The Tattooist of Auschwitz is the unbelievable true story of Lale Solokov and his life as a Tätowierer in 1942-1945. It was his job to tattoo the 6 digits used as a form of identification on to the arm of each and every man, woman or child who came through the gates of Auschwitz II-Birkenau, a combined concentration and extermination camp. Lale kept his story a secret for many years and was frightened to reveal many of the darker parts of his story, as his job of Tätowierer gained him extra food rations and certain privileges - he suffered from survivors guilt, and feared people would view him as a Nazi collaborator. It was only after his wife, Gita, died that he freed himself from the tale of his concealed past. This book was published on Holocaust Remembrance Day 2018.
Heather Morris spent three years with Lale documenting his story. She claims that despite it being listed as "Historical Fiction", the finished book is 95% true. Morris' commissioning editor, Angela Meyer, stated the following in response to a question on Goodreads:
"...creative or dramatic license was taken, such as when she..." (Morris) "...had to fill in small blanks in time, or delve into characters' thoughts. At one point she puts Lale and Gita together, when they were not (when the planes fly over the camp), and some of the names of smaller characters, while representative of real people, are invented."She also goes on to say that the conversations Heather and Lale had were usually recorded in some way, and having seen the footage, many of the conversations are word-for-word as Lale told them. It also seems Morris may have had researchers look into certain aspects of the story, as Meyer then says that researchers have confirmed that Lale's story is accurate with what they know to be true from that time.
Having found all of the above out prior to reading it, I was fairly surprised at how much of an easy read this book was for me. I was expecting it to be jarring and gruesome, but it was more like a journal of a love-sick young man. Intertwined with his somewhat PG* account of day to day Auschwitz was a seemingly doomed love story, which in any other setting would be described as beautiful. I found it quite amusing that, Lale lived through some of the most abhorrent, horrific circumstances known throughout history for almost 3 years of his life, yet his memory of it was completely drawn to the aspects relating to Gita and how she made him feel - that was the story that Lale told. It just goes further to show how accurate Morris' depiction of Lale is - a real ladies man.
Despite the above, there are moments that are horrible to read. I was specifically hit hard while reading a chapter involving a character named Leon which shook me to my core, and as soon as I saw the name Josef Mengele, my heart sunk so fast that I think it may have resided in my foot for a while. I do think this is worth reading, even if only to make you think, how could this have happened? How could so many human beings have so little mercy?
My only criticism of The Tattooist of Auschwitz is that it wasn't long enough! I finished it in 3 days while I was on holiday but then I missed Lale and his cheery optimism. I do understand why it wasn't longer - I certainly wouldn't have wanted to taint Lale's story, but I do wish it had delved a little deeper and had been a little more descriptive. Having said that, Lale had to actually live through this hellish experience and was re-telling it all 60 years after it had happened, so I can hardly be mad at him for not wanting to go deeper into the details. I'm pleased to rate this a 4/5, and I hope Lale and Gita are happy together, finally at peace.
* As PG as an account of a horrendous concentration/extermination camp can be.
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