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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. Which nationality is not named in Yanek's portrait of the prisoners who begin singing Jewish songs in many different languages?

2. In what year is Yanek moved to the Trzebinia concentration camp?

3. The man who claims to have the last name of Finkelstein turns out to have inhabited which position in the past?

4. At the end of Chapter 18, Yanek has a dream that which person is chasing him?

5. By the end of Chapter 17, Yanek states that he has been imprisoned in concentration camps for what length of time?

Short Essay Questions

1. Which qualities of new prisoners help Yanek to qualify certain individuals as such?

2. At what point do Yanek and the other new arrivals to the Birkenau death camp realize that they have been spared for the moment?

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

4. Which objects in the salt mine does Yanek consider aesthetically beautiful?

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

6. How does Yanek find out that the train's destination is Birkenau before the train arrives there?

7. What is different about Yanek's experience at Bergen-Belsen, in relation to his previous experiences with concentration camps?

8. Discuss an instance in the novel when Yanek's determination to survive is apparent.

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Analyze the interplay between the resolution of Prisoner B-3087 and one of the novel's main messages. How does Gratz make connections between these elements and how does their juxtaposition help them get across one main message of the novel?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the instances of irony within the narrative of Prisoner B-3087 and analyze Gratz’s purpose for including each instance you discuss.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss Gratz’s use of Aristotle's appeals within the text of Prisoner B-3087. How does Gratz use each of the three appeals to persuade the reader of messages central to the tenets of the work?

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