The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

Heather Morris’ The Tattooist of Auschwitz tells the story of Lale Sokolov, a Slovak Jew imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau who is assigned the task of tattooing identification numbers onto newly arrived prisoners. While carrying out this work, he meets Gita Furman, another prisoner, and the two begin a relationship that becomes a source of hope and resilience amid the unimaginable conditions of the camp.

Drawing on interviews with the real Lale Sokolov, Morris frames the Holocaust primarily through the couple’s love story and their eventual survival after the war. The result is an accessible and emotionally affecting narrative that has resonated with millions of readers.

If my rating were exclusively focusing on Lale and Gita's love story, it would be four stars. If it were focusing on the writing, two stars. If it were focusing on its approach to the horrors of the Holocaust, one star. If it were focusing on the political implications outlined in the epilogue, well... 

Considering all these various aspects, three stars seems like a good, solid rating for this book.

In focusing so heavily on Lale and Gita's relationship, the narrative seems to romanticize events at the expense of conveying the scale, brutality, and systematic nature of Auschwitz. That's my smallest critique. My largest will make up the majority of this review.

The love story at the center of The Tattooist of Auschwitz is deeply moving, and the suffering inflicted upon Jews, Roma, and other groups under Nazism cannot be overstated. Yet I found myself unable to separate its hopeful embrace of Zionism by the protagonists from the historical reality that the aftermath of one people's catastrophe coincided with the displacement and suffering of another. Holding these histories together does not diminish either tragedy; rather, it reminds us that suffering does not unfold in isolation, and that memory becomes most meaningful when it remains attentive to all those who have experienced dispossession and violence.

Contrary to the popular opinion of televised politicos here in the US, recognizing the Holocaust's horrors does not require endorsing every political project pursued by Holocaust survivors or Zionist leaders.

Therefore I must distinguish between the experiences of Lale and Gita and the broader historical consequences that followed. Lale and Gita's survival, love, and hopes for a future deserve compassion and attention. Their attachment to Zionism emerged from experiences of genocide, statelessness, and exclusion that are historically understandable, even if one critiques the nationalist project that eventually developed and its consequences for Palestinians.

I must also emphasize that Judaism ≠ Zionism. Many Jews after WWII held different political visions: Zionist, socialist, Bundist, assimilationist, religious, anti-Zionist, or internationalist. I fear many people refuse to recognize the plurality of survivors and the Jewish community as a whole. The establishment of Israel was neither a necessary redemption nor an uncomplicated moral outcome.

I must acknowledge that:

- Jews, Roma, disabled people, queer people, Slavs, political dissidents, and others suffered persecution and extermination under Nazi rule.

- The creation of Israel coincided with what Palestinians call the Nakba, involving mass displacement and violence which continues to this day.

- Trauma and victimization do not grant moral infallibility to states or movements.

- Victims of one historical catastrophe can become implicated–directly or indirectly–in another, without erasing the suffering they themselves endured.

If anything, the lesson history repeatedly teaches is that empathy must not end with those whose stories we know best. The promise of "never again” loses its meaning when it becomes a promise made only for some.

Rating: 3 stars