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

2. When Yanek is placed into a queue at the beginning of Chapter 17 and he hears screams up ahead, what happens when it is his turn?

3. At the end of Chapter 19, Yanek thinks he may be losing his mind when he hears the sound of what?

4. Yanek's first assigned task after he is moved to the Trzebinia concentration camp is to move a pile of what objects from one site to another?

5. When Yanek reaches the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, he must sleep in a single bunk with how many other men?

Short Essay Questions

1. On which two occasions does Yanek vow to take every step he can "never to forget" (161) the atrocities committed during the Holocaust?

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

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

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

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

6. For what purpose do the Nazis use cattle cars and in what way is their use symbolic?

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

8. What distinction does Yanek make between the Trzebinia concentration camp and the other camps in which he has been imprisoned?

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

10. How does the theme of altruism arise within the journey from Auschwitz to Sachsenhausen?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Could Prisoner B-3087 be classified as a coming-of-age story? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Choose an object from Prisoner B-3087, such as the Star of David armband, the rooftop door, or some other symbolic object and discuss its overall meaning and its connection to themes within the text.

Essay Topic 3

How do the themes of deception and secrecy function within Prisoner B-3087 and what is Gratz’s message regarding these themes?

(see the answer keys)

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