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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. According to Levi, when do survivors experience angst?

2. What nationality is Primo Levi?

3. When were Eichmann and Hoss born?

4. What does survival depend upon?

5. The Nazi party was elected to power in which country?

Short Essay Questions

1. Comment on how a prisoner's moral yardstick changed during his internment.

2. What is Primo Levi's theory about judging any people associated with the lagers?

3. Why did Alberto change his mind about consoling oneself with illusions?

4. Why do historians need to study the stories of survivors?

5. Explain the concept of "convenient truth."

6. Briefly describe the Nazi death camp system.

7. Why do survivors simplify the past by using stark good vs. evil distinctions?

8. Explain the nature of human memory.

9. What does Levi consider to be his mission and why?

10. What does Levi think of the theory of "incommunicability"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why are survivors' stories an important part of understanding the Holocaust and World War II. Why might survivors' stories not tell us the complete picture?

Essay Topic 2

Levi titles Chapter 5 Useless Violence. Do you think that violence can ever be useful? Use examples from the book and your own life to give a rationale for your answer.

Essay Topic 3

How did the treatment of prisoners change over the course of the war? What happened as the Nazis began to suffer defeats on the battlefields?

(see the answer keys)

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