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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. What position did Solzhenitsyn hold in the Russian army before his arrest?

2. For how long did Solzhenitsyn walk around Russia as a free man before being sent to Gulag?

3. What was used at night when prisoners were being interrogated in the 1920s?

4. What was the name given to the guard who was in charge of waking the prisoners up in the morning?

5. Where did most arrests happen during the time the Gulag prison systems were in use?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happened in the 1960s when 70 judges were brought before the Supreme Court to justify their actions in the Gulag trials?

2. How did the prisoners feel about the offer of joining the white battalion?

3. Who was the German civilian present on the day Solzhenitsyn was arrested?

4. Why couldn't interrogators be trusted to uphold the law?

5. How did the prisoners of Gulag know that WWII had ended in Russia?

6. Who was Igor Tronko?

7. Who were the organs?

8. In what ways did interrogators try to intimidate prisoners in the early 1920s?

9. What is the typical reaction most prisoners had during the first 24 hours after their arrest and imprisonment in Gulag?

10. What was the Section 11 paperwork that Solzhenitsyn signed during his interrogation?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Throughout the Gulag prison system, there was a vast organization of punishments and rewards in regards to the prisoners' productivity on a given day. First, explain how the productivity of prisoners was measured on a given day. Next, explain at least two ways prisoners were rewarded for meeting their work quota and two ways prisoners were punished for falling below the quota.

Essay Topic 2

The Russian government was extremely concerned with its reputation in the Western world. Explain how the West first viewed Russia and its labor camps in the 1930s. Explain how propaganda was used by the government to augment the way the West viewed the Gulag camps.

Essay Topic 3

Throughout the memoir, Solzhenitsyn compares the real evil of the world (such as the evil of Gulag) to the evil forces presented in literature. First, describe Solzhenitsyn's personal definition of what evil is and where it is hiding in the world. Next, compare/contrast that definition to at least one of the literary greats Solzhenitsyn discusses in the book.

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