74 pages • 2 hours read
The Librarian of Auschwitz
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During Reading
Reading Questions & Paired Texts
Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.
CHAPTERS 1-8
Reading Check
1. How many books make up the library?
2. What play are the children putting on when Dita starts helping?
3. What does Dita receive from a boy named Erik in the ghetto?
4. What group is Fredy a part of?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Why does Professor Morgenstern, one of the teachers, ask if he is allowed to go back in line during the inspection?
2. How does Dita acquire her top bunk?
3. Why do certain Jewish prisoners, like Rudi and Schlomo, receive extra privileges in the camp?
4. Who is Margit?
5. Why does Dita feel guilty about her behavior on her last birthday?
Paired Resource
Postcard of Nazi Triangle System
- This article shows an image of an original postcard from WWII containing the triangle identification system for prisoners.
- Why do you think the Nazis wanted to identify and differentiate between so many groups of people? Why not just have one symbol for anyone considered “unwanted”?
CHAPTERS 9-16
Reading Check
1. What language does the serious teacher speak that impresses Dita?
2. What game do the girls play to take their mind off their situation?
3. Who are two important leaders who visit Auschwitz?
4. With whom is Rudi in love?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Why can’t Dita trust Mr. Tomasek like her mother thought?
2. What is ironic about the German soldier explaining that Miriam doesn’t need to worry because her family will “soon all be reunited”?
3. Why does Dita need to borrow the boy’s jacket?
4. Why is the book Dita is forbidden to read considered “scandalous”?
Paired Resources
“How A Jewish Doctor Duped the Nazis: A Typhoid Vaccine”
- This article details the creation of the typhoid vaccine, the disease Dita’s father likely dies from. The doctor who created it was able to secretly vaccinate hundreds of people imprisoned during the Holocaust while sabotaging the German army. (Teacher-appropriate; not student facing. Content Warning: descriptions of graphic violence and animal experimentation)
- This article connects to the theme of In War, Nothing Is as It Seems.
- Although her father dies from the disease, how do you think Dita would have felt knowing deceptions like this were happening all around her?
- This 2-minute trailer presents a 2020 documentary which covers the “love” story of a Jewish girl and a Nazi soldier.
- The documentary connects to the theme of Love Is Stronger Than War.
- Do you think this was true love? Based on the description of camp life in the novel, what situations and rules would have complicated this relationship?
CHAPTERS 17-24
Reading Check
1. What is meant by “special treatment” for the prisoners?
2. What does the camp hear coming from the trucks of prisoners?
3. What happens to the two Russian prisoners who attempt escape?
4. Which holiday do the Jewish prisoners get permission to celebrate?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Why does the family camp exist, according to Mengele?
2. How does Hirsch die?
3. How does Dita calm the children left in Block 31?
4. What is Viktor’s original proposal to Renee?
Paired Resource
“The History Behind 7 Passover Traditions”
- This Times article explains the meaning and tradition of Passover, which is celebrated by the Jewish prisoners in this section.
- The information and ideas in this resource connect to the theme of Love Is Stronger Than War.
- Why do you think the Jewish prisoners hold on to the tradition of Passover despite being trapped in Auschwitz?
CHAPTER 25-AFTERWARD
Reading Check
1. What kind of dealmaking does Dita witness in the latrines when she goes there to try to read?
2. What gift does the Polish boy give Dita?
3. Where do Dita and her mother work after being relocated?
4. What girl does Dita meet briefly in the work camp before she (the girl) and her sister die of typhus?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What happens to Viktor’s plan to help Renee and her mother escape?
2. Why are the prisoners scared to write postcards home when given the chance?
3. How does Dita’s mother survive selection?
4. How does Dita’s mother ultimately die?
Recommended Next Reads
Between Shades of Grey by Ruta Sepetys
- Lina and her family are sent to a forced labor camp after the Soviet Union annexes and occupies her country of Lithuania in 1940.
- Shared themes include In War, Nothing Is as It Seems and Love Is Stronger Than War.
- Shared topics include genocide, death, family relocation, and young adults in war.
- Between Shades of Grey on SuperSummary
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
- Narrated by Death, this novel follows a young girl and her family as they hide a Jewish man from the Nazi army.
- Shared themes include In War, Nothing Is as It Seems and The Power of Books to Give Life Meaning.
- Shared topics include Holocaust, Nazi Germany, secret books, and young adults in wartime.
- The Book Thief on SuperSummary
Reading Questions Answer Key
CHAPTERS 1-8
Reading Check
1. Eight (Chapter2)
2. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (Chapter 2)
3. Her first kiss (Chapter 4)
4. The Zionists (Chapter 4)
Short Answer
1. He was trying to cause a distraction for Dita, who was hiding books during the inspection. (Chapter 2)
2. She makes a deal with the meanest woman in her barrack. Dita tells her that she (Dita) is small and would be a better bunkmate than others the mean woman could get. Dita also arranges for a top bunk for her mother. (Chapter 3)
3. They have good jobs with the SS guard. (Chapter 5)
4. Margit is Dita’s best friend. They spend most of their non-working time together. (Chapters 1-8)
5. She is ungrateful for her present because they were not the specific type of shoe she wanted. (Chapter 7)
CHAPTERS 9-16
Reading Check
1. English (Chapter 9)
2. Hopscotch (Chapter 10)
3. Two very important Nazi leaders, Hoss and Eichmann (Chapter 11)
4. Alice (Chapters 9-16)
Short Answer
1. He is spying on the resistance and submitting names to the SS leader. (Chapter 11)
2. Miriam doesn’t realize that they’ll be reunited in death, implying that her family is already dead. (Chapter 11)
3. She wants to sneak into the male infirmary to see her dying father. She succeeds at this. (Chapter 14)
4. It is a satire of war, but many readers don’t understand that and take the messages literally. (Chapter 15)
CHAPTERS 17-24
Reading Check
1. Death in the gas chamber (Chapter 17)
2. Singing of anthems (Chapter 19)
3. They are executed. (Chapter 22)
4. Passover (Chapter 23)
Short Answer
1. It is a decoy for the Red Cross. If they are ever inspected, they can “prove” that the camp’s purpose is detention and that the people are treated well. (Chapter 17)
2. He appears to have overdosed on sleeping pills and died by suicide, although Dita doesn’t believe it. (Chapter 19)
3. She reads to them all the funny parts from her “scandalous” book. (Chapter 20)
4. He wants to help her escape by dressing her up as an SS guard and walking her out of the camp. (Chapter 21)
CHAPTER 25-AFTERWARD
Reading Check
1. Dita witnesses women planning to trade sex for extra rations of food; mothers who do this give the rations to their children since they are starving. (Chapter 25)
2. An egg (Chapter 26)
3. A brick factory (Chapter 28)
4. Anne Frank (Chapter 29)
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. He gets the release papers but is caught trying to get back into the camp. He is executed. (Chapter 25)
2. They cannot tell the truth, and they are afraid it means they will die tomorrow. (Chapter 27)
3. Dita’s mother is told to walk to the left; she walks to the right instead, however. No one notices, and she escapes selection by simply disobeying. (Chapter 27)
4. She dies of disease in a military hospital after the British evacuate their camp. (Chapter 31)
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