The Tattooist of Auschwitz

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As we all know, there are many books about the Holocaust out there, what made this one different?

The author truly knew how to put the true story of Lale Sokolov in such a way that will haunt you, this book made my heart race, I was rooting for Lale, I wanted, no I needed him to survive, I wanted to see him and Gita overcome all the odds. This book kept me up until 1 in the morning, it was beautifully written and so descriptive, I could see everything in my mind's eye. 

It is one thing to know that even in these horrible circumstances, love and hope can overcome anything and a whole different thing to read how this was the case for these people.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz is based on the true story of Lale and Gita Sokolov, two Slovakian Jews who survived Auschwitz and eventually made their home in Australia. In that terrible place, Lale was given the job of tattooing the prisoners marked for survival - literally scratching numbers into his fellow victims' arms in indelible ink to create what would become one of the most potent symbols of the Holocaust. Lale used the infinitesimal freedom of movement that this position awarded him to exchange jewels and money taken from murdered Jews for food to keep others alive. If he had been caught, he would have been killed; many owed him their survival.

"To save one is to save the world." 

There will be a lot of people who will tell you that you don't need to read another book about the Holocaust, I don't agree with this. We need to keep reading books like this, books that will show us that this is something that did happen, this is something that can happen again, and if we just sweep it under the rug and try to forget about it, we are contributing to the problem. 

Books like these show the resilience of how humans can work together and overcome anything in their path. Lale was one of these people who made the best out of a bad experience, who saw a way of helping people while doing something that will have survivors look back on it for years to come.