The Tattooist of Auschwitz

The Tattooist of Auschwitz is a 2018 Holocaust novel by New Zealand novelist Heather Morris. The book tells the story of how Slovakian Jew Lale Sokolov, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz in 1942, fell in love with a girl he was tattooing at the concentration camp. The story is based on the real lives of Sokolov and his wife, Gita Furman. There has been mixed criticism of the book, with some complimenting the novel’s compelling story based on real-life events, while claims of factual inaccuracies that may lead to miseducation around historical events have been made by the Auschwitz Memorial Research Center. As of October 2019, the novel had sold more than three million copies around the world. 61,391 copies of The Tattooist of Auschwitz were sold in 2018 in Ireland. In 2018, it was the #1 New York Times Bestseller and #1 International Bestseller. Background The book, which was Morris’ debut novel, was originally written as a screenplay. Morris was proposed the idea of telling the story of Lale Sokolov by a mutual friend of hers and Lale’s son, after Lale’s wife Gita died. Morris met with Lale for three years until his death in 2006, to hear his story about his time with Gita in Auschwitz and take notes for her screenplay. During those meetings with Lale, he told Morris about the trauma, pain and survivor guilt he experienced. Six years after the first meeting with Lale, Morris’ sister-in-law suggested writing the story as a book.