105 pages 3 hours read

The Tattooist of Auschwitz

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2018

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Introduction

The Tattooist of Auschwitz

  • Genre: Fiction; historical
  • Originally Published: 2018
  • Reading Level/Interest: Lexile HL760L; college/adult
  • Structure/Length: 28 chapters plus prologue and epilogue; approx. 288 pages; approx. 7 hours, 25 minutes on audio
  • Protagonist and Central Conflict: In 1942, Auschwitz prisoner Lale Sokolov falls in love with a young woman named Gita as he is forced to tattoo his fellow prisoners with numbers that replace their identities.
  • Potential Sensitivity Issues: The Holocaust; concentration camp environment; sexual trauma; castration; attempted sexual assault; torture; profanity

Heather Morris, Author

  • Bio: Born in New Zealand; currently resides in Australia; completed her BA in Political Science at Monash University; began her writing career as a screenwriter; met and befriended Lale Sokolov in 2003
  • Other Works: Cilka’s Journey (2019); Three Sisters (2021)
  • Awards: HarperCollins Canada Fan Choice Book of the Year (2018); Goodreads Choice Award for Historical Fiction (2019)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

  • Trauma
  • “To Save One Is to Save the World”
  • The Cost of Survival

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

  • Gain an understanding of the cultural and historical contexts of the Holocaust, particularly that of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, the setting for the trials and trauma suffered by Lale and Gita throughout the story.
  • Study paired texts and other brief resources to make connections via the text’s themes of Trauma, “To Save One Is to Save the World,” and The Cost of Survival.

Related Titles

By Heather Morris

Study Guide

logo

Cilka's Journey

Heather Morris

Cilka's Journey

Heather Morris