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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. How long had Balakian's father known Dr. Reynadi?

2. What is a hamal?

3. How many katchkars were at the Holy Martyrs Armenian Church in Der Zor?

4. Where did Nafina and Dovey bump into each other in New York, several years after the genocide?

5. What job was Balakian working at when he began reading as much as he could about the Armenian genocide, in "Before the Nazis"?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did Balakian take the bones from the memorial site at Der Zor?

2. Why was Balakian so affected by his visit to Aleppo, Syria?

3. Why were the orders for deportation of all Armenians into the Syrian desert the equivalent of a death sentence?

4. Why did the Armenians form reform movements under Ottoman rule during the 1890s?

5. How did Balakian feel about claims that the Turkish denials fall under free speech?

6. What was significant about the murder of 250 Armenian intellectuals on the eve of the genocide and what was significant about Bishop Balakian's survival?

7. How does numbness help people who have endured great horrors?

8. How has Turkey's denial of the genocide affected its development as a modern nation?

9. What did Dovey mean when she said that Turkish culture was theft?

10. What was the deeper significance of the 500 pairs of shoes stolen by the Turks from Balakian's grandfather?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

When the Balakian family lived in Teaneck, New Jersey, Peter felt a special kinship with the Jews. Why did he feel this connection? Was it simply a matter of being exposed to a tight-knit community or was there something deeper that Peter could not have articulated? Why did he feel left out when his own family had traditions? If he had known at the time about the Armenian genocide, would the connection have been deeper?

Essay Topic 2

Peter's Aunt Anna was convinced that surrealism was the only legitimate form of writing because it represented the only legitimate way of responding to human events. How did her experiences in the Armenian genocide influence her feelings? Could surrealism be a healthy response to horrific events? Did the surrealism admired by Anna provide her with a health way of processing her emotions? Can surrealism speak to horrific historical events? Or does it serve to obscure the past and make it more difficult for people to come to terms with their sufferings? Are there some events that are so horrific they must be remembered with straightforward descriptions in order to teach future generations?

Essay Topic 3

The Turkish government has never apologized for the Armenian genocide and the world has moved on. What impact, if any, would an official Turkish apology have on the Armenian people today? Is it possible for an apology to be delivered a century later? How would the Armenian people benefit from an apology before the world? Would it free them? Would it free the Turks?

(see the answer keys)

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