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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What kind of outbreak affected the prisoners at the author's camp?
(a) Measles.
(b) Scarlet Fever.
(c) A strong seasonal flu.
(d) Typhus.

2. How do psychiatrists expect people to react in abnormal situations?
(a) They expect mentally healthy people to have balanced reactions to such situations.
(b) They expect that a normal person in an abnormal situation will demonstrate severe stress.
(c) They expect strong reactions.
(d) They expect an abnormal reaction according to the person's degree of normality.

3. How does the author describe the Capos?
(a) "The Capos enjoyed life in the prisons, and took pleasure in the humiliation of others."
(b) "The Capos were miserable, knowing that they had betrayed their people."
(c) "Many Capos fared better in camp than they had in their entire lives."
(d) "The Capos lived in fear, knowing that they could be stripped of their privileges at any moment."

4. What possession does the author of this book try to keep after arriving to the concentration camp?
(a) A wedding ring.
(b) A gold tooth.
(c) A scientific manuscript.
(d) A sturdy pair of boots.

5. How did Frankl earn the favor of "The Murderous Capo"?
(a) He gave him psychological advice.
(b) He applauded him.
(c) He spoke to him of hope.
(d) He held his hand.

6. What did Frankl think when he saw a group of convicts pass by?
(a) That life was unfair because he was in a position below them.
(b) That they had earned their misery while the prisoners had not.
(c) That they deserved worse punishment.
(d) That they enjoyed more well-regulated, happy, secure lives than the prisoners.

7. Why does the author, himself a concentration camp survivor, write, "We know: the best of us did not return"?
(a) The author believes this because the prisoners kept themselves alive by brutally and dishonestly fighting for their existence.
(b) This quote is taken from a paragraph in which the author writes that the humblest prisoners were the earliest to be killed by the SS officers.
(c) The author feels that the most defiant prisoners, those who stood up to the SS officers, were immediately killed.
(d) The author claims that this is the case because he deeply misses his family members who died at Auschwitz.

8. What kind of event does the author attend with the camp's chief officer?
(a) A medical presentation on Measles.
(b) A meeting where SS officials discuss punishment.
(c) A private meal.
(d) A seance.

9. What does the author claim helped to detach prisoner's minds from their surroundings?
(a) Intimate relationships with fellow prisoners.
(b) A card game that they invented in their quarters that they looked forward to during the day.
(c) A cold curiosity about what conditions they could survive.
(d) An intense fantasy life.

10. What are "premium coupons"?
(a) Raffle tickets given to the SS guards to award them things previously owned by the prisoners.
(b) These came from the construction firm that hired the workers from the prison, and could be exchanged for cigarettes.
(c) These were certificates from the SS guards, and were awarded to prisoners who arrived to work before the morning bell rang.
(d) These came from the construction firm that hired workers through the prison, and could be used to buy days off work.

11. Why were dead men thrown on trains transporting prisoners to different concentration camps?
(a) They were sent to spread disease to the other prisoners on the train.
(b) If their number was on the list, their life was considered less important than their number.
(c) This was a cruel joke of the SS who wanted to horrify the other riders.
(d) They were there to take up space, so that the prisoners would not have much room.

12. Why does the author, after leaving camp, upon seeing an image of prisoners lying on their bunks, argue that these aren't horrible images?
(a) They were images of people who had been spared the gas chambers.
(b) They are images of men from the Capo who had been demoted, and one of them had been in a position to be cruel to the author before this demotion.
(c) They are images of sick prisoners who could stay in bed all day.
(d) They are images of men that he knew, and all of them survived.

13. What did Frankl learn happened at Auschwitz after he left?
(a) Cannibalism broke out.
(b) There was a fire.
(c) Prisoners killed an SS officer.
(d) Frankl's friend broke his leg and was sent to the gas chamber.

14. What was the main characteristic of the second phase of the prisoner's mental life?
(a) Violence.
(b) Anger.
(c) Love.
(d) Apathy.

15. Was there art in the concentration camp?
(a) No, the prisoners were far too depressed to care for art.
(b) Yes, there were many prisoners (including Frankl) who attempted literature.
(c) No, there was no such thing as the rules prohibiting self-expression were strict.
(d) Yes, there were gatherings with songs, poems, jokes, and some satire.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Frankl call "the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire."

2. Frankl was sent to another camp after his stay in Auschwitz. Why were the prisoners there pleased?

3. What concentration camp does the author describe traveling to?

4. What does the author claim hurts most about the physical blows from SS officers?

5. During the time that the author spent in concentration camps, what does he describe as his main work?

(see the answer keys)

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