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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. What time did the infirmary begin to see patients each day?

2. How many languages did the Auschwitz-Birkenau commandant's interpreter speak?

3. What was the original purpose of the building that became Olga's new home?

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

5. What name was given to the internee who was chosen as barrack chief?

Short Essay Questions

1. What dilemma did Olga face whenever her companions argued about the existence of the crematories?

2. What details about their arrival offered the passengers hope that their conditions would be better at the camp?

3. How did Olga and her husband react to meeting each other within the camp?

4. Why did the German guards intentionally assign prisoners to work for which they were unsuited?

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

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

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

8. What made the roll calls at the camp so difficult to endure?

9. In what ways was Birkenau different from Auschwitz?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast the examples of strength among the prisoners with the examples of weakness. How did these examples inspire or repel the other prisoners? How could each have become a source of inspiration?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Why did some prisoners survive while others did not? What qualities seemed to enable some prisoners to survive? To what extremes did some inmates resort, and how did these actions affect them?

(see the answer keys)

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