What true story is the series inspired by?

TF1 regularly offers Prime Time series that are very successful. Recently, we have been able to discover Cat’s Eyes with Camille Lou, then season 2 of Panda with Julien Doré and Ophélia Kolb. Lately it is Erica with Julie De Bona and Gregory Fitoussi which got fans of mini-series talking a lot. The M6 ​​channel, for its part, specializes in programs such as Love is in the meadow, Beijing Express, Top Chef or Call for witnesses.

But, we nevertheless discover several fictions. This Wednesday, January 22, we will be able to watch the first two episodes of the series The Auschwitz tattooist directed by Tali Shalom-Ezer. It is broadcast on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz camp which will be celebrated on January 27. It is based on the novel of the same name by Heather Morris published in 2017. With more than 14 million copies sold worldwide, including 400,000 in France, this poignant book had great success. But, what true story is the story inspired by?

What true story is the series The Tattooist of Auschwitz on M6 inspired by?

The book, as well as the series The Auschwitz tattooistretrace the story of Lale Sokolov and Gita, two Jewish prisoners of the Auschwitz camp. If there is an element of fiction in the M6 ​​series, it is largely inspired by the testimony of Lale Sokolov, born under the name Ludovic Eisenberg in 1916 who entrusted his story to the novelist Heather Morris before passing away in 2006.

The story begins in 1942. After being deported to the concentration camp in April 1942, Lale Sokolov became the official tattooist for all the Jews in the camp until 1945. He then meets Gita who comes from Czechoslovakia. While he is forced to tattoo the young woman's identification number on his arm, love at first sight strikes between the two prisoners. In the face of torture and death, their love survived and they were able to reunite after the war, then marry. Through this love story, the series retraces one of the darkest moments in history told by a man transformed by the trials he endured.

The difference between the novel and the series The Tattooist of Auschwitz

The author confided upon the release of her novel: “I didn’t want to write a memoir or an autobiography. I wanted to capture a love story. It couldn't be a documentary either, since there are no precise recordings of the conversations, just what Lale told me about them. Thus, in the book, we sometimes find historical inaccuracies but this is intentional.

In order to make viewers understand that the series traces the true story of Lale, we will find his character in 1942 but also in the 2000s, telling his story to the author. This is not the case in the book which only deals with his past. Thus, we will discover what became of the couple and more precisely this man who had to grow old with this past which never ceased to haunt him. In the main role of young Lale, we can find Jonah Hauer-King (The Little Mermaid) and it is Harvey Keitel who lends his features to the elderly Lale. Gita Furman is played by Anna Próchniak and Mélanie Lyndskey plays Heather Morris.

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