factory on her way to visit Ilse with Mr. Pipersberg. When they got there, a sign was on the factory. The sign read, “DOGS AND JEWS NOT ALLOWED TO ENTER” (Klein, 1995, p.26). This sign shows that in the minds of many people, Jews and dogs are of the same level of humanity. This makes others believe that since Jews and dogs are alike, Jews are no longer human and such should not be treated like a human. Another event that shows dehumanization in All But My Life is when the rations for Jews are cut. After Christmas all rations for Jews were cut to less than half of those who were non-Jews. Also the word “JEW” was printed on the card determining that only Jews were targeted to have their rations cut. This shows that people are intentionally trying to weaken the Jews specifically. This shows dehumanization because it is treating Jews under what all other non-Jews receive in rations. Treating all Jews under everybody else is dehumanizing them.
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