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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. How does Frankl describe the "size" of human suffering?
(a) It is relative.
(b) It can never be as great as it was for prisoners in Auschwitz.
(c) It is impossible to gauge.
(d) It is only perceptible to the individual.

2. How does the friend of the author, who "smuggled himself" into the author's hut, suggest that the prisoners try to stay alive?
(a) He suggests that they never speak around SS officers.
(b) He recommends they shave, to look younger, and that they avoid showing discomfort to appear more fit.
(c) He offers them tips to get more food at meal time.
(d) He recommends that they sleep every moment that they get a chance, to be energetic in their work.

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

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. How were normal reactions hastened among the workers charged with removing sewage?

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

3. What symptom characterizes the first mental phase of prisoners in concentration camps?

4. What possession does the author of this book try to keep after arriving to the concentration camp?

5. Under what conditions does Frankl describe the SS beating prisoners?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

2. In the first section of Man's Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy, Frankl writes of his job working to lay tracks for a railway line. What was this job like? Who paid for it?

3. How were prisoners separated when they arrived at Auschwitz?

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

5. After the initial mental phase that was characterized by shock, what characterized the second phase that Frankl noticed in his fellow prisoners and in himself?

6. In the section on "Experiences in a Concentration Camp," Frankl describes a physical condition that affected "nearly all the camp inmates." What was this condition? How did it affect Frankl?

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

8. According to Frankl, what were the communal showers like? What was the attitude of the prisoners as they entered their first communal shower? Why is this important to Frankl?

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

10. 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?

(see the answer keys)

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