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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. Why did Olga renounce her privilege to write postcards to loved ones outside of the camp?

2. What was the handsome, blue-eyed man doing in Olga's barrack?

3. How many people within the barracks had to share a single blanket?

4. How many barracks lined the Lagerstrasse?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Olga's life in the infirmary compare to the life she was previously leading in the camp?

2. Why did Olga blame herself for the deaths of her parents and children?

3. Why did the Germans allow the prisoners to write postcards to their loved ones outside of the camps?

4. Why did Olga and her colleagues in the infirmary proceed with their work even though they did not have the proper resources?

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

6. From the author's point of view, how did nationality affect the treatment that inmates received in the camp?

7. How did the conditions in the "koias" affect the prisoners?

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

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

10. Describe the hierarchy of the prisoners in the camp.

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

Why did the author find the treatment of the children in the Nazi camps particularly disturbing? What made the treatment and the murder of the children more horrific in her mind?

Essay Topic 3

Describe the evolution of self-preservation among the prisoners, Olga included, and the extremes to which some people took this notion. At what point did caring only for oneself become necessary, and how did this influence the way in which some prisoners interacted with each other?

(see the answer keys)

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