Book SummaryThe Tattooist of Auschwitz, by Heather Morris

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of The Tattooist of Auschwitz

In April 1942, Lale Sokolov, a 25-year-old man from Slovakia, finds himself on a cattle train heading into the night. For five days, Lale and hundreds of men are shuttled cross-country in carriages packed so tightly with bodies, they have to stand for the entire journey. Lale, like most of the young men on the train, has volunteered to work for the Germans in exchange for his family’s safety.

Lale is dressed in a suit and tie. He believes in dressing well and making a good first impression. In his suitcase, he’s packed his other suits and books from his mother. He also has a small sum of money stuffed into his suit pocket. He hopes that between the money, his ability to speak 6 languages, and his professional appearance, he’ll be able to secure a high-level job once they reach the labor camp.

At last, the train stops, and the men are herded off. In front of them stands the gates to Auschwitz, the concentration camp that will take many of their lives in the years to come. The men are told to leave their possessions by the train. Some men refuse and are shot on the spot. Lale sets his suitcase down and joins the line of men waiting to get tattooed with their camp numbers. He wonders how they’ll know which suitcase is his.

In the flurry of barking dogs and screaming SS officials, Lale witnesses other men gunned down for no reason. He begins to realize he will never see his possessions again. He also realizes he may never see the outside world again. He makes a promise to survive however he can and one day walk away a free man.

Year One: 1942-1943

Lale was always a fast-talking charmer back home in Bratislava, and his charm comes in handy at the camp. He inspires the other men around him and works his way into the good graces of the guards. Some of the men believe that Lale is the chosen one who will save them all. This belief ends up saving his life when he falls ill with typhus. At the onset of the illness, Lale is so weak and sickly, the SS officers throw his body on a transport out of the camp filled with dead bodies. But one young man pulls him down and hides him in their barracks.

The other prisoners rally to nurse Lale back to health. One of these prisoners is a French professor, who also wants to help the man so many are risking their lives to save. He offers Lale the opportunity to work with him as a tattooist, a job that comes with many perks. Lale isn’t sure he wants to help the Nazis defile his people, but he’d rather it be him than someone less caring, so he accepts.

For weeks, Lale helps brand the hundreds to thousands of new arrivals entering the camp daily. One day, Lale tattoos the arm of a woman who captivates his heart. He knows nothing else about her but her camp number, but he vows to learn more. After the French professor vanishes, Lale is made head tattooist. This position earns him private sleeping quarters, better food and bigger rations, and the ability to move freely through the camp.

Lale uses his good fortune to help feed the other prisoners and devises a plan to do more. He arranges for women working in the warehouses where the confiscated possessions are sorted to smuggle jewelry and cash to him in exchange for extra food. He uses the valuables to pay a civilian worker from a nearby town to bring him supplies, including medicine and chocolate.

Lale’s business enterprise runs smoothly, and he gets a reputation for being able to help prisoners in difficult situations. He also uses his power to court the young woman he can’t stop thinking about. He sends her a letter through a friendly SS officer, and the two finally meet. Her name is Gita, and she is as enchanted by Lale as he is by her. They begin meeting in secret, and their love blooms despite their horrifying surroundings.

Lale’s promise to escape the camp now includes Gita, and everything he does is now attached to making her life at the camp easier. He feeds her chocolate and watches her face come to life. He steals a chocolate-y kiss, and they swoon like teenagers. He also arranges for her to work in the administration building where it’s warm and safe. He tells her that one day they will marry and have a family, and despite her despair, Gita starts to believe him.

Year Two: 1943-1944

During spring 1943, thousands of...

The Tattooist of Auschwitz Summary Shortform Introduction

The story of The Tattooist of Auschwitz is based on the accounts of the real-life survivor, Lali Sokolov, as told to the author 70 years after the events. The author has stated that 95% of the story is based on Lali’s retelling and the rest imagined as creative license. However,...

The Tattooist of Auschwitz Summary Prologue

Lale Sokolov keeps his eyes focused on the slip of paper, not the girl handing it to him. In his most gentle way, he holds her arm and punctures her skin over and over with his needle. Blood spills out, but he has to go deeper. She doesn’t protest, as she knows better than to do.

Someone tells him to hurry up. He’s...

The Tattooist of Auschwitz Summary Chapter 1: Spring 1942—Becoming 32407

The cattle car surges through the countryside, one of many in a long line. Lale Eisenberg is among hundreds of men shoved into the train wagons normally used to transport cattle. There are too many heads to count, and they’re packed in so tightly that they can’t even sit. Lale has been fortunate to get a wall spot where a slight breeze trickles in through the wooden slats. It’s enough to partially relieve the stench of his filthy hair and skin and that of the others.

In this 10-foot-wide train car, a man sleeps against Lale’s shoulders. The other men don’t like Lale much. He’s dressed in a suit, tie, and pressed white shirt, his normal attire for travel. And why not? He’s on his way to work for the Germans. That’s the deal he made to keep his family safe back home in Krompachy, Slovakia, and he always dresses to impress. He has one suitcase and a little money stashed in his jacket pocket. He hopes he can buy his way into a better, higher-ranking work duty. He hopes his four languages will make him valuable.

People keep asking him where they’re headed. He assumes it’s because he’s dressed so well, but he doesn’t know why they’re asking him or where they’re headed. **All he...

The Tattooist of Auschwitz Summary Chapter 2: The Chosen One

Pepan takes Lale to the main compound the next morning, where new prisoners are unloaded. Lale freezes when he sees the hundreds of men, all young and frightened, surrounded by the SS and dogs, both chomping at the bit to tear these men apart. Pepan guides him to the table where the tattooing equipment is laid out.

An older immaculately dressed officer, Officer Houstek, approaches with an entourage of younger officers. Houstek’s attire and demeanor remind Lale of the rich men he used to dress at a department store in Bratislava. Pepan introduces Lale as his new helper. Houstek looks at Lale with a steely gaze and asks how many languages he speaks. Lale rattles off Slovak, German, Russian, French, Hungarian, and Polish, all while holding the officer’s eyes.

The officer grunts and walks away, but Pepan is livid. He tells Lale never to look that man in the eye and never underestimate the power he holds in the camp. Lale understands and again admonishes himself for his brazenness.

Weeks go by, with Lale working diligently next to Pepan. He has tattooed hundreds of prisoners, both men and women, including the woman from the Prologue, who stole his heart. One day, Lale shows...

The Tattooist of Auschwitz Summary Chapter 3: New Arrivals and New Nightmares

In the spring, Lale and Leon report to work one day to find a new shipment of people like they’ve never seen before. There are the usual men and women, but now there are children and the elderly, as well. Leon cringes at the thought of tattooing children, but Lale tells him to keep his mouth shut. Baretski informs them that the people are Gypsies, lower than Jews, and that there will be a lot of them. The tattooists are relieved that the children are not to be tattooed, but their presence is still unnerving.

That afternoon, Lale returns to his room to find that his empty block is now overrun with Gypsies. He always assumed his solitude would eventually be disturbed, but he never expected that his new neighbors would be families comprising several generations.

Lale doesn’t know much about Gypsies, but he worries about the safety of his stash of valuables. He decides to get to know them to assess the risk and walks into the block. He shakes hands with everyone, spending extra time with the old women. He says he will do his best to relay any information he has about their safety, and they are grateful. For many of them, Lale is the first Jew they’ve ever met. That night,...

The Tattooist of Auschwitz Summary Chapter 4: Dark Days

By late summer, five crematoriums are operating at full steam. More and more people arrive daily, and Lale is swamped with work, especially since Leon has still not returned. He’s so busy, he hasn’t had a day off in weeks. And because there is always work, he has no need to get instructions from the administration office. He knows Gita will be consumed with worry and asks Baretski to explain where he is and that he’s alright. Baretski promises to tell her.

Lale finally gets a break from the constant stream of prisoners. He runs back to Birkenau to catch Gita after work. When Gita sees him, she almost faints with relief. She thought something had happened to him. Baretski did not deliver Lale’s message. The time away and her relief at seeing him fill Lale with the sensation of love. He finally tells her he loves her and feels as though he’s been waiting to tell her that his entire life. He tells her about his vow to make it out alive and that it now includes her.

The next day, Leon returns to work. He is pale, thinner, and more defeated than before. He struggles when he walks, and Lale can feel his ribs when he hugs him. **Leon tells Lale that Mengele held him captive. He...

The Tattooist of Auschwitz Summary Chapter 5: Back in the Saddle

Lale wakes up to a familiar, albeit undesirable, voice. Baretski stands above his bed, marveling that Lale is still alive. He’s never heard of anyone surviving the punishment blocks before. He also tells Lale that Schwarzhuber requested that Lale get his old job back. Lale can’t believe it. Are they really letting him tattoo again?

But it was true, and after making the long walk to Auschwitz, Lale rejoins Leon at their work table. Leon is so overjoyed, he spills a bottle of ink. The men celebrate Lale’s return for a few seconds more before Lale suggests they get back to work. He doesn’t need any trouble his first day back.

Lale’s first order of business as soon as he has a break is to see Gita. He waits outside the women’s compound at the end of the work day. When Gita and Dana see Lale, they throw their arms around him. Dana kisses Lale on the cheek and moves on to give the lovebirds some privacy. Gita can barely speak. His disappearance shook her to her core, and she is still wary about being too relieved. What if it happened again? But Lale assures her it won’t. He reiterates his promise to get them both out alive. Gita finally relaxes and says she trusts him.

On his...

The Tattooist of Auschwitz Summary Chapter 6: The Long Journey Home

Lale’s train travels throughout the day. Like that first train ride back in 1942, he has no idea where he’s going. The train finally slows to a stop in front of Mauthausen, another concentration camp in Austria. Lale left most of his new bounty of treasures in his room, but a few jewels are hidden in pouches inside his pants.

The men at this camp seem worse off than those at Birkenau. They’re like walking skeletons. The guards are more relaxed at this camp and simply instruct the new arrivals to find a place to sleep for the night. It takes Lale four tries before he finds an empty bunk to call his own.

Morning comes, and Lale leaves his block to find a long line of naked men. He realizes they are going to be strip-searched, and his precious stones will be found. Quickly, he shoves three diamonds in his mouth and rushes back to the block to hide the rest. When the officers check the mouths of the men in front of Lale, he shoves the diamonds under his tongue and opens his mouth. When the guards get to Lale’s waiting mouth, they glance in and move on.

Lale is at Mauthausen for several weeks. He never would have believed that boredom would be his predominant emotion in a...

The Tattooist of Auschwitz Summary Chapter 7: Reclaiming the Life Left Behind

The sister’s place in Krakow is crowded with other displaced people. None of them has any possessions or money, so they each steal one item a day from a market and make a meal for everyone. On one of these market trips, Gita hears someone speaking in her regional dialect. She approaches him and learns that he drives a produce truck to and from her hometown of Bratislava every week. Gita asks if she can catch a ride, and he agrees.

Gita and the Polish girls struggle as they say goodbye. They’ve been through so much together. But they wish her well and see her off at the market. Gita doesn’t know what she will find at home. She knows her parents and sister are dead, but she hopes that at least one brother might still be alive.

In Bratislava, Gita stays in another apartment cramped with people, most of them camp survivors. She registers with the Red Cross, as many do in hopes of finding lost family and friends. On an afternoon not long after arriving, Gita looks out the window and panics at the sight of two Russian soldiers sneaking onto the property. But then she realizes they are her brothers. She rushes to them and jumps in their arms.

The reunion is short-lived....

Shortform Exercise: Find the Survivor Inside

Lale’s tale is one of fortitude and cunning. Without the sacrifices Lale made and the risks he took, he likely would have suffered the same terminal fate of so many.

How does Lale’s story of survival make you think about challenges you have faced in life?