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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. With what type of weapon does the kapo hit both Fred and Yanek in Chapter 20?
(a) A hammer.
(b) A ladle.
(c) A club.
(d) A baseball bat.

2. How old is the younger Polish boy on the train platform who shouts at the passing train passengers that they will be transformed into a particular substance?
(a) 5 or 6.
(b) 12 or 13.
(c) 3 or 4.
(d) 10 or 11.

3. When Yanek helps a fellow prisoner to continue on with the journey from Auschwitz to Sachsenhausen, what body part of the prisoner's does Yanek prop up onto his own body?
(a) Elbow.
(b) Back.
(c) Head.
(d) Shoulder.

4. About how many people are imprisoned within the Auschwitz concentration camp at the time Yanek and the others are moved to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp?
(a) 5,000.
(b) 1,500.
(c) 3,000.
(d) 2,500.

5. How many barrels for collecting human waste are allocated to 500 prisoners at Birkenau?
(a) 12.
(b) 24.
(c) 10.
(d) 2.

Short Answer Questions

1. In what year does Yanek arrive at the Auschwitz concentration camp?

2. Though Yanek knows that he is still a young man when he arrives at Auschwitz, he declares that he appears to be a man of what age?

3. When Yanek has the urge to strike the prisoner he has just helped, what does he do instead?

4. What location does every prisoner at Auschwitz do their best to avoid?

5. When new prisoners are brought to Auschwitz in Chapter 19, a long-time prisoner whispers to them that any children among them should claim to be what age?

Short Essay Questions

1. What ominous warning does an SS guard give to Yanek as he enters Auschwitz?

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. What happens to Fred when he is unable to work?

5. What is the source of the strange sound Yanek hears during his first night at Auschwitz?

6. What happens to the prisoner who is recognized by the others at the salt mine as a former member of the Judenrat?

7. What is the significance of the novel's title?

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

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

10. For what reason does Fred become unable to work?

(see the answer keys)

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