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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. During the long train journey Yanek experiences in Chapter 15, he wakes up to discover that what event has taken place?
(a) He can no longer feel his own feet.
(b) The cattle car has begun to fill up with water.
(c) The cattle car has begun to fill up with smoke.
(d) The man standing next to him has died.

2. What numerical term does Yanek use to describe the number of people who have died during the long train trip to Birkenau?
(a) One dozen.
(b) Hundreds.
(c) Scores.
(d) Several dozen.

3. On the journey from Auschwitz to Sachsenhausen, the first prisoners to die along the way according to Yanek are the prisoners without what?
(a) Water.
(b) Food.
(c) Medicine.
(d) Shoes.

4. When Yanek arrives at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Chapter 24, it is his seventh concentration camp in "less than" how many "years" (196)?
(a) 2.
(b) 5.
(c) 3.
(d) 4.

5. What is NOT something Yanek associates with his formerly safe and happy self?
(a) Science.
(b) Bicycle rides.
(c) Books.
(d) American movies.

Short Answer Questions

1. The term "Muselmann" (96) is used by prisoners to refer to a person with what condition?

2. How many days are the prisoners into their journey from Auschwitz to Sachsenhausen when Yanek begins to help a fellow prisoner keep going?

3. How many barrels for collecting human waste are allocated to 500 prisoners at Birkenau?

4. At the start of Chapter 19, Yanek states that when he gets to Auschwitz, he is how old?

5. For how many hours does Yanek remain inside the motionless cattle car while the other cars are loaded with Jewish people?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the theme of collectivism arise within Yanek's arrival at Auschwitz?

2. What is the significance of the novel's title?

3. Whose advice must Yanek ignore in order to make friends with Fred?

4. Discuss an instance when Gratz uses a literary device to indicate the preciousness of food.

5. What morning routine does Yanek develop during his time imprisoned in Birkenau and why does he consider the routine important?

6. What happens to the men and boys accused of plotting escape from the Trzebinia and what proof does Yanek have of their innocence?

7. What scent does Yanek detect in the air when he is brought to the Birkenau death camp?

8. What small moment of triumph does Yanek experience during the transition from Auschwitz to another concentration camp?

9. What happens to the prisoner who is recognized by the others at the salt mine as a former member of the Judenrat?

10. To what location is Yanek sent after he is removed from the Plaszow concentration camp?

(see the answer keys)

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