Night Quiz

1) When the prisoners first enter the camp, they are allowed to take a hot shower. However, they were to leave their clothes in the other block, since they were promised new ones. The prisoners had to remove all of their clothing and their personal items. Then, the veterans came around and engraved numbers into the prisoners with needles. Those numbers were what the prisoners would be identified by, and what the Germans would use to evaluate those that were weak and the ones that were strong.

2) The one thing that remains the same at Birkenau is their bell schedules. Although they encountered many different guards, some that seemed surprisingly humane, some that they were terrified of, different rations of food, and different labor jobs, they always had a bell schedule. The bells rang for when it was time for roll call, meal times, and when to go to bed. Elie said that he hated the bells, and  when he pictured a better world, it was one with no bells.

3) One of the most unknown things that the prisoners had to encounter was the selections. They didn't know when the selections were, or if they would be healthy enough to pass. At one point, Elie's father didn't think that he was healthy enough to pass, so he gives Elie his knife and spoon, which he thought would be useful. If tbey wrote your number down, you would be killed. The prisoners were always glancing at the guards, praying that they would pass the selection. Another thing that was unknown to the prisoners was when or if they would be transeferred to a new camp, and if that camp would be worse than the previous one. For example, the Auschwitz canp was one of the better ones, where the labor wasn't that bad, and they got bigger portions of food. However, when they were sent to Buna, the guards were mean, and the work was harder.

4) At Auschwitz, the guards were relatively nice, and treated the prisoners like actual humans. They were given new clothes, a wash basin, and bigger food rations. Elie said that he heard the guard speak the first "human words" since being at the camps. However, at Buna, they encountered a guard named Idek. Idek had little fits of frenzy, and no one wanted to get in his way when he had one. When Elie got in his way, he was struck repeatedly, until he was covered in blood. When Elie's father couldn't keep up with his work, Idek beat him with an iron bar. After seeing Idek with a girl, Elie was whipped 25 times for what he witnessed. Idek tried to look for little things that he could use against the prisoners, so he could beat them up.