Night, Chapter 3 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. Where does the transport from Sighet arrive at the beginning of Chapter 3?

   • The ghetto in Sighet, where the expulsion began
   • Buna, the camp reached after four hours on the road
   • Correct answer: Birkenau, where Béla Katz had arrived a week before
   • Block 17 in Auschwitz, run by a smiling young Pole

   Chapter 3 opens as the prisoners leave the wagon at Birkenau, where Béla Katz had come with the first transport one week ahead of them; Block 17 in Auschwitz comes later, and Buna only at the chapter's end.

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2. 2

   Question 2. What does a fellow prisoner tell Eliezer to say about his age and his father's?

   • That he is twenty and his father is thirty-five
   • Correct answer: That he is eighteen and his father is forty
   • That he is seventeen and his father is fifty
   • That he is sixteen and his father is forty-five

   Eliezer is fifteen and his father fifty, but the inmate insists, "Eighteen and forty," and when Dr. Mengele asks his age, Eliezer answers that he is eighteen.

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3. 3

   Question 3. What occupation does Eliezer claim when he is questioned at the selection?

   • Correct answer: A farmer
   • A student
   • A locksmith
   • A tailor

   Asked his profession, Eliezer wonders whether to say that he is a student, then hears himself answer "Farmer" instead.

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4. 4

   Question 4. Who conducts the selection when the column reaches the crossroads?

   • An officer who had guarded the train from Sighet
   • A veteran prisoner posted at the crossroads
   • The young Polish prisoner in charge of the block
   • Correct answer: Dr. Mengele, holding a conductor's baton

   At the crossroads stands Dr. Mengele, though Eliezer didn't know it then, holding a conductor's baton that moves "sometimes to the right, sometimes to the left."

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5. 5

   Question 5. What does Eliezer's father do as the column moves toward the burning pits?

   • Correct answer: He whispers the words of the Kaddish for the dead
   • He urges Eliezer to run toward the barracks
   • He tries to bargain with one of the officers
   • He hides the last of the family's valuables

   As someone begins the Kaddish, the prayer for the dead, his father whispers its words, and for the first time Eliezer feels anger rising within him: why should he sanctify God's name?

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6. 6

   Question 6. What does Eliezer decide to do rather than be thrown into the fire?

   • Beg the officer at the front to spare his father's life
   • Run for the gate and take his chances outside
   • Correct answer: Throw himself against the electrified barbed wire
   • Hide among the group sent to the other side

   He gathers all that remains of his strength to break rank and throw himself onto the barbed wire, but two steps from the pit the column is ordered to turn left and is herded into barracks.

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7. 7

   Question 7. What words are inscribed on the gate the prisoners pass under at Auschwitz?

   • Help each other — the only way to survive
   • Correct answer: Arbeit macht frei — work makes you free
   • Warning! Danger of death — under a black skull
   • Work or crematorium — the choice is yours

   The promise that work makes you free stands above a camp whose officers name the crematorium as the only alternative to labor.

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8. 8

   Question 8. What finally happens to Stein of Antwerp?

   • He asks Eliezer for news one last time and says goodbye
   • He is sent away during the next sorting of prisoners
   • He is transferred to Buna alongside Eliezer
   • Correct answer: He learns the truth from a later transport and never returns

   Eliezer's invented good news keeps Stein going until people arriving from Antwerp tell him what really happened to his family.

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9. 9

   Question 9. Which of these events actually occur in Chapter 3 of Night?

   • Eliezer is separated from his mother and his sister Tzipora when the SS orders men to the left and women to the right.

     Happened

     As the SS order divides men from women, his mother and Tzipora move to the right while Eliezer walks on with his father, holding his hand.

   • Eliezer's father is knocked to the ground after asking where the toilets are.

     Happened

     When his father politely asks where the toilets are, the Gypsy in charge slaps him so hard that he falls down and crawls back to his place.

   • Eliezer attacks the man who strikes his father.

     Didn't happen

     Eliezer stands petrified and keeps silent while his father is struck, and afterward remorse begins to gnaw at him.

   • Numbers are tattooed on the prisoners' left arms.

     Happened

     Three veteran prisoners tattoo numbers on the new arrivals' left arms, and Eliezer becomes A-7713.

   • Eliezer eats his first bowl of camp soup as soon as it is served.

     Didn't happen

     At noon in Auschwitz, terribly hungry, he refuses to touch his soup, and his father swallows his ration.

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10. 10

    Question 10. Which of these details belong to Chapter 3, and which do not?

    • A truck empties a load of small children into a pit of fire.

      Happened

      Not far from the column, a truck unloads small children, and Eliezer sees them thrown into the flames rising from a ditch.

    • The column is turned aside into a barracks two steps from the pit.

      Happened

      Two steps from the pit, the column is ordered to turn left and is herded into barracks.

    • Eliezer admits to Stein that there has been no news of Reizel and the children.

      Didn't happen

      Although his mother had received no letter from them since 1940, Eliezer lies and tells Stein that Reizel and the children are fine.

    • Eliezer resolves to throw himself against the electrified wire.

      Happened

      As the column nears the pit, Eliezer gathers his strength to break rank and throw himself onto the barbed wire, but the column is turned aside first.

    • A Kapo takes Eliezer's new shoes from him in the muddy barrack.

      Didn't happen

      His new shoes are covered with a thick coat of mud, so the Kapo does not notice them and Eliezer keeps them.

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11. 11

    Question 11. What does 'convalescent' mean in the officer's warning that Auschwitz is not a convalescent home?

    • Correct answer: Relating to recovery from illness
    • Relating to religious observance
    • Relating to military discipline
    • Relating to temporary shelter or lodging

    A convalescent home is a place where people rest and heal; the officer's point is that the camp offers only labor or the crematorium.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What is the 'Kaddish' that Eliezer's father recites as the column nears the flames?

    • A hymn sung to welcome the Sabbath
    • A confession spoken on the Day of Atonement
    • A blessing said over bread before a meal
    • Correct answer: A prayer sanctifying God's name, recited for the dead

    The Kaddish sanctifies God's name and is said for the dead; as his father whispers it, Eliezer asks why he should sanctify a God who "chose to be silent."

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13. 13

    Question 13. What does 'invectives' mean as used in: 'Another inmate appeared, unleashing a stream of invectives'?

    • Whispered prayers or blessings
    • Desperate pleas and cries for help
    • Correct answer: Angry, abusive words or insults
    • Clever schemes or inventions

    Invectives are harsh, insulting words; this inmate curses the new arrivals and demands to know why they have come to Auschwitz.

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