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Reviewing "Tattoist of Auschwitz" 

Aryan Dalal

I know that many of you reading this have been guilty of dozing off or being uninterested in history class before. Well, I too have, although my experience of reading this book is a completely different story. And “a completely different story” is a fitting way of comparing ‘The Tattooist of Auschwitz’ with other Holocaust stories that you may have read before, being able to ignite the fire of romance, and compassion within such a dark, and dire time period.  

This book is based on a true story, the story of a man known as Lale Sokolov. Lale told his story over the course of three years to the author, Heather Morris. Lale is an intelligent, charming ladies’ man however he is a Jew. Upon his arrival at Auschwitz, the biggest German concentration camp, and the main setting for this story, he immediately stands out to his fellow prisoners. In the camp, he works for the Germans as their ‘Tatowierer’, the tattooist, and his job is to mark the prisoners that enter the camp.  

Picture Credit - www.goodreads.com

Being the tattooist gave him special perks such as more rations, better living conditions and the ability to move around the camp more freely. He was generous and provided for the prisoners. I can only wonder how many of them he helped survive due to him acquiring medicine and food for them.

While giving a tattoo, he sees Gita, his love interest in the story, and feels an instant attraction to her. The interactions between Gita and Lale were ones I had treasured throughout this book, and their pure relationship was great relief from the other events that took place. When the story reached this point, I realized why this book was so unique. Even in a time and situation as bleak as the one Lale found himself in back then, his human spirit still survived as he felt love and compassion for others with the faith that they will make it out of there soon enough. This spirit and strength led to him risking his life many a times for other’s sake, and inspired by it, they returned their favors too. Being a holocaust story, I knew that there were going to be a lot of sad scenes and there were. My heart dropped too many times to count when the characters I grew to love throughout the story, went through what they were meant to go through as prisoners. Obviously, there were depictions of violence and murder, however, they were not very graphic and were bearable.  

In the end, I’d like to think the book was well-written, thought-provoking, and emotive. It helped me to put my everyday problems into perspective. This was one of the many signs that told me that this was a book that I loved and enjoyed thoroughly from day to late in the night. I wish that I could have the experience of reading this book again and I couldn’t recommend it enough! 

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