I feel like if you are ever going to read books, and especially non-fiction or books about the Second World War, you should read the books by Primo Levi. He started writing about his experiences quite soon after the war, which makes his story unfiltered. This time I read If This is a Man/The Truce. This book combines two books/stories. Knowing what he had endured and that his writing is brilliant, I had high expectations of this book. Were these expectations correct?

Book cover

‘With the moral stamina and intellectual poise of a twentieth-century Titan, this slightly built, dutiful, unassuming chemist set out systematically to remember the German hell on earth, steadfastly to think it through, and then to render it comprehensible in lucid, unpretentious prose. He was profoundly in touch with the minutest workings of the most endearing human events and with the most contemptible. What has survived in Levi’s writing isn’t just his memory of the unbearable, but also, in The Periodic Table and The Wrench, his delight in what made the world exquisite to him. He was himself a magically endearing man, the most delicately forceful enchanter I’ve ever known’ – Philip Roth.

My first impression of If This is a Man/The Truce

It is immediately clear that this is an important book. But oof, it is not an easy one! Of course, how could it be when it’s about his experience in Auschwitz and afterwards? His writing is amazing. The things he writes about are not beautiful but the way he writes it is.

The book premise

Primo Levi was a Jewish Italian, a chemist, a writer and a survivor of the Holocaust. This book entails his capture, his time in Auschwitz and the long road he had to take to get back home.

Levi spent eleven months imprisoned at Monowitz. Monowitz was a part of the Auschwitz concentration camp complex (one of the three main camps). He lived under constant fear to be taken away to the gas chambers, to die of hunger, beatings or some other gruesome way.

He survived the camp, but it did not mean it was easy to return back home. It took him months to return to Italy. A map in the book shows his travels, first all the way north to Russia, through Europe and finally home. Unbelievable.

My opinion on If this is a man/The Truce

How do I even start? What Primo Levi and millions of others had to endure is just awful. His story makes you uncomfortable, uneasy and at times hopeless. How could the world be like this? His writing is incredibly beautiful though. My favorite passage in a book ever is from If this is a man/The Truce:

‘It was the shame we knew so well, the shame that drowned us after the selections, and every time we had to watch, or submit to, some outrage: the shame that the Germans did not know, that the just man experiences at another man’s crime; the feeling of guilt that such a crime should exist, that it should have been introduced irrevocably into the world of things that exist, and that his will for good should have proved too weak or null, and should not have availed in defense.’ (p. 202)

This writing resonated with me and I think about it a lot. I obviously wasn’t there, but it feels so true and it is so strikingly and beautifully well-put.

Conclusion

This is an important, harrowing and must-read book. It is written so beautifully, despite its horrid content. I am impressed by the way he was able to tell his story. The third part of this Auschwitz trilogy, The drowned and the saved, is definitely going on my to-read list.

Verdict

Heather Morris interviewed Lale Solokov for years about his experiences during the Second World War. He arrived in Auschwitz in 1942. This book is a retelling of his experiences. Historical fiction but of course non-fiction as well. Read my review below.

Book Cover

The Tattooist of Auschwitz is based on the true story of Lale and Gita Sokolov, two Slovakian Jews who survived Auschwitz. When Lale, given the job of tattooing the prisoners, saw Gita waiting in line, it was love at first sight. In that moment he determined to keep them both alive. This is a story of hope and of courage.

For readers of Schindler’s List, The Man Who Broke into Auschwitz and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas comes a heart-breaking story of the very best of humanity in the very worst of circumstances. I tattooed a number on her arm. She tattooed her name on my heart. In 1942, Lale Sokolov arrived in Auschwitz-Birkenau.

His job was tattooing the prisoners marked for survival. Scratching numbers into his fellow victims’ arms in indelible ink to create what would become one of the most potent symbols of the Holocaust. Waiting in line to be tattooed, terrified and shaking, was a young girl. For Lale – a dandy, a jack-the-lad, a bit of a chancer – it was love at first sight.

So begins one of the most life-affirming, courageous, unforgettable and human stories of the Holocaust: the love story of the tattooist of Auschwitz.

My first impression

Very sad, very well written. It is bizarre to realize what people had and have to endure in life. It must not have been easy to talk about his experiences. I can’t put this book down, even though it’s very sad.

The story

Lale volunteered to be taken away from his home in Slovakia in order to save his family. His destination was unknown. He arrived at Auschwitz in 1942 and managed to survive all his years there. He got a job as a tattooist, numbering the arriving people. Due to his extensive language skills. This job kept him relatively safe. He traded jewels from Canada*  for food and other “luxury” products with two Polish men who worked at Auschwitz.

He shared his extra food with the girl he loved and met at Auschwitz: Gita. But he also gave his food to a variety of people at the camp.  His generosity ends up saving his life.

The story is about the determination to survive, humanity in a place where humanity seems lost, tragedy and horror.

*the place where the belongings of the people sent to Auschwitz were sorted.

My opinion

This book really makes you feel a lot of emotions. I read many books about the Holocaust, fiction and non-fiction, but you can never get used to reading about it. There will always be grief, sadness and shock. Although Heather Morris’s writing itself is not great, it is good enough. It is important that these testimonies are available and known to the public.

The conclusion of The Tattooist of Auschwitz

Lale Solokov’s story is an unlikely one. He survived hell on earth. The book isn’t an easy read, but his life wasn’t either. I recommend reading this book. However, bear in mind that not all facts presented in this book are precisely historically accurate.

Verdict