DISCUSSION QUESTIONS for The
Tattooist of Auschwitz
1.
Early on upon his arrival at Birkenau, Lala
befriends his kapo by communicating with him in Polish. He makes a deal with his kapo in exchange for
favors (for the kapa to make his life easier).
He questions if he’s “made a deal with the devil.” Lale often finds himself wheeling and dealing
for food, advancement or for safety. Discuss
Lale’s defiance of luck and life-risking feats he undertakes in the novel.
(165) Lale’s defiance about wearing a star
(p.192) youth asking for food, though closely monitored,
takes risk again
(p.56, 59) asks Baretski for a favor - letter to Gita, gives
advice to Baretski about girlfriend
(p. 80) medicine for Gita
(p. 212) open fire right before he leaves
(p.72) smuggle jewelry for food
(p. 181) sent to confinement
2.
(p. 46) Lale refers to food as “currency”. “With it, you stay alive.” says Lale. Talk about the role of food and how it
plays in the story.
3.
(p.30) Lale refers to himself as a
“survivor”. He also refers to Cilka as
(p. 156) as a hero, insisting that “choosing to survive is a type of
resistance…” He explained that the “act
of defiance is a form of heroism.” In
your opinion and observation, how would you describe the people that outlived
the holocaust? Was it only the
“survivors” and the “brave” that truly survived?
4.
(p.39) In Chapter 3, Lale is described as
flirtatious, almost as a “ladies’ man”, yet soon later, we discover he’s a
mama’s boy and longs for (p.122) Gita, his true love. Discuss Lale’s relationship with his mother
and how it influences how he treats women in general and how might have it
contributed to his lasting love with Gita.
5.
(p.170) Would you say Lale’s relationship with
his father is complex? What regrets, if
any, did Lale possess regarding his relationship with his father?
6.
In her “Author’s Note” Morris stated that in
some instances, she created characters that represented more than one individual. With that being said, the characters that existed
in the story were believable and easily imagined. What character(s) were more believable than
others? What character(s) were more likeable?
What character(s) were more repulsive than others?
7.
(p. 196) Lale, himself, acknowledges while
alongside the SS, he is immune to many of the camp’s disputes. Discuss how Lale’s life at Birkenau/Auschwitz
would be described as exceptional in comparison to many others who lived and
died during their stay.
8.
(p. 164) After the brutal open fire and killing
of some of his Gypsy friends, Lale’s hope wavers while viewing the stars. Review some of the circumstances in the story
where hope was referred to.
9.
(p.7, postscript) While defending her take of
Lale’s story, Morris writes, “I had to identify how memory and history
sometimes waltz in step and sometimes strain to part to present not a lesson in
history, of which there are many, but a unique lesson in humanity.” How
might you have had a difficult time filtering out significant, reputable, and reliable
impressions of Lale’s accounts and then deciding what to include within
screenplay form?
10.
(p. 6, postscript) Lale tells Morris that he wanted
his story to be recorded so, in his words; “it would never happen again.” How does his wishes resonate with you during
this present time?
11.
(p. 203) Sonderkommando – these were special
work groups made up of prisoners in the Nazi concentration camps during World
War 2. In German, “sonderkommando” means
“special unit”. They worked in and
around the gas chambers, which the Nazis used to murder many people. I was unaware of this term and had never
made note of it prior to reading this book.
World War ll is a topic of many nonfiction and fiction books, many of
which we’ve read as a book club. Was
there anything new knowledge that you obtained from this novel?
12.
(p. 253) Even after surviving the camps, Lale
and Gita’s paths miraculously cross again only to continue down a risk-taking
path; smuggling money from the rich out of the country, avoiding prison, nearly
escaping the country to Austria, and later, meeting with a stranger to secretly
hand off money at a train station. Lale
later compares one of these dare devil experiences to a le Carre’ novel, who
was known to write material about espionage and spy stories. Talk about how their story is almost
unbelievable and how their story is one that needed to be told.
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