The Tattooist of Auschwitz

One day, Lale and Gita hear a nearby explosion. Running out from behind the administration building, they hear yet another explosion, which they can tell has come from one of the crematoriums. There is smoke rising from the building. Prisoners are running outside as SS officers shoot machine guns at the Sonderkommando, who are firing their own guns from atop the crematorium. The SS make quick work of the situation, defeating the Sonderkommando, at which point Lale grabs Gita and he holds her against a wall as yet another explosion sounds from one of the other crematoriums. After shooting at prisoners ducking for cover, the Nazis issue an announcement over loudspeakers, saying that everyone should go back to their blocks and that they won’t be shot if they do this right away.

Gita and Lale return to their blocks. That night, Lale leaves his room and he talks to the new population of people living in his block, most of whom are Hungarian men. They tell him that a group of prisoners working in the ammunition factory have been sneaking explosives to the Sonderkommando, who have been fashioning makeshift grenades. In addition, the prisoners amassed a store of weapons. Going on, Lale’s new blockmates tell him that rumors have been working their way through the camp about this retaliation, though they note that the uprising was supposed to coincide with a Russian attack on the camp from the outside—something that people have been saying will soon happen, though the prisoner’s insurrection obviously came at the wrong time. Hearing this information, Lale begins to feel optimistic about the future and he realizes that he should speak to his blockmates more often.