All productions that involve the horrors of the Holocaust and unimaginable crimes against humanity are difficult to watch. However, Peacock’s streaming six-part miniseries,The Tattooist of Auschwitz, is particularly gruesome and unflinching, depicting how the ruthless Nazis treated the Jewish people under Hitler during World War II. The true story of Lale Sokolov is retold through a series of flashbacks by an elderly Lale, now a retired Slovak-Australian (Harvey Keitel) who recounts his grim experiences to Heather Morris (Melanie Lynskey), the author of the 2017 novel of the same name.Some of the details of the series based on a true story have been questionedby viewers and critics alike, while Morris herself claims it’s a 95% accurate retelling by Solokov and herself.
Morris also admittedin an interview with The Guardianthat some of the story’s fictionalized events involve the dramatic positions she put Lale (Jonah Hauer-King) and Gita (Anna Prochniak) in for entertainment purposes, while Sokolov, who passed away in 2006, called the experience “a love story.” Though the two both survived and married following the war, the subhuman ways that the Nazi camp commandants and soldiers look down their noses at the Jewish prisoners of war are extremely graphic, raw, and deserving of authenticity. Award-winning directorTali Shalom-Ezeralso has a solid grasp of the material —but there are holes in the overall story.
The Tattooist of Auschwitz
Based on the eponymously titled novel, this is the powerful real-life story of Lale Sokolov, a Jewish prisoner who was tasked with tattooing ID numbers on prisoners' arms in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp during World War Two.
Heather Morris Spent Three Years Listening to Lale Sokolov’s Memories
In the show, the interviews between Morris and Sokolov segue intothe horrors of his recollection of WWII and the Auschwitz extermination campas a young man in his mid-twenties. After spending three years together, a fragile octagenarian and the author become close friends. Morris also works as a hospital administrator while deciding if she will share Lale’s memories as a movie screenplay or a novel. One of the saddest parts ofThe Tattooist of Auschwitzis how Lale ostensibly volunteered to gowithout having any idea how horrific things were there. He thinks he can help the Jewish community and gets on the train willingly. Amidst the appalling events and nude, naked dead bodies strewn about inside and outside the gas and cremation chambers, it is the romance between Lale and Gita Furman that is the beating heart of the last two-thirds of the show, and the story Morris wants to tell.
Lale becomes the tattooist in charge of giving his fellow Jews the identification numbers on their forearm, an ugly souvenir of the atrocities they went through. The only thing good about his job is that it brings him and Gita together. Lale, who went by the name Ludwig Eisenberg in 1942, has the identification number 32407, and Auschwitz’s records have verified that detail, though some questions have emerged as to the accuracy of Gita’s number.There is incredible irony in the dichotomy of what Lale does. With just a few pricks of a needle, he is helping the Nazis dehumanize and categorize a race of people. Though the action is so brief, the tattoos of survivors who are fortunate to make it out alive still have that reminder for the rest of their lives.
Morris and Sokolov Call ‘The Tattooist of Auschwitz’s Events “A Love Story”
As Morris previously clarified her intentions to The Guardian, “I’m just trying to tell a simple love story. But one that stood the test of time,” and Sokolov likely wants the story to be remembered as such. The blossoming romance borne out of the unlikeliest of ugliness and evil is what holds the story together and makes for a compelling drama. Their secret meetings are a tiny ray of sunshine and hope in a tedious, drab, and deadly existence that lasted for years. The romantic trysts give them both and the audience a much-needed injection of joy in a hellish place.Nevertheless, some groups aren’t unwillingto compromisethe truth for a story that is merely “inspired by true events.”
The veritable authority on the tragedy of the Polish extermination camp,Auschwitz Memorial Research Centre,urges people to read the factually authenticated literary records, claiming “the book contains numerous errors and information inconsistent with the facts, as well as exaggerations, misinterpretations, and understatements.” So, besides being a harrowing story,The Tattooist of Auschwitzhas also brought to the forefront the important question ofwhere we draw the line between fact and dramatic license.As Shalom-Ezer told TIME, “Ultimately, the history that we’re telling is Lali’s history. We believe Lali. We’re going to tell his memory exactly the way that he described it.” Executive producerClaire Mundellalso did her her best to clarify the issues surrounding the Peacock seriesin an interview with Today.com, saying, “It’s a drama. For the purposes of the narrative, we sometimes have to make choices within the context of the way we tell the story, but it’s all inspired and based on Lali’s true recollections of his experience as told to Heather Morris."
Lali and Gita’s Romance Is Plucked From the Horrors of the Holocaust
The love story that Lale Sokolov related to Heather Morris, which she later wrote about, is one of thousands of stories from the most grievous time in human history.That doesn’t mean it is any less significant.In fact, it is a tale that somehow makes an unimaginable situation palatablefor the individuals who suffered so badly and died. To a far lesser degree, it makes it something that we, the viewers, can watch and identify with, even having never suffered such cruelty or been in a remotely desperate position. Perhaps the best way to watchThe Tattooist of Auschwitzis to separate the love story of the two main characters with a menagerie of images and stories that have been told before on screen and clearly drawn from — like almost any other piece of art.
That said, the mind of a man in his late eighties trying to recall some details from events that occurred over 60 years ago might be fractured, and Morris took what Sokolov told her and then wove a story that, again, while difficult to witness,draws even more attention to the vicious practices of the Germans during the Third Reich and World War II. Now, 80 years on from the horrors of that time, a valid question emerges:Should a truth of such magnitude ever be compromisedto tell a story that isn’t 100% accurate?And can it even be done this far removed from events?
The Tattooist of Auschwitzis available to stream on Peacock in the U.S.
