The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
Lale Sokolov, a Jew from Slovakia, is forcibly sent to the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camps in April 1942. He is hired as a Tätowierer (the German word for tattooist), entrusted with permanently marking his fellow inmates after his captors learned that he speaks multiple languages.
Lale, who has been imprisoned for more than 2.5 years, sees unbelievable acts of bravery and kindness in addition to horrifying horrors and cruelty. He puts his own life in danger by using his position of power to buy food for his fellow captives by exchanging jewellery and money from dead Jews. Lale, prisoner 32407, offers support to a young woman who is shaking while in line to have the tattoo of the number 34902 applied on her arm one day in July 1942.
Gita is her name, and Lale makes a promise to marry her and somehow make it through the camp when they first meet. The Tattooist of Auschwitz is a vivid, harrowing, and ultimately hopeful recreation of Lale Sokolov’s experiences as the man who tattooed one of the most potent symbols of the Holocaust on the arms of thousands of prisoners. It is also a testament to the resilience of love and humanity in the worst possible circumstances.
The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
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- Paperback – Deckle Edge
The novel is a strong fictitious tale that is set during a crucial era in history. When the story begins, Lale Sokolov is a stylish 25-year-old ladies’ man who has been taught to adore and respect women by his mother and sister. Although he enjoys female company, he has not yet met the lady he wants to spend the rest of his life with. He is astonished by how the other guys on the train treat him, and he realizes that his life will never be the same. This realization is furthered when the number 32407 is forcibly tattooed on his arm. He holds onto his arm while focusing on the number. How could someone treat another person in this way? He ponders whether this moment, this strange number—32407—will define him for the rest of his life, however brief or lengthy. Lale makes a decision to live.
As Lale is asked to help Pepan, the camp’s Tätowierer, his dread is increased. Morris describes the different ways Lale put his life in danger to serve others. Lale did survive captivity in an environment where hope was frequently lacking. He was labelled a “collaborator” by some, but he utilized his cunning and bravery to seize opportunities to save as many people as he could, including the stunning young Gita with whom he falls in love right away.
She won’t even reveal her last name or discuss her past, family, or place of origin with him. Gita finds it to be too painful and wishes she could forget it because she can temporarily escape reality when she is with Lale. Even though she makes a commitment to notify him when they leave Auschwitz, she insinuates that they “have no future.” Lale tells her about his promise to live and how he won’t give up.
The Tattooist of Auschwitz is a love story at its core, demonstrating the power of love to sustain and inspire during the darkest moments when it seems that hope is only for the naive or unenlightened. Love can also provide comfort and distraction through dreams and plans for the future. It can also inspire selfless and risky action.
Lale faces a hurdle in sticking to his pledge steadfastly, of course. Occasionally, all he feels is sorrow, leaving him to question how he is even “still breathing when so many aren’t?” Because he works with a small group of other convicts as the Tätowierer and is shielded from the most horrific conditions that others are subjected to, Lale has a nice life in comparison to so many others.
He feels guilty about that, especially when he witnesses others being forcibly herded aboard trucks or dying in front of his eyes while knowing he would never see them again. Gita, who works in the office processing papers, is acutely aware of how many individuals have visited the camps, much like Lale.
After the camps were freed, Lale did in fact locate Gita, and the two were wed in October 1945. Gita promised Lale at the camp that he would one day pay tribute to all of the deceased “by staying alive, surviving this place, and informing the world what occurred here.” So he did. He said, “I have to be with Gita. But, it was her passing that motivated him to finally tell his story.
