The Tattooist of Auschwitz

The Tattooist of Auschwitz

• Genre: Fiction; historical
• Originally Published: 2018
• Reading Level/Interest: Lexile HL760L; college/adult
• Structure/Length: 28 chapters plus prologue and epilogue; approx. 288 pages; approx. 7 hours, 25 minutes on audio
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: In 1942, Auschwitz prisoner Lale Sokolov falls in love with a young woman named Gita as he is forced to tattoo his fellow prisoners with numbers that replace their identities.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: The Holocaust; concentration camp environment; sexual trauma; castration; attempted sexual assault; torture; profanity

Heather Morris, Author

• Bio: Born in New Zealand; currently resides in Australia; completed her BA in Political Science at Monash University; began her writing career as a screenwriter; met and befriended Lale Sokolov in 2003
• Other Works: Cilka’s Journey (2019); Three Sisters (2021)
• Awards: HarperCollins Canada Fan Choice Book of the Year (2018); Goodreads Choice Award for Historical Fiction (2019)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• Trauma
• “To Save One Is to Save the World”
• The Cost of Survival

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

• Gain an understanding of the cultural and historical contexts of the Holocaust, particularly that of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, the setting for the trials and trauma suffered by Lale and Gita throughout the story.
• Study paired texts and other brief resources to make connections via the text’s themes of Trauma, “To Save One Is to Save the World,” and The Cost of Survival.
• Research, collaborate, and report as a group on the real-life biographies of Lale Sokolov and Gita Furman while grappling with the question of how factually accurate historical fiction should be in order to be meaningful and impactful.
• Analyze and evaluate plot and character details to draw conclusions in structured essay responses regarding morality and survival, the sexual trauma inflicted upon female characters like Cilka, and the nature of the black market in Auschwitz-Birkenau, among other topics.