Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - Quiz
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
  • 1. In what city did Solzhenitsyn give his speech to the AFL–CIO in 1975?
A) Moscow
B) New York City
C) Washington, D.C.
D) London
  • 2. According to Solzhenitsyn's 1975 speech, how many people died in the Ukrainian famine?
A) 10 million
B) 1 million
C) 6 million
D) 2 million
  • 3. In which years did the famine in the Ukraine take place, according to Solzhenitsyn?
A) 1921 and 1922
B) 1932 and 1933
C) 1917 and 1918
D) 1940 and 1941
  • 4. Where was Solzhenitsyn's interview with Izvestia published in 2008?
A) Russia
B) United States
C) Ukraine
D) France
  • 5. To what did Solzhenitsyn compare the Ukrainian famine in his 2008 interview?
A) The World War II casualties
B) The Russian famine of 1921–1922
C) The Siege of Leningrad
D) The Great Purge
  • 6. Who ordered the Bolshevik units to seize food harvests from peasants?
A) The Russian military
B) The local governors
C) The Politburo
D) The international community
  • 7. What group did Solzhenitsyn blame for creating the theory that the Holodomor was a genocide targeting only Ukrainians?
A) Western historians
B) The Bolshevik leadership
C) Believers in an anti-Russian form of Ukrainian ultranationalism
D) The Soviet government
  • 8. Where is the Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Center located?
A) London, England
B) Paris, France
C) Moscow, Russia
D) Worcester, Massachusetts
  • 9. Who created the bronze statue of Solzhenitsyn erected in Vladivostok?
A) Pyotr Chegodayev
B) Bernard Pivot
C) Jean Crépu
D) Alexander Sokurov
  • 10. In what city was a bronze statue of Solzhenitsyn erected on 2 September 2015?
A) Worcester
B) Vermont
C) Washington, D.C.
D) Vladivostok
  • 11. Who interviewed Solzhenitsyn in his rural home in Vermont in 1983?
A) Bernard Pivot
B) Jean Crépu
C) Nicolas Miletitch
D) Alexander Sokurov
  • 12. Who made the four-part television documentary 'Besedy s Solzhenitsynym'?
A) Malcolm Muggeridge
B) Bernard Pivot
C) Alexander Sokurov
D) Bernard Levin
  • 13. What is the Russian title of the documentary about the creation of The Gulag Archipelago?
A) Vologda Diary
B) Besedy s Solzhenitsynym
C) L'Histoire Secrète
D) Taynaya Istoriya 'Arkhipelaga GULAG'
  • 14. In what year was the documentary about the secret history of The Gulag Archipelago broadcast on Rossiya K?
A) 1998
B) 2009
C) 1983
D) 2015
  • 15. Why did Solzhenitsyn say the Bolsheviks refused to pay peasants for seized food?
A) Ideological reasons
B) Economic bankruptcy
C) International sanctions
D) Lack of currency
  • 16. In what year did Solzhenitsyn's Soviet citizenship get restored?
A) 1990
B) 1994
C) 1989
D) 2008
  • 17. Where did Solzhenitsyn live after returning to Russia?
A) Troitse-Lykovo
B) Siberia
C) Kiev
D) Saint Petersburg
  • 18. What political structure did Solzhenitsyn advocate for in post-Soviet Russia?
A) A parliamentary democracy
B) A pure monarchy
C) A strong presidential republic
D) A communist dictatorship
  • 19. Which political leader did Solzhenitsyn support after returning to Russia?
A) Joseph Stalin
B) Konstantin Chernenko
C) Mikhail Suslov
D) Vladimir Putin
  • 20. What was the cause of Solzhenitsyn's death?
A) Pneumonia
B) Old age
C) Heart failure
D) Cancer
  • 21. At what age did Solzhenitsyn die?
A) 87
B) 90
C) 89
D) 92
  • 22. Where was Solzhenitsyn buried?
A) Red Square
B) Saint Petersburg
C) Troitse-Lykovo
D) Donskoy Monastery
  • 23. According to Solzhenitsyn, what was the main cause of the Russian revolution?
A) Men have forgotten God
B) Tsarist corruption
C) Economic inequality
D) Foreign interference
  • 24. How did Solzhenitsyn view the ordination of female priests in the Anglican Communion?
A) He supported it
B) He suggested a compromise
C) He opposed it
D) He was indifferent
  • 25. Where is Solzhenitsyn's son, Yermolai, a senior partner?
A) The University of Notre Dame
B) The Russian Orthodox Church
C) The Kremlin
D) McKinsey & Company
  • 26. What historical figure did Solzhenitsyn believe worsened the dechristianization of Russian culture after 1666?
A) Peter the Great
B) Mikhail Suslov
C) Patriarch Nikon
D) Tsar Alexis
  • 27. In what year was the television talk show hosted by Solzhenitsyn discontinued?
A) 2008
B) 1990
C) 1994
D) 1995
  • 28. What year did Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn first marry Natalia Alekseevna Reshetovskaya?
A) 1952
B) 1973
C) 1940
D) 1957
  • 29. In what year did Solzhenitsyn and Reshetovskaya remarry?
A) 1940
B) 1972
C) 1962
D) 1957
  • 30. What was the title of Reshetovskaya's 1974 memoir about her life with Solzhenitsyn?
A) One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
B) Cancer Ward
C) Sanya: My Life with Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
D) The Gulag Archipelago
  • 31. Who was Solzhenitsyn's second wife?
A) None of the above
B) Natalia Alekseevna Reshetovskaya
C) Matryona
D) Natalia Dmitrievna Svetlova
  • 32. What was the profession of Solzhenitsyn's second wife, Natalia Dmitrievna Svetlova?
A) Mathematician
B) Editor
C) Writer
D) Teacher
  • 33. What is the name of the son from Natalia Dmitrievna Svetlova's prior marriage?
A) Yermolai
B) Stepan
C) Dmitri Turin
D) Ignat
  • 34. Which of these is one of the three sons born to Solzhenitsyn and Svetlova?
A) Nikita
B) Yermolai
C) Ivan
D) Dmitri
  • 35. In what year was Solzhenitsyn freed from exile following Khrushchev's Secret Speech?
A) 1960
B) 1956
C) 1962
D) 1964
  • 36. While teaching at a secondary school, when did Solzhenitsyn do his writing?
A) During his lunch breaks
B) At night
C) During the day
D) On weekends
  • 37. Until which year did Solzhenitsyn believe his writing would never be printed during his lifetime?
A) 1956
B) 1974
C) 1961
D) 1962
  • 38. Who was the chief editor of Novy Mir magazine that Solzhenitsyn approached with his manuscript?
A) Ivan Denisovich
B) Nikita Khrushchev
C) Dmitri Turin
D) Aleksandr Tvardovsky
  • 39. In what year was 'One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich' published?
A) 1962
B) 1964
C) 1960
D) 1956
  • 40. Who explicitly approved the publication of 'One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich'?
A) Aleksandr Tvardovsky
B) The secondary school board
C) Stalin
D) Nikita Khrushchev
  • 41. Which book was Solzhenitsyn writing simultaneously with 'Cancer Ward' in the 1960s?
A) The Gulag Archipelago
B) Matryona's Home
C) Sanya
D) One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
  • 42. In what year was 'Matryona's Home' published?
A) 1963
B) 1960
C) 1962
D) 1964
  • 43. What rank did Solzhenitsyn hold during World War II?
A) Captain
B) Colonel
C) General
D) Private
  • 44. What military unit did Solzhenitsyn command during the war?
A) A sound-ranging battery
B) A tank division
C) An air squadron
D) An infantry platoon
  • 45. For what specific action was Solzhenitsyn awarded the Order of the Red Star?
A) Defending a bridge against German tanks
B) Sound-ranging two German artillery batteries
C) Capturing a high-ranking German officer
D) Leading a successful infantry charge
  • 46. When was Solzhenitsyn awarded the Order of the Red Star?
A) 15 August 1945
B) 1 January 1944
C) 12 May 1943
D) 8 July 1944
  • 47. Which uncompleted novel chronicles Solzhenitsyn's wartime experience?
A) One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
B) The Gulag Archipelago
C) Love the Revolution!
D) Prussian Nights
  • 48. In which region was Solzhenitsyn serving when he witnessed war crimes?
A) Poland
B) East Prussia
C) Stalingrad
D) Ukraine
  • 49. According to the text, what was the primary motivation cited by Soviet soldiers for their actions in Germany?
A) Fear of their commanders
B) Revenge for Nazi atrocities
C) Financial gain
D) Orders from Joseph Stalin
  • 50. What is the title of the poem Solzhenitsyn memorized in a forced labor camp?
A) Prussian Nights
B) The Captain's War
C) The Soviet Soldier
D) East Prussian Crimes
  • 51. In the poem 'Prussian Nights', what was the nationality of the woman mistakenly identified as German?
A) Austrian
B) Russian
C) French
D) Polish
  • 52. Which official Soviet writer does Solzhenitsyn mention in the context of responsibility for the atrocities in 'Prussian Nights'?
A) Ilya Ehrenburg
B) Maxim Gorky
C) Alexei Tolstoy
D) Mikhail Sholokhov
  • 53. In 'The Gulag Archipelago', what does Solzhenitsyn say assists the awakening of omniscience?
A) Insistent thoughts about one's own transgressions
B) Studying political theory
C) Reading historical accounts
D) Forgiveness of enemies
  • 54. How many times was Solzhenitsyn decorated during the war?
A) Three times
B) Once
C) Four times
D) Twice
  • 55. In what year was Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn born?
A) 1922
B) 1920
C) 1918
D) 1915
  • 56. What was Solzhenitsyn's initial belief system in his youth?
A) Capitalist Liberalism
B) Existentialism
C) Marxism–Leninism
D) Russian Orthodox Christianity
  • 57. In which country did Solzhenitsyn reside after being expelled from the Soviet Union in 1974?
A) Canada
B) United Kingdom
C) France
D) West Germany
  • 58. In what year did Solzhenitsyn return to Russia?
A) 1998
B) 1990
C) 2000
D) 1994
  • 59. What philosophical belief did Solzhenitsyn adopt following his prison experiences?
A) Atheism
B) Nihilism
C) Eastern Orthodox Christian
D) Buddhism
  • 60. In what year was The Gulag Archipelago published?
A) 1971
B) 1966
C) 1968
D) 1973
  • 61. Where did Solzhenitsyn move in 1976?
A) London, England
B) Vermont, United States
C) Paris, France
D) Switzerland
  • 62. What was the last work by Solzhenitsyn published in the Soviet Union?
A) Cancer Ward
B) Matryona's Place
C) August 1914
D) In the First Circle
  • 63. In what city was Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn born?
A) Kislovodsk
B) Kuban
C) Moscow
D) Rostov
  • 64. How did Solzhenitsyn's father die?
A) Natural causes
B) A hunting accident
C) In World War I
D) In the Russian Civil War
  • 65. Which novel's early characters and concepts did Solzhenitsyn begin developing in 1936?
A) Red Wheel
B) The Gulag Archipelago
C) One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
D) August 1914
  • 66. In what year was Solzhenitsyn arrested by SMERSH?
A) 1953
B) 1947
C) 1950
D) 1945
  • 67. Who was Solzhenitsyn's friend with whom he corresponded?
A) Nikolai Vitkevich
B) Joseph Stalin
C) Ion Moraru
D) Lev Kopelev
  • 68. Which term did Solzhenitsyn use to refer to Joseph Stalin in his letters?
A) Hozyain
B) The General
C) The Comrade
D) Balabos
  • 69. What was the primary charge under which Solzhenitsyn was convicted?
A) Treason
B) Anti-Soviet propaganda
C) Espionage
D) Desertion
  • 70. Who was the character Lev Rubin based on?
A) Nikolai Vitkevich
B) Ivan Denisovich
C) Lev Kopelev
D) Ion Moraru
  • 71. In which city was the camp located where Solzhenitsyn worked as a miner and bricklayer?
A) Birlik
B) Ekibastuz
C) Tashkent
D) Moscow
  • 72. Where was Solzhenitsyn sent for internal exile in 1953?
A) Lubyanka
B) Birlik
C) Ekibastuz
D) Tashkent
  • 73. What medical condition did Solzhenitsyn face while in exile?
A) Pneumonia
B) Cancer
C) Heart disease
D) Tuberculosis
  • 74. Which novel was based on Solzhenitsyn's treatment in Tashkent?
A) The First Circle
B) The Trail
C) Cancer Ward
D) The Love-Girl and the Innocent
  • 75. In which part of The Gulag Archipelago is Solzhenitsyn's transformation described?
A) The third part
B) The fourth part
C) The first part
D) The second part
  • 76. Who helped Solzhenitsyn keep the original handwritten script of The Gulag Archipelago hidden in Estonia?
A) Natalia Reshetovskaya
B) Heli Susi
C) Tvardovsky
D) Elizaveta Voronyanskaya
  • 77. In what year was Solzhenitsyn awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature?
A) 1970
B) 1969
C) 1974
D) 1965
  • 78. How many languages has The Gulag Archipelago been published in?
A) Ten
B) Fifty
C) Five
D) Thirty-five
  • 79. According to the text, what uprising is mentioned as being discussed in The Gulag Archipelago?
A) The October Revolution
B) The Hungarian Uprising
C) The Prague Spring
D) The Kengir uprising
  • 80. What chemical agent did the KGB allegedly use in a 1971 assassination attempt on Solzhenitsyn?
A) Arsenic
B) Cyanide
C) Sarin
D) Ricin
  • 81. Who sheltered Solzhenitsyn during the period when he was being attacked by the Soviet press?
A) Arnold Susi
B) Heinrich Böll
C) Mstislav Rostropovich
D) William Odom
  • 82. Who helped smuggle out a large portion of Solzhenitsyn's archive, including his military citations?
A) Yuri Andropov
B) Dick Cheney
C) William Odom
D) Janis Sapiets
  • 83. Where did Solzhenitsyn live after leaving West Germany and before moving to the United States?
A) Paris, France
B) London, England
C) Zürich, Switzerland
D) Rome, Italy
  • 84. In what year did Solzhenitsyn move to Cavendish, Vermont?
A) 1974
B) 1980
C) 1976
D) 1978
  • 85. What was the title of Solzhenitsyn's dramatized history of the 1917 Russian Revolution?
A) The Red Wheel
B) Cancer Ward
C) Prussian Nights
D) Invisible Allies
  • 86. Why did the KGB eventually stop their active measures against Solzhenitsyn?
A) He had returned to the Soviet Union
B) They lost funding for the operations
C) They concluded his reactionary views were already alienating his American audience
D) He had died
  • 87. Which historical figure did Richard Pipes compare Solzhenitsyn to?
A) Vladimir Lenin
B) Leo Tolstoy
C) Karl Marx
D) Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  • 88. Which 1911 trial was notably absent from Solzhenitsyn's work 'Two Hundred Years Together'?
A) The Moscow trials
B) The October Revolution trial
C) The Dreyfus affair
D) The Beilis affair
  • 89. Who claimed that textological analyses proved Solzhenitsyn's authorship of an antisemitic essay?
A) Semyon Reznik
B) Richard Pipes
C) The KGB
D) Laura Engelstein
  • 90. In what publication did Richard Pipes review 'August 1914'?
A) The Wall Street Journal
B) The Moscow Times
C) The Washington Post
D) The New York Times
  • 91. To which historical movement did Solzhenitsyn compare Lenin's Bolsheviks?
A) The Thermidorians.
B) The Jacobin Club.
C) The Enlightenment philosophers.
D) The Romanov Dynasty.
  • 92. What did Solzhenitsyn blame for the death of 110 million Russians?
A) The Russian Civil War.
B) The Khrushchev thaw.
C) Communism.
D) The Spanish Civil War.
  • 93. Who called Solzhenitsyn 'just about a fascist'?
A) Henry Kissinger.
B) Dmitri Panin.
C) Margaret Thatcher.
D) Winston Lord.
  • 94. What did Solzhenitsyn propose in his 1990 essay 'Rebuilding Russia'?
A) Expanding the Soviet Union to include all of Europe.
B) Granting independence to non-Slav republics.
C) The total annexation of Spain.
D) A global communist revolution.
  • 95. Why did Solzhenitsyn believe the Soviet regime repressed Russian culture more than others?
A) The regime feared peasant uprisings by ethnic Russians.
B) Because Russians were inherently anti-Marxist.
C) The regime viewed Russian culture as too powerful to control.
D) Because Russian culture was seen as pro-Western.
  • 96. Whose socioeconomic theories did Solzhenitsyn discuss in an interview with Joseph Pearce?
A) John Maynard Keynes
B) Karl Marx
C) Milton Friedman
D) E. F. Schumacher
  • 97. How did Solzhenitsyn describe Dmitry Medvedev in 2008?
A) A dangerous ultranationalist
B) An inexperienced revolutionary
C) A relic of the Soviet era
D) A nice young man
  • 98. How did Solzhenitsyn describe NATO's actions in Yugoslavia?
A) Cruel
B) A necessary humanitarian intervention
C) A strictly Russian affair
D) A failure of international diplomacy
  • 99. What specific country did Solzhenitsyn mention as being painfully affected by NATO expansion?
A) Germany
B) Ukraine
C) Poland
D) Kazakhstan
  • 100. What term did Solzhenitsyn use to describe the Western belief that non-Westerners were 'temporarily prevented' from adopting the Western way of life?
A) Cultural enrichment
B) Western misunderstanding
C) Global integration
D) Democratic expansion
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