Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Tattooist of Auschwitz, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Survival and Morality
Faith, Love, and Optimism
Unity, Sacrifice, and Empathy
Knowledge, Uncertainty, and Power
Summary
Analysis
Gita and Dana march through the snow as SS officers guard them, shooting whomever falls behind. As they do this, the two women search for Cilka and Ivana to no avail. At a certain point, Dana falls to the ground and she refuses to go on. Gita tries to get her to move, but she will not. When a group of four Polish women walk by they try to help, but Dana insists upon staying where she is, instead telling them to take Gita. Despite Gita’s protests, then, the Polish women pull her away from Dana, whom the Nazis don’t even shoot because it’s so clear that she’s already close to death.
Gita is prepared to do whatever it takes to make sure Dana survives, but Dana herself can see that this will only put Gita in danger. For this reason, she sacrifices herself, insisting that the four Polish woman take Gita away from her. In this way, she supports her friend one final time, making it possible for Gita to stay alive. Once more, then, readers witness the sacrifices people are often willing to make for their loved ones—sacrifices that end up making it possible for those people to survive hardship.
Themes
Finally, the group comes upon a train, and the officers begin to force people inside. During the commotion, the four Polish women tell Gita that they’re going to make a break for a small house standing on the other side of a nearby field. Agreeing to come with them, Gita runs with the women and they successfully make it to the cabin, where the owners let them in and they give Gita and the Polish women bread and warm drinks while Gita and the women restore themselves by the fire. The residents then tell them they can’t stay because Nazis frequently search the house, but they also give the women the address of a relative who lives in a nearby town, saying that she will be able to house them.
At this point, Gita and her fellow prisoners seem to have recognized that their best chance of survival lies in running away. This, however, requires them to make a bold move, one that puts their lives in danger. And yet, their lives are already in danger, so they have little to lose. As a result, readers observe the relationship between desperation and survival, seeing that sometimes it’s necessary to take a risk in order to stay alive.
Themes
Gita and the four Polish women reach the nearby town, where they hide in an attic at night and they slink through the woods by day, afraid that the Nazis might search the house. Eventually, though, Russian soldiers learn that the women are hiding in the attic and the soldiers offer to guard the house where the women staying, meaning that they don’t have to brave the cold woods in the daytime. This makes the women feel relatively safe until a Russian soldier bursts into the house one night and he tries to rape one of the women. Before he can do this, though, another soldier runs inside and he shoots the man, apologizing profusely. Trying to make up for this, the soldier agrees to drive the women to Krakow, where one of the Polish women has a sister with whom they can stay.
Although Gita and the four Polish women have escaped the Nazis, it’s obvious that they’re still not completely safe. As survivors, they have to remain alert at all times. Furthermore, they must search for opportunities to improve their situation, which is why they accept the Russian soldier’s offer to drive them to Krakow. Little by little, they take back control of their own lives, finally making decisions about their futures instead of having to obey orders. The further they get from Birkenau, then, the more certainty they become about their survival, though they still have to be careful.
Themes
In Krakow, the women feel even safer, but Gita decides to leave when she meets a fellow Slovakian who offers to bring her to Bratislava. Upon returning to her home country, Gita lives in an apartment with a group of fellow survivors of the concentration camps. While looking out the window one day, she sees two Russian soldiers jump over the backyard’s fence and run toward the apartment. At first, she’s frightened, but she soon realizes that the two men are her brothers. Overjoyed, she greets them but she decides not to tell them that the rest of their family is dead, since they can only stay for a few moments and she doesn’t want to ruin their reunion.
Gita’s decision to part ways with the four Polish women is brave, since this means leaving behind the very same people who made sure she didn’t die in the snow with Dana. At the same time, though, going to Bratislava takes her one step closer to returning to her life before she was taken to Birkenau, ultimately restoring her sense of control over her own life. In keeping with this, seeing her brothers again settles a small amount of uncertainty in Gita’s life, since she now knows that not everyone in her family is dead. And yet, one thing remains unknown to Gita: whether or not she’ll ever see Lale again and, for that matter, whether or not he’s even alive.
Themes
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