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

2. How is humor characterized in camp life?
(a) Black humor is the most common kind of humor in camp.
(b) Prisoners use humor as a weapon in self-preservation.
(c) Humor is rarely used.
(d) The SS offices, and occassionally the Capos, are the only people in camp who use humor.

3. What does the author think about during difficult moments?
(a) His favorite poem.
(b) His favorite recipe.
(c) His religion.
(d) His love for his wife.

4. What is the "delusion of reprieve"?
(a) The idea that many psychiatric patients have, that someone else is responsible for their own well-being.
(b) This is when a person deludes themself into believing that the worst is over, and the best is yet to come.
(c) The idea that a condemned person has the illusion just before death that he will be saved.
(d) When a psychiatric patient splits their own personality in two, in order to avoid dealing with trauma.

5. Under what conditions does Frankl describe the SS beating prisoners?
(a) At the direction of the SS authorities, prisoners were beaten.
(b) When they spoke before being spoken to.
(c) At the slightest provocation or for no reason at all.
(d) When they were injurred and unable to work.

Short Answer Questions

1. What rule did the author establish for himself in Auschwitz?

2. When was there a free fight among the prisoners?

3. Where does the author claim that most of the extermination took place?

4. What does Frankl argue hurts most about being hit?

5. How many mental phases does the author claim that concentration camp prisoners go through?

Short Essay Questions

1. What kind of curiosity does Frankl write that the prisoners had?

2. What does Frankl claim is the difficulty of his attempt at a methodical presentation of the psychology of the prisoner?

3. Frankl writes that because of the harsh realities of camp life and the "constant necessity of concentrating on the task of staying alive," some of the prisoners "regressed" to a more primitive form of mental life. How does he see this manifest itself?

4. What does Frankl write about the sense of humor that developed in the concentration camp?

5. How does Frankl describe a "delusion of reprieve"?

6. Who were termed "Moslems" in camp? What consequences did being called "Moslem" have?

7. In the first section of the text, "Experiences in a Concentration Camp," what groups does Frankl identify within the concentration camp? Which group does he focus on? Why?

8. According to Frankl, what characterizes the prisoners' thinking when they first arrive at camp?

9. How does Frankl categorize the psychological response to such an abnormal situation as life in a concentration camp?

10. In "Experiences in a Concentration Camp," what does Frankl write happened when a train was prepared to transport prisoners?

(see the answer keys)

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