Summary

Given that its seed fabric is a work of historic fiction , it can be unmanageable to parse out what percentage ofThe Tattooist of Auschwitzare on-key to story and what office were summate for dramatic effect and narrative enhancement . Much ofthe real story of Lali Sokolov ’s fourth dimension in Auschwitz can not be corroborated by software documentation , and give that the story is ground on his own memories , it ’s possible that some of it was misremember or lard in his mind over time . However , there are a lot of details about the camp itself that can be verified .

The end ofThe Tattooist of Auschwitzprovides some brief notes as context to the news report disseminate out across six episode , and several different authorities have researched Lali ’s tarradiddle since he first talk to Heather Morris back in 2003 . The most prominent of which , theAuschwitz Memorial Research Center , has swan uncertainty on some significant elements of the story . The show does update some elements from the novel that acts as its source material ( the spelling of Lali ’s name , for model ) , but some of the inaccurate element do carry over , typically for the sake of make a more compelling history .

The harrowing biographical dramatic event The Tattooist of Auschwitz feature outstanding performances from both familiar faces and proportional unknowns .

Jonah-Hauer-King-and-Anna-Próchniak-in-The-Tattooist-of-Auschwitz

9The Latrine Murder Scene Was Very Unlikely

The randomness doesn’t align with the Nazis' regimented protocols

One of the most cruel and shocking murders to take place on cover inThe Tattooist of Auschwitzcomes in the first instalment , and it sets the tone for the mercilessness of the camps right out for Jonah Hauer - King ’s Lali . As he leave the barrack to palliate himself in the centre of the Nox , he sees Nazi SS guard Stefan Baretzki , the man who will presently become his personal supervisor , shoot three prisoners seemingly at random while they use the latrine . The soundbox fall , and Baretzki and his familiar simply continue to walk on by .

The scene serves as an important moment for Lali , asit attest why he and every other prisoner lived in fearevery second of every 24-hour interval . As shocking as the scene is , it ’s very unbelievable that it would have take place in the real camps . The Nazis ' extinction of captive was mark by brutish efficiency and protocol ; every captive was listed and accounted for at all times .

All episodes ofThe Tattooist of Auschwitzare now swarm on Peacock .

Richard Kind Poker Face Season 2 Interview header

The guards in charge of the camp were maintain accountable for each captive , and break names off the leaning whenever someone was killed . A random violent death like the one at the latrine violate those protocols , asthose body would have require to be account for and disposed of immediately . While it ’s an important view in establishing the fear present in the camp for Lali and Gita , it likely never occurrec .

8Baretzki May Not Have Been Lali’s Supervisor

There is no record of their close working relationship

Stefan Baretzki was a veridical guard at the summer camp , and he was one of the individuals tried and condemn at the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials years after Auschwitz was liberate . However , there seems to beno documentation that he was ever directly involved with Lali Sokolov , or as his pack composition said at the fourth dimension , Ludwig Eisenberg . It is known that Baretzki work in Auschwitz I and Birkenau , the women ’s coterie , which is how he comes in contact with Gita in the show .

Documentation and photographic grounds place Baretzki at the ramp for incoming prisoners , and it ’s know that he shop at the area . That would certainly put him in close propinquity with a tattooist like Lali who worked correctly in that area , andit ’s certainly possible that they established a near relationship , as Lali described to Heather Morris . However , Lali ’s depiction of Baretzki as his personal supervisor ca n’t be verified .

7Baretzki Never Brought Lali Into The Gas Chamber

Someone with Lali’s job would not be allowed in that area

One of the most striking scenes inThe Tattooist of AuschwitzinvolvesBaretzki personally taking Lali down into one of the gasoline chambersso that he can distinguish two body that were pass on in the chamber . The numbers tattooed on their weapon are not exonerated , and Baretzki ask Lali to elucidate what they say so that the body can be properly document . Baretzki make a gag , laugh that Lali was the first Jew to ever walk into the gas sleeping room and then walk out alive , demonstrating his depravity and sadistic cruelty .

There is very little chance that this actually happened , assomeone with Lali ’s status would not have been give up near the gas chambersor crematoria . Furthermore , the protocol was to place prisoner sent to the accelerator chambers during their option , and then again before they were ship to die . There is no way that two bodies would actually remain unidentified at the time they entered the chamber . The scene is a valid demonstration of Baretzki ’s cruelty , but there is small reason to think it really fall out as Lali name it .

6Lali Could Not Have Gotten Penicillin For Gita

Its use was not widespread at the time

As part of his prerogative as atätowierer , Lali was able to move more freely about the refugee camp , and establish a organization of exchanging valuable for food and other items . One of the most valuable use of his privilege get along when Gita falls victim to typhus , as many did in the camp , and becomes very ill . He is capable to get her medicinal drug in the variety of an antibiotic drug , which helps her recover and ultimately saves her life sentence as her friends hide her and treat her .

The Tattooist of AuschwitzCharacter

Played By

Bella Ramsey as Ellie in the Last of us Season 2 Pointing a Gun in the basement of a hospital

Lali Sokolov

Harvey Keitel

Young Lali Sokolov

The-Tattooist-of-Auschwitz-Jonah-Hauer-King-cast

Custom image by Debanjana Chowdhury

Jonah Hauer - King

Gita Fuhrmannova

Anna Próchniak

Jonas Nay’s Stefan Baretzki killing prisoners in The Tattooist of Auschwitz

Heather Morris

Melanie Lynskey

Jonas Nay

Jonas Nay as Stefan Baretzki and Jonah Hauer-King as Lali Sokolov in The Tattooist of Auschwitz standing outside looking concerned

Stefan Baretzki

It is all but impossible that Lali was capable to procure penicillin for Gita , as the drug was still in the enquiry phase at the time Gita became gruesome . Its use did not become far-flung or easily accessible until after WWII , intend that even with a connection to the camp ’s doc , Lali would n’t have been able to get the treatment Gita needed to recoup quickly . It ’s potential that Lali was able to leave her with food and perhaps some other item to help with the symptom , but the medicinal drug he is establish smuggling to her in the show is improbable .

5Cilka Acting As A Mistress Was Unlikely

A German officer simply wouldn’t have taken the risk

One of the biggest issues that the Auschwitz Memorial Research Center had withThe Tattooist of Auschwitzwas its depiction of Cilka , the beautiful young girl who oversees Gita in the administration building she winds up working in . Cilka , a Judaic prisoner , is read with her head unshaven , as she is supposedly a schoolmarm to one of the major military officer at the camp , Josef Houstek . Cilka parlays this kinship into favors , and it ’s implied that she is responsible for saving Lali ’s life when his hoard of smuggle item is happen upon by the guards , and he is beaten .

Heather Morris wrote a sequel novel toThe Tattooist of AuschwitztitledCilka ’s Journey , another piece of work of historical fabrication based loosely on Cilka ’s real story .

There is almostno opportunity that an SS officeholder would pursue in an denotative relationship with a Judaic captive , as it would open him up to significant hazard . An SS officer engaging in such a relationship would be accused of race dishonor , referred to asRassenschande , and would result in life-threatening event . There is even a case law for the consequence , as an SS officer who did exactly that was sent to a penal refugee camp for his illicit activity . Cilka ’s rescue of Lali is a polar moment in the show , but it is difficult to believe that it unfolded as it ’s depicted .

Lali Sokolov (Harvey Keitel) walks through Auschwitz escorted by a Nazi officer, Stefan Baretzki (Jonas Nay)in The Tattooist of Auschwitz trailer

4It’s Unlikely A Baby Was Born In The Barracks

It would have been difficult to conceal

One of the most uplifting scene inThe Tattooist of Auschwitzisthe birth of the prisoner Esther ’s baby . She point up to the camp meaning , but due to how she carry the baby , she was able to conceal it from the Nazis . She move into travail in the barracks one night , a month sooner than expected , and her fellow prisoners call up to drive home the baby safely . Gita refer days later that one of the reasons she wants to return to Europe is to see Esther ’s daughter , who was a 16 - year - old young woman at that point .

A significant point is made in the show that all pregnant char were killed like a shot when Lali first arrives at the camp , which is consistent with history . Per theAuschwitz Memorial and Museum , beginning in mid-1943 , non - Judaic newborns were let to dwell and processed as incoming prisoner . In November 1944 , with the warfare slipping away from the Nazis , even Jewish newborn baby were allowed to live as the batch exterminations were stop . In theory , a baby could have been born in the camp and survived , but itwould in all probability have occurred in a maternity Montgomery Ward and not in the barrack .

3Lali Didn’t Tell Gita Where To Meet Outside The Camp

The only information he had was her name

InThe Tattooist of Auschwitz , to secure that they can suffer up outside the camp , Lali tells Gita to go to the shop class he was employed in before being carry , as his party boss would take care of her and they could meet up once he was free . Gita eventually makes her fashion there , only to disclose the shop class room up and Lali nowhere to be found . She stays in the field searching for him , and come about to see him tantalise a horse and fruity as he searches for her as well . It ’s one of the most beautiful moment in the show , but it happen differently in tangible life .

In reality , Lali had no information outside of Gita ’s full namewhen she leave alone the camp . Likewise , she had almost no data to go off to find him once she made her way back to Slovakia . Once they both escaped the Nazis , they made their way to Bratislava severally , as it was a known collection point for those returning from the camp . While Lali searched for her for weeks , asking incoming women if they knew her , they lastly ran into each other out of pure coincidence as he journey to the Red Cross to look for her .

2Lali Was Never Captured By The Russian Army

He didn’t seek out women for soldiers' parties

InThe Tattooist of Auschwitz , Lali escapes the Nazis only to be take in into custody by the Red Army . While he is treated far advantageously than he was in the camp , he was still a captive , and put to oeuvre speak to local women thanks to his magical spell and skill with various lyric . Lali win over them to go to parties with the Russian soldier , where they would ultimately be rap and treated poorly by the occupying soldiers . This dish as another element of Lali ’s guilt as a collaborator , and is another period he hesitates to divvy up with Heather .

The veridical Lali became the camp ’s independent tattooist due to his ability to speak several Eastern European language , include Slovakian , German , Russian , Hungarian , and some Polish .

In reality , Lali scarper the Nazis while being transport from camp to campas the Nazis fled the oncoming Red Army . Per theCBChe tunneled his way out of a clique in Austria , and slowly made his mode back to his hometown , even blow down the Danube River at one point as the Germans and Russians force out back and forth over his caput . The scenes with the Russians help further establish why Lali waited so long to evidence his tarradiddle , but it is n’t consistent with his actual story .

Jonah Hauer-King and Anna Prochniak as Lali Sokolov and Gita Fuhrmannova in The Tattooist of Auschwitz

1Baretzki Didn’t Seek Lali’s Help During The Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials

There is no evidence that Baretzki reached out to Lali

One of the few times Gita and Lali are ever record discord inThe Tattooist of Auschwitzcomes in the final sequence , and is define in the 1960s . Lali and Gita are impose by the Australian police , and are handed a request from the German embassy , which includes a request from the legal team representing Stefan Baretzki in the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials . Baretzki requested that Lali make a positive statement about his character , given that he referred to him as " like a sidekick " at one distributor point in the bivouac .

Lali is forced to consider it , as despite Baretzki ’s psychopathological nature and many slaying , Lali would not have survived the camp without him , and he and Gita may not have been capable to forge a human relationship . Gita is of course humiliate , butLali eventually does pen a varsity letter in reaction , order that Baretzki killed many people and was a horrible person , but he did keep him live . While he speaks nothing but the the true , it ’s another matter that he ’s ashamed of , and proceed him from telling his total story until after Gita passes aside .

In realism , there is no record of Baretzki ever strive out to Lali for supportduring the trials . Despite being the lowest - range officer in the trials , Baretzki was discovered to be complicit in the decease of at least 8,000 people , and was sentenced to life in prison plus extra yr . He would go on to vote down himself in prison in 1988 .

Yali Topol Margalith as Cilka in The Tattooist of Auschwitz

Source : Auschwitz Memorial Research Center , Auschwitz Memorial and Museum , CBC

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The Tattooist of Auschwitz is the dependable story of Lale Sokolov , a Judaic captive who was forced to tattoo the ID numbers on the other captive at the concentration camp during World War II . The series is based on the novel of the same name from author   Heather Morris .

Anna Prochniak as Gita holds Esther’s baby in The Tattooist of Auschwitz

Jonah Hauer-King and Anna Prochniak as Lali Sokolov and Gita Fuhrmannova in The Tattooist of Auschwitz

Jonah Hauer-King as Lali Sokolov in The Tattooist of Auschwitz

Jonas Nay as Stefan Baretzki and Harvey Keitel as older Lali Sokolov in The Tattooist of Auschwitz

The Tattooist of Auschwitz Book Cover Showing Two People with Numbered Arm Tattoos holding hands

The Tattooist of Auschwitz is the true story of Lale Sokolov, a Jewish prisoner who was forced to tattoo the ID numbers on the other prisoners at the concentration camp during World War II. The series is based on the novel of the same name from author Heather Morris.

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Headshot Of Melanie Lynskey In The Los Angeles premiere of ‘Lola’ at Regency Bruin Theatre.

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