A story of extraordinary resilience. Or how love can be stronger than all the atrocities in the world. When Heather Morris met Lale Sokolov in 2003 while working in a hospital in Melbourne, Australia, she could not imagine how this meeting would change her life. Lale Sokolov, then 87 years old, has just lost Gita, the love of his life. One thing led to another, as their meetings progressed, a deep friendship was created. The old man ends up confiding in the heavy secret he has carried for decades: he is not only one of the survivors of the most terrible concentration camp, that of Auschwitz-Birkenau where more than a million people were exterminated. victims including a majority of Jews, but also one of the tattoo artists.
Lale Sokolov, a Jew of Slovak origin, was deported in 1942. He was 26 years old. He volunteered, thinking that he would contribute to the war effort and preserve his family since he was single and childless. At the camp, he discovers that he is in fact a prisoner with all the atrocities surrounding him. In spite of himself, he becomes the tattooist, the one who must write the identification numbers on the arms of his fellow inmates. In this absolute horror, he meets the encounter of his life: that of Gita Furman, 18 years old. The lovers survive as best they can. It is this love story that Heather Morris transcribes in her first novel published in 2018, The Auschwitz tattooist (City Éditions and J'ai Lu) and adapted into a series with the eponymous title that M6 broadcasts from January 22, 2025, at 9:10 p.m., on the occasion of the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp .
They could have never seen each other again
A love story even more incredible when we know that they were not released from the camp at the same time. They might have never seen each other again. Lale Sokolov was transferred a few days before the liberation of the camp by the Soviets, on January 27, 1945, to the Mauthausen concentration camp, in Austria. He manages to escape and has only one obsession: finding Gita. Meanwhile, Gita also leaves the camp with other prisoners taken by the Nazis before the Russians arrived. She also managed to escape. Finally, it is in the streets of Bratislava, in Slovakia, the place where the deportees find themselves upon their return to the country, that chance brings them together. They married in October 1945. Lale took the surname Sokolov, his sister's married name, in place of his birth name, Eisenberg. He believes that a Russian sound is easier to carry in a country under the influence of the Soviet Union.
From Czechoslovakia to Australia
Lale Sokolov enters the textile industry by creating his own factory. He campaigns for the creation of the State of Israel by raising funds. But the communist government does not view his activity favorably. He is imprisoned and his business nationalized. After his release, Lale and his wife Gita decided to emigrate and settled in Melbourne, Australia, in 1949. They are once again embarking on textile production. In 1961, Gary, their only son, was born, a miracle child while his mother thought she would not be able to conceive a child following the horrors suffered in the camp. Lale and Gita do not hide their traumatic past from their son when he is old enough to understand, without going into details. Gary will discover them during his father's confessions. Lale Sokolov never wanted to return to Europe. He died at the age of 90 on October 31, 2006, three years after the death of Gita, the love of his life. Three years during which he confided in Heather Morris so that his story would not disappear forever. Without ultimately experiencing the success that the book had twelve years later.
Related News :