The Holocaust is known for being one of the most horrific tragedies in history. What is worse is that it happened less than a hundred years ago. The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris is an example of what went on inside Auschwitz. Auschwitz was a group of concentration camps made during the Holocaust with the goal of purifying the German bloodline by exterminating Jews and other groups considered “lesser” by the Nazi party. The story is about a Slovak Jew named Lale Sokolov that gets transported to Auschwitz and soon becomes the tattooist of the prisoners. There, he meets Gita, a young Jewish girl who was transported by the SS to Auschwitz and he soon falls in love. The story is based on a true story in many ways, including Josef Mengele, …show more content…
Almost one million Jews died inside the camp, either from gas chambers, starvation, illness, torture, and much more. “It is estimated that the SS and police deported at least 1.3 million people to the Auschwitz camp complex between 1940 and 1945” (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). In the book, Lale is tasked with the job of tattooing new prisoners that were imported almost every day. Some prisoners didn’t even get numbers, they were instead sent directly to the gas chambers. The ones that did receive numbers and tattoos weren’t much luckier, for which they were put into forced labor and often died of starvation or other …show more content…
Less than 50% of the worldwide jewish population practiced their religion. But even inside the camp they kept their faith. Towards the beginning of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Lale and many others were being transported to Auschwitz. There, he said, “We stand in shit but let us not drown in it” (Morris) which represented that in the bad times they had to persevere through.“When the Nazi regime and its collaborators applied greater pressure, Jewish people had fewer opportunities to maintain and observe religious traditions” (Jewish Religious Life). It was hard for the victims of the Holocaust, and if they didn’t fight through those horrible times, they wouldn’t be here