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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How many women were in the march that left from Birkenau with Olga?
(a) Ten thousand.
(b) Two thousand.
(c) Six thousand.
(d) Fifteen thousand.

2. According to camp gossip, what was the purpose of the powder that was mixed into the inmates' food?
(a) To slowly destroy the internal organs.
(b) To cause degeneration of the brain.
(c) To reduce or destroy the sexual appetite.
(d) To cause anemia.

3. Why did L. come to the infirmary so often?
(a) He was trying to avoid the work he had been assigned to do.
(b) He had a bad wound on his foot.
(c) He was lonely for company.
(d) He was looking for someone to give him some food.

4. Why did L. insist that Olga give out all of the news that he delivered to her?
(a) He needed to confuse the Nazis.
(b) He wanted to be sure that he could depend on her.
(c) Olga would then become more important to the S.S. guards.
(d) The internees needed it to keep up their morale.

5. Why did the young girl who worked with Olga break into hysterical laughter one day when they entered the morgue?
(a) She saw one of the S.S. bend over and rip his pants.
(b) She saw the body of her mother, whom she had thought was safely hidden.
(c) The pressure and horror of the job had finally taken its toll on her.
(d) She realized that she would soon be one of those corpses piled on the floor.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was distributed to internees as they entered the gas chamber that helped to convince them that they were actually headed for the showers?

2. What was the weather like when Olga and the rest of her camp were evacuated from Auschwitz?

3. How did Olga get across the icy river to reach the safe village?

4. Why were pregnancies sometimes hard to catch in the initial selection at the station?

5. Which group in the camp were allowed to receive (for a while) packages from home?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did some prisoners throw themselves into the electrified wire?

2. How did prostitution emerge in the camp?

3. What observations did Olga make about the effects of the first weeks in camp upon new internees?

4. What purpose did the building known as "Canada" serve, both for the Germans and for the inmates?

5. How did the Russian, Dr. Mitrovna, save Olga's life?

6. What examples did Olga offer to illustrate the emotional strength of some prisoners?

7. How did the Germans react to an unusually low report of pregnancies among the women inmates?

8. What metaphor did Olga use to describe the "scientific experiments" that the Nazis performed on prisoners?

9. How did Olga and her companions find renewed energy by stealing bread from the warehouse?

10. How did the conditions in camp reveal a person's true nature?

(see the answer keys)

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