View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What happened to the Jews at prayer in the Stara Boznica synagogue when the Einsatzgruppe squad arrived?

2. What does the SS force former jeweler Mordecai Wulkan to do?

3. During which war does the action in this novel take place?

4. After Diana Reiter points out flaws in some building foundations, what are Amon Goeth's orders?

5. What type of enamelware do the men dining with Schindler in late 1939 encourage him to produce?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why do you think the shopkeepers at the beginning of Chapter 2 accepted worthless currency in exchange for perfectly good bolts of cloth?

2. Of the approximately 10,000 men who began the march from Auschwitz toward Gross-Rosen, about how many actually arrived, and what happened to those who didn't?

3. In Chapter 5, Keneally mentions the Germans' "resettlement policy." What was meant by that term?

4. At the beginning of Chapter 6, Keneally describes Oskar Schindler using "portable wealth--diamonds, gold, trade goods" as the desirable currency of the day. Describe some of the "trade goods" that you think might have been used as currency or barter since much of the Jewish wealth had been confiscated.

5. Oskar bought some new machinery locally, some from the "homeland." What might be some reasons for that?

6. The ghetto's last morning, as detailed in Chapter 20, was on a Shabbat. Amon Goeth was in Peace Square to supervise. Discuss the imagery Keneally wrote into this scene, and how that imagery made the scene more effective.

7. What types of professions merited a blue sticker on the new identity cards, as described in Chapter 13?

8. In Chapter 26, Keneally states, "but he (Raimund Titsch) was never the sort of man concerning whom mythologies arose. Oskar was." What does Keanally mean by that?

9. According to witnesses, what did Amon Goeth do just before he was hung?

10. The Trustees of Yad Vashem began to collect testimonies regarding Oskar. Were all of them positive? If not, what was a complaint?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Chapter 17 opens with the statement, "even in the autumn of 1942, the Zionists of Palestine, let alone the population of the world, knew nothing but rumors of what was happening in Europe." Based on your reading of the book and any other activities you've completed, discuss the communication of the early 1940's. Why did no one know what was going on in Germany and Poland? What kinds of news media were available? Who owned them? Do you think the secrecy was part of the Nazi plan? If they believed that their "ethnic cleansing" was the right thing to do, then why was it kept so secret?

Essay Topic 2

Identify at least three traits of Oskar Schindler's personality and then detail how they affected the story. What difference did these traits make in the decision he made? Did Keneally's description of Oskar and his actions always seem true to these traits? If not, where did it seem to diverge?

Essay Topic 3

The characters in the novel experienced every kind of emotion possible. Do you think Keneally was simply trying to tell the story of Oskar Schindler with this book, or was he trying to elicit emotions in the reader? State your reasoning, and back it up with specific examples from the book.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 915 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample