The Hungarian police treat the Jews with cruelty. Their actions portray them as heartless individuals who view the Jews as animals instead of human beings. The policemen give their orders by screaming and shouting, the manner in which one would give orders to a dog. They order the people to march faster and faster although the people have grown extremely weak from lack of food and water. The Jews abide by their orders because complaining would be pointless. Their state of pain does not prevent the Hungarian police from delivering their demands. They order the people to change from marching to running while calling them names, and the people do so with all of the strength left within them. Hate consequently remains the only link between Wiesel and them today.
Looking back and comparing them to all the other police officers that have been mentioned in the book, they still had some humanity. I mean, they struck the people which is considerably less harmful when comparing them to the Nazis who would automatically take a life just because they felt that their finger needed to be exercised. The Hungarian police also yelled insults to the Jews and rushed them to do things in a hurry. I am not reasoning that just because they were less harsh they should be forgiven; they still did some actions that were equally cruel just like the Nazis. Also, some of the Jews were friends with some of the Hungarian police officers which made it easier to communicate with them. The only real connection that remains between Elie and the Hungarian police today is hatred. And that is because “they were [his] first oppressors. They were the first faces of hell and death” that remained tied to his memory(Wiesel 19). They became his first monsters that he would forever remember with the long nightmare that followed afterwards. -Lilly