The Tattooist of Auschwitz

Book 4 of my 2020 Reading Challenge

read from January 10 - 17

The Tattooist of Auschwitz

by Heather Morris

Summary (via Goodreads)

published 2018

In April 1942, Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew, is forcibly transported to the concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau. When his captors discover that he speaks several languages, he is put to work as a Tätowierer (the German word for tattooist), tasked with permanently marking his fellow prisoners.

Imprisoned for more than two and a half years, Lale witnesses horrific atrocities and barbarism—but also incredible acts of bravery and compassion. Risking his own life, he uses his privileged position to exchange jewels and money from murdered Jews for food to keep his fellow prisoners alive.

One day in July 1942, Lale, prisoner 32407, comforts a trembling young woman waiting in line to have the number 34902 tattooed onto her arm. Her name is Gita, and in that first encounter, Lale vows to somehow survive the camp and marry her.

My Opinion

3 stars

I received this book for Christmas and chose to read it right away because my 13 year old daughter is very interested in it and I wanted to read it first.  I was a little confused going in if this was fiction or non-fiction so I looked it up and the author said it was historical fiction because characters have been combined and not all events happened in that exact order but it's based on her conversations with Lale himself and the dates/places of his recollections seem to match up with historical records.

The writing was beautiful.  It read like a testimony and it almost called for me to read it aloud.  My daughter can definitely read it and she might enjoy it more than I did.  The main characters had things work out for them inexplicably time and time again; I'm not saying I was looking for more sorrow but so many situations work out for him with so many different people that he must've been the luckiest man alive.  If I was treating it as a novel I would have more to say about that but I'm going treat it as the recollections of an elderly man and not pass judgement on how he looks back on his life.

Make sure to read through to the end for pictures, a postscript from the author, and a note from Lale's son.  I had the paperback just in case these things aren't in every edition.