In Elie Wiesel's novel Night, why do the guards force the prisoners to look at the hanged men full in the face as they are leaving for dinner?

By forcing the prisoners to each look in the faces of those who were hanged, the SS wanted the event to serve as a warning and an example to the them. The idea was to etch the dreadful event in the prisoners’ memory to ensure that they complied with all rules without seeking to rebel. The requirement also served to torture the prisoners psychologically according to the greater Nazi agenda.

"In the name of Reichsführer Himmler…prisoner number … stole during the air raid…according to the law…prisoner number…is condemned to death. Let this be a warning and an example to all prisoners."

In the story, such an event is experienced when one of the prisoners is accused of theft during the air raid on the Buna factory. The prisoner is hanged in full view of the other prisoners. After the hanging, the prisoners are forced to file past the individual and look him in the face.

Then the entire camp, block after block, filed past the hanged boy and stared at his extinguished eyes, the tongue hanging from his gaping mouth. The Kapos forced everyone to look him squarely in the face.

I remember that on that evening, the soup tasted better than ever…

In another similar event, a young pipel, who serves the Dutch Oberkapo accused of stockpiling weapons, is also hanged. Although there are other hangings in the camps, this one is different because the victim is a child and the prisoners weep. It takes a while for the child to die because his weight is insufficient to instantly tighten the hangman’s noose around his neck. Most prisoners including Eliezer file past the young pipel as he lingers between life and death in one of the most gruesome hangings.

And we were forced to look at him at close range. He was still alive when I passed him. His tongue was still red, his eyes not yet extinguished.

That night, the soup tasted of corpses.