I Have Lived A Thousand Years Study Guide
Short Answer Questions - Pages 12-34
1. What is the setting as the story opens?
2. How old is Elli as the story opens?
3. At the start of the book, how does Elli spend her days?
4. Where do Bonnie and Elli go to swim?
5. What purpose does the river in town often serve?
6. How does Laura demonstrate affection?
7. Why does Elli believe her mother slights her?
8. Elli thinks her mother's favorite child is
9. How does Elli work in school?
10. How does Bubbi attain good grades in school?
11. Why does Elli's father think ambition is a desirable trait?
12. At the start of the book, why do the Hungarian police bother Elli's family?
13. What story does Bubbi tell his family in the middle of the night?
14. How does Elli's father react to Bubi's story from the middle of the night?
15. How does Bubbi's father react when he sees the story later in the papers?
16. How does Bubi manage to return from Budapest after the story breaks in the papers?
17. What future plans does Elli have for Budapest?
18. Why does Elli not have the chance to graduate?
19. Under what conditions does Elli leave her school?
20. What happens on March 27?
21. What does Elli's father show her in the basement?
22. What surrendered possession bothers Elli the most?
23. What bothers Elli the most concerning her surrendered possession?
24. What does Elli learn from the town crier?
25. How does Bubi react to the news from the town crier?
26. How do other boys react to Bubi's attitude concerning his yellow star?
27. How does Elli handle being forced to wear the yellow star?
28. Why does Elli return to her school after the schools are closed?
29. When Elli returns to her school, what award does she learn she received?
30. Where does Jancsi want to meet Elli?
Short Answer Questions - Pages 35 through 70
1. How does Elli's planned meeting with Jansci occur?
2. What does the town crier announce concerning Jews and socialization?
3. What does the town crier announce as forbidden access for Jews?
4. What is the penalty for Christians who socialize with Jews?
5. How far is Nagymagyar from Elli's home?
6. Why do soldiers order Elli to go to Nagymagyar?
7. What is each family supposed to take to Nagymagyar?
8. Who largely packs for Nagymagyar?
9. How do Laura and Elli plan to travel to Nagymagyar?
10. Where do Laura and Elli visit before they traveled to Nagymagyar?
11. For what does Old Mr. Stern pray?
12. When Elli and Laura arrive at the waiting cart for Nagymagar, why are the soldiers angry?
13. As she leaves town, how does Elli ride?
14. What do Elli and Laura first notice about "The Ghetto"?
15. What are the overall living conditions in "The Ghetto" for Jewish families?
16. What are Elli's family living quarters in "The Ghetto"?
17. Whom does Elli's family share a house with in "The Ghetto"?
18. Where are many families sleeping in "The Ghetto"?
19. How do many families cook in "The Ghetto"?
20. Who is Pinhas?
21. On what does Elli's poetry focus?
22. What do Marta Kalman and her mother bring Elli?
23. The night before the men are to leave for work camp, what does Laura's father spend time doing?
24. The night before the men are to leave for work camp, what does Laura pack for their trip?
25. The night before they are to leave for work camp, what is Elli's final image of her father?
26. What do the guards do with all the Jews' books, documents, and photos?
27. What does Elli do with her poetry journal when she sees a young mother denied possession of a single photo?
28. What orders does the family receive on May 20 in regard to traveling?
29. What does Aunt Serena do with dishes before leaving on May 2?
30. Where does Elli finally place her poetry journal before leaving for the work camps?
Short Answer Questions - Pages 71 through 100
1. How long does it take Elli to arrive at Auschwitz?
2. As Bubi leaves his mother at Auschwitz, what does she see?
3. During selection, what warning does Elli receive?
4. During selection, to what side do the guards send Aunt Serene?
5. What is Laura's reaction about Aunt Serene's orders to go to a side different from Laura's during selection?
6. After the women are driven into a room at Auschwitz, what happens to them?
7. What happens to the women in the showers at Auschwitz?
8. At Auschwitz, what clothes do the women receive?
9. After their showers at Auschwitz, what do Elli and her mother desperately want?
10. After finding their cousins, where are Laura and Elli directed?
11. How was food distributed at Auschwitz?
12. Why do Elli, her mother, aunt, and two cousins form a group at mealtime?
13. What do Elli and her mother do with their first serving of food at Auschwitz?
14. What do the aunt and cousins say about Elli and her mother's reaction to their first serving of food at Auschwitz?
15. What does a young girl do during a riot?
16. As a young girl screams, what do the female prisoners begin to smell?
17. After a guard takes the young girl during the riot, what do the females hear?
18. When the guards force the women outside for roll call, what does Elli wish she had thought about earlier?
19. As the guards order women to take their blankets inside, what do they do to the women?
20. Who is head of the barracks and inmates at Auschwitz?
21. Why had the woman in charge of the barracks paid a horrible price for her survival?
22. When Elli sees her reflection on June 3, what is her reaction?
23. For what are the women punished at Auschwitz?
24. Why does a girl have blood running down her leg?
25. What does Aunt Celia do on June 9 and 10?
26. What are Suri and Hindi doing on June 9 and 10?
27. What do Elli and Laura do on June 9 and 10?
28. What place does Elli describe as "the most notorious forced labor camp in Poland"?
29. How does Elli feel as she travels away from Auschwitz?
30. Why does Laura hate leaving her sister behind at Auschwitz?
Short Answer Questions - Pages 101 through 142
1. In June, what work do the guards assign Elli and her mother?
2. If Elli and her mother fail to keep pace at work, what is to be their punishment?
3. What time do Elli and Laura take a daily lunch break?
4. How long wis Elli and Laura's lunch break?
5. What happens the day the food arrives early at Laura and Elli's work?
6. What does Laura do after she sees a worm in her soup?
7. When a man is shot and left for dead, what does he do before guards finally kill him?
8. When a rainstorm hits suddenly, what are the women doing?
9. During the rainstorm, what does the commander tell the women?
10. How do the guards carry out an act of decimation?
11. What do Elli and Laura do the night before the scheduled decimation?
12. On the day of the scheduled decimation, what happens?
13. The women learn that the civilians killed earlier were part of ______.
14. After the attempted uprising, what rumor do the women hear?
15. At what point does Elli say she is a true concentration camp inmate?
16. When the women leave Plaszow, how do the guards force the inmates to travel?
17. When the inmates travel, why do they struggle to breathe?
18. After the women waited to travel from Plaszow, what news do they receive?
19. As the women traveled, what makes them feel better?
20. When Elli arrives at Auschwitz the second time, what does she realize?
21. When Elli arrives at Auschwitz for the second time, what does Laura continually tell Elli?
22. When Elli arrives at Auschwitz the second time, what do the inmates receive?
23. When Elli arrived at Auschwitz the second time, what are the new barracks like?
24. When Elli arrives at Auschwitz the second time, what happens to the bed above Elli and Laura?
25. How is Laura severely injured at Auschwitz?
26. On the night of Laura's injury at Auschwitz, what does Elli do?
27. What happens to those who remain in the infirmary longer than three weeks at Auschwitz?
28. What is Elli's punishment for visiting her mother every morning at the infirmary?
29. How does Elli get Laura out of the infirmary?
30. How does Laura pass roll call with her injury?
31. What is sad concerning Laura and Elli's work on leveling a hillside in preparation of construction?
32. What do the events from the chapter "Mommy, There's a Worm in Your Soup" demonstrate?
33. What is the difficulty the women face after the group of men and women from the uprising are killed?
34. Why does the entire barrack stay up at night reading a prayer book?
35. What are Elli's confused feelings when the women learn about the attempted uprising?
36. What makes traveling to Auschwitz so difficult?
37. What is significant about Elli's tattoo at Auschwitz?
38. What do the women's sleeping arrangements at Auschwitz demonstrate about their treatment?
39. Why do other women help Elli with her mother?
40. Why does Elli call her and her mother's reunion a "divine miracle"?
Short Answer Questions - Pages 143 through 182
1. Why are the women often forced to strip?
2. When women strip for guards, what is the one possession they retain?
3. What does Laura keep wrapped around her foot?
4. What happens to Laura as she struggles because of her partial paralysis?
5. Why does an SS officer severely beat Elli?
6. When the women arrive in Augsburg, what do the SS guards immediately do?
7. When the women arrive in Augsburg, what initially confuses the military guards?
8. When a military guard asks Laura her name, how does she reply?
9. How does Laura respond when the military guard asks her if she can hurry?
10. During the women's first night at Augsburg, how do guards feed them?
11. After the women's first night at Augsburg, how do the women react to their treatment?
12. In "Herr Zerkubel" how are the women sorted?
13. What task do the military guards give Elli at Augsburg?
14. How does Elli feel about completing a complex part for her work at Augsburg?
15. When an SS guard arrives at Augsburg, how does the women's treatment change?
16. When an SS guard arrives at Augsburg, what do the military guards begin doing?
17. When an SS guard arrives at Augsburg, what happens to women's food?
18. What do the women who shoveled snow at Augsburg find?
19. How does Laura make a lamp for the Sabbath at Augsburg?
20. When the guards give the women new clothes at Augsburg, what does Elli receive?
21. How does Elli first feel in her new clothes she receives at Augsburg?
22. Later, after she has the clothes for a bit, how does Elli feel in her new clothes she receives at Augsburg?
23. What is Elli's punishment for retrieving her coat?
24. When Elli returns from her punishment for retrieving her coat, what has her mother done?
25. After Elli returns from her punishment for retrieving her coat, how do Elli and Laura react to the day's events?
26. What convinces Elli of her father's death?
27. What does Mr. Scheidel bring Elli?
28. What is discovered when the women arrive at Camp Landsberg?
29. What is Laura's assignment at Waldlager?
30. At Waldlager, when does Bubi begin talking?
Short Answer Questions - Pages 183 through 223
1. At the Muhldorf train station, Elli and Laura lose sight of whom?
2. When the train traveling from the Muhldorf train station stops near a cornfield, what does Laura do?
3. When the train traveling from the Muhldorf train station stops near a cornfield, what do many prisoners do?
4. Why does Laura put a piece of cloth around Bubi's head?
5. When the train from Muhldorf pulls into a station at noon, what is there?
6. When the train from Muhldorf pulls into a station at noon, what do the guards tell the prisoners?
7. After the train from Muhldorf pulls into a station at noon, what happens as the prisoners stand outside the cars?
8. After the train from Muhldorf pulls into a station at noon, how does Laura behave?
9. After the train from Muhldorf pulls into a station at noon, what do the planes overhead do?
10. What do the soldiers remove from the train cars?
11. On the train, why could a girl not see?
12. After Elli's last train ride under the German soldiers' control, who is there when the doors open?
13. Immediately following their freedom, what confuses Elli and the other passengers?
14. Immediately following their freedom, how does a man who spoke Yiddish help?
15. When the prisoners leaves the cars for the final time, what do the local people do?
16. What do the local people say concerning the concentration camps?
17. A local woman thinks that Elli is ______years old.
18. How does Elli respond to the local woman guessing her age?
19. After discussing Elli's age, what does the local woman do as she leaves?
20. When do Elli, Laura, and Bubi begin making the trip home?
21. How do Elli, Laura, and Bubi make the trip home?
22. What is Elli, Laura and Bubi's home like after the war?
23. Why does the family wait at their home after the war?
24. Where did Bubi's father die?
25. Where does Bubi receive permission to attend school after the war?
26. Who plans to help the family in New York?
27. After the war, what do the three vow?
28. How does Elli feel in her home town after the war?
29. After the war, how does Laura earn money for food?
30. What does the family see on April 7, 1951?