How can a race that is spread out across multiple countries be considered a threat? For as long as he lives, be it short or long, he knows he will never comprehend this.
I have a love/hate relationship with novels based around the Holocaust. I hate the prospect of reading one but ultimately am always glad I did once I finish it. This story about the Auschwitz Tattooist surprised me in a couple of ways.
First, I did not know until after I finished reading it that The Tattooist of Auschwitz was based on a true story. Like many, I assumed the Tattooist in the concentration camps was a Nazi so I was surprised to learn that a prisoner did the ink work.
You don’t expect a Holocaust-based story to be about true love, among other things, but to my surprise and delight, this one was just that. For Lale, it was love at first sight when he tattoos a newly arrived young woman named Gita. It is a gripping story of courage, fear, trust, and love as these two individuals try to survive an unthinkable existence consoled only by their love for each other. It is a beautiful story set in a harrowing place. I am grateful that Lale felt his story needed to be told and spent his last few years recounting the events to Heather Morris.
Lale lived in fear for most of his life, scared he would be viewed as a Nazi collaborator because of his work as the Tattooist. As such, in order to protect his family, he did not share his story until after his wife had passed and he knew he was nearing the end of his own life. He was not a Nazi sympathizer by any stretch but rather he did what he was told to do in order to survive.
Ms. Morris does justice to Lale’s tale. We feel his fear, disgust, sadness, anger, and most importantly, love. Not just love for Gita but for all the other prisoners regardless of their religion. In fact he grows close to the Gypsies that are housed right by him.
There’s some controversy about the accuracy of this narrative but to me these minor details are immaterial and mostly irrelevant to Lale’s story. So what if Lale could not have taken penicillin for typhus because it wasn’t invented until after the war. Furthermore, it doesn’t matter to me if Gita’s # was 34902 as Lale reported or 4562 as the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum claims. Actually, I remember reading that some prisoners were given new tattoos. Perhaps Gita had two numbers and then everyone is right. But more importantly, these historical “inaccuracies” are really tangential to the crux of the story in my opinion so it had no effect on my rating or review. Plus let’s not forget that this book is categorized as historical FICTION.
Actually, I have my doubts about the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and their alleged research. Here is an actual quote from the pages of The Tattooist of Auschwitz:
“Something a bit different today, Lale—they’ve moved some girls from Auschwitz to here, and some of them need their numbers redone.”
“What?”
“Their numbers, they were made with a stamp, which was inefficient. We need to do them properly.”
Lale starts the “job.” He tries not to look up. He reaches out to take the piece of paper being handed to him. He must transfer the five digits onto the girl who held it. There is already a number there, but it has faded. He pushes the needle into her left arm, making a three, trying to be gentle.
... he sets about tattooing the remaining four digits—4 9 0 2.
This is a heart-wrenching story that is even more poignant because it is true. For love to blossom in such a horrific setting, is truly a miracle.
This book gets five stars from me… FIVE BIG YELLOW STARS!
“Oh, the greens are the worst—they’re criminals: killers, rapists, that kind of man. They make good guards because they’re terrible people.” He continues, “Others are here because of their anti-German political views. They wear a red triangle. You’ll see a few, not many, with a black triangle—they are lazy bastards and they don’t last long. And finally, there are you and your friends.”
“We wear the yellow star.
“Yes, you wear the star. Your crime is to be Jewish."
