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

Short Answer Questions

1. Where did the ambulances take the sick and injured who got off the train?

2. Why did Olga's husband decide not to take half of her poison?

3. What "rumor" did the woman in Olga's barrack share with Dr. Klein?

4. What advice did the handsome German prisoner have for Olga when she was looking for her son?

5. What did the insignia on each train car indicate?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did the barrack chief, Irka, explain after Olga suggested that she had hope for survival?

2. Why did Olga relate the sensation of thirst to her memories of the concentration camp?

3. How did the Germans attempt to create animosity among the prisoners?

4. What were the conditions like in Olga's barracks?

5. Who was the "Lageraelteste" and why was she chosen for this position?

6. How did Dr. and Mrs. Lengyel respond to the stories they heard about the cruelty of the Germans and their treatment of prisoners?

7. At what point did the deportees realize the true horror of their situation?

8. Why did Olga ask forgiveness from her mother and father while they waited in the train car?

9. How did Olga come to work in the infirmary?

10. Why did Olga run from the washroom when Tadek entered?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Analyze the role of choice versus luck in the author's ability to survive her ordeal. How much of her survival was a result of the choices that she made, and how much of her survival was the result of luck?

Essay Topic 2

The author repeatedly talks about the "efficiency" of the Nazis in "liquidating" their prisoners. Describe the industrialization of extermination by the Nazis. What does such efficiency suggest about the people who were responsible for such decisions?

Essay Topic 3

How did the idea of medical care (in particular, the oath to "do no harm") become subverted in the Nazi concentration camps?

(see the answer keys)

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