Book info

• Title The Tattooist of Auschwitz
• Author Heather Morris
• Year 2018
• Genre Historical

I tattooed a number on her arm. She tattooed her name on my heart. In 1942, Lale Sokolov arrived in Auschwitz-Birkenau. He was given the job of tattooing the prisoners marked for survival - scratching numbers into his fellow victims' arms in indelible ink to create what would become one of the most potent symbols of the Holocaust. Waiting in line to be tattooed, terrified and shaking, was a young girl. For Lale - a dandy, a jack-the-lad, a bit of a chancer - it was love at first sight. And he was determined not only to survive himself, but to ensure this woman, Gita, did, too. So begins one of the most life-affirming, courageous, unforgettable and human stories of the Holocaust: the love story of the tattooist of Auschwitz.

Thoughts

I binge watched the recent TV adaptation of this story, and it was fascinating, and I realised I owned the book already so quickly read through the source material as well. It’s good, obviously completely distressing from the moment Lali is torn from his family, but it’s an interesting story and amazing that they managed to find each other again. You have to read this with the right perspective - it’s a story told by an author who picked at the memories of one person who lived through it. Many other stories to be told out there, and other sides to other stories. But hard to argue with how eye-opening this is.

Rating: 4 / 5