The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
“In the End, we will not remember the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends.” – Martin Luther King
It’s early April 1942 a young Lale Sokolov (the main person) is sitting on a train meant for cattle, towards an unknown destination. A feeling of sadness defines the room, Lale is no exception, he’s just been forced to leave his family back in Slovakia.
The war had been so far away during the early years and no one could think that the Slovakian government would extradite it’s own citizens to a foreign government. Yet here he is, on his way to an undisclosed location not knowing what the future holds.
He’s perplexed at the fact that Slovakians would turn against their own – and in such a short time span. No one could have seen this coming. His friends from childhood against him, his colleagues against him, Slovakia maybe even Europe against him all for the religion he was born into. Never, never has Lale seen himself as a religious man, yet now he seemingly is paying the price of being a jew, nothing he would immediately identify as when asked who he was.
He’s dressed well compared to the rest, so for some reason unbeknownst to him questions are directed his way, questions which he can’t answer. He is secretly worried, nothing the rest needs to know. Calm that is what the “room” needs, but nothing it will get. People from all parts of society, rich, poor and middle class all huddled together like animals. No one escapes the wrath of the German Reich, no one.
Screams fill the air and everyone is pushed out, chaos. SS are screaming violently, luckily Lale knows German but that is nothing he lets on to the SS. He helps others understand. Eventually everyone is assigned a block, his is block 7.
“This is the unseen story of Auschwitz”
The human side of the story. Everyone has heard about the treachery and inhuman acts of the German Reich, but not the brave and daring stories of people who defied them. In this case by not dying. We see kindness and people going to the greatest of lengths to help others. Even putting their own life on the line to aid those in need. We see humans on both sides and gain an understanding of what happened, to an extent larger than any history book ever could tell us. This chapter of World War 2 is so much more than numbers and data, there is no front line that pushes back and forward, no soldiers or strategic moves. There are only people and their actions. So often we allow ourselves to forget the people, the people of this story.
We follow the path of a young man facing death in the eyes and not giving in. Keeping his will to live when so many give up. The book is packed with twists and turns nearly always unexpected and dangerous, often coming when we least anticipate them, when Lale least anticipates them. The fact that the main character so obviously doesn’t know what is going to happen next (because the author can’t make some witty or intellectual ending as it is a real story) adds to the suspense and feeling of the book. We ourselves care what happens to the person which sometimes makes us feel nervous or scared that something bad could happen. We think ahead playing out different scenarios and then feeling surprised when we get more information.
