Tale shines a light on mankind’s darkest time
It’s April 1942 and a young Slovakian Jew huddles among hundreds of others aboard a train designed to transport livestock. Wearing a smart suit and tie — “always dress to impress” — Lale Sokolov at last disembarks into an unimaginable world: Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Upon hearing orders that each Jewish family in his hometown must hand over a child aged 18 or older to work for the Germans (lest the entire family be taken), Lale stepped forward, since his eldest brother was married with children.
Arriving at Auschwitz to face “SS, rifles, dogs” along with the theft of his belongings, he discovers a hell, still under construction. “Listen and learn” becomes his motto.
Morris fictionalizes Lale’s story, bringing it to life with quotidian details — rough prison garb, random violence, varieties of coloured triangles, ever-increasing numbers-and bleak jokes.
Killing becomes more efficient and more prisoners arrive, but Lale survives. His languages help, as does his charm. Saved by a friend impressed by his optimism, he learns a new trade: tattooist. His attempt at a joke after an SS man approves him — “I take it I got the job?” — is met with quiet fury by the French tattooist who rescues him. “Lose your bravado.”
Impossible task, that, but Lale does learn subtlety. Moreover, this is a love story. Eyes meet as he tattoos numbers on a girl’s arm. Though lacking the perfumes and flowers of his pre-war courtships, this is true love. Amid so much death, there is not only romance, but bravery. Morris’s narrative is infused with as much tension and risk as any spy novel, delivering constant surprises.