Heather Morris’s novel The Tattooist of Auschwitz is an examination of the lengths to which people are willing to go in order to survive harrowing experiences. Based on the true story of Lale’s time at the Nazi concentration camp known as Auschwitz-II Birkenau, the novel follows the young man’s attempt to stay alive throughout the Holocaust. One of the reasons Lale is ultimately able to escape death is because he becomes the camp’s Tätowierer, the tattooist who inscribes numbers onto each prisoner’s arm when they arrive in the concentration camp. At first, he thinks he will be unable to do this, finding the idea of forcibly tattooing women particularly disturbing. However, he sets aside his reservations when he realizes that he has no choice, deciding that his best chance of surviving will be to simply follow orders. This raises questions about what, exactly, is considered morally permissible when facing the threat of death. Although Lale’s job as the tattooist only marginally harms his fellow prisoners, the practice of doing whatever it takes to survive becomes harder to swallow in other situations—like when Lale learns that his friend Jakub has been forced to work as the camp’s torturer, beating and killing prisoners for the Nazis. By drawing attention to the horrible things the Nazis force prisoners to do, Morris pushes readers to consider the extent to which unethical behavior can be justified in the name of survival, ultimately suggesting that standard conceptions of morality often shift under the weight of unmitigated evil.
Morris frames subservience as one of the only tactics available to people who want to survive Auschwitz, which today is largely recognized as one of the worst Nazi concentration camps to have existed. Before Lale even reaches Auschwitz, he intuits that the smallest deviation from Nazi orders will result in violent punishment or even execution, a fact that is confirmed when the SS officers beat anyone who doesn’t immediately follow instructions after being let off the train upon arrival at the camp. Understanding this harsh reality, Lale resolves to follow orders when he can, deciding that he will make it out of Auschwitz someday by doing what he’s told and avoiding scrutiny. Sooner than he might have expected, though, he’s forced to put this resolution to the test, since one of his early assignments as the camp’s tattooist is to mark a group of women whose identification numbers have faded. As somebody who has always respected and coveted women, Lale finds the prospect of gouging numbers into their skin nearly unthinkable—but his mentor, Pepan, tells him he has no choice. This, Pepan helps Lale see, is one of the only ways he’ll manage to stay alive in Auschwitz, especially since being the tattooist comes with special privileges and extra food. Moreover, Pepan suggests that somebody will take Lale’s place as the tattooist if he refuses, thereby making it even harder for Lale to turn away from this unlikely opportunity to increase his chances of survival. As a result, readers see the way difficult circumstances can refigure a person’s moral resolve.
What’s more, Pepan’s arguments about why Lale should become the tattooist underscore the moral reasoning that contributes to such decisions. After all, not only will Lale has a better chance of surviving if he takes this job, but the Nazis will easily find somebody else to tattoo the incoming prisoners if Lale turns down the offer. Consequently, Lale feels somewhat relieved of his hesitation to permanently mark his fellow prisoners against their will, knowing that this will still happen to them even if he refuses the post. Pepan also suggests that somebody “who has less soul” than Lale might become the tattooist and do the job carelessly, causing the prisoners unnecessary pain—pain that Lale would try his best to alleviate. It’s worth noting that although this reasoning is understandable and logical, it doesn’t necessarily absolve Lale of all moral responsibility. There are, of course, many different approaches to the study of ethics, but some might say that agreeing to do something immoral is never permissible, since engaging in immoral behavior only perpetuates wrongdoing. And yet, the very real and miserable reality is that if everyone at Auschwitz refused to follow orders, the Nazis would kill them without hesitation. By highlighting this dynamic, then, Morris reveals the uncomfortable fact that unfortunate circumstances sometimes make upholding one’s moral convictions practically impossible or futile.
Even though bleak circumstances can make it difficult to follow a strict moral compass, some actions are certainly more justifiable than others. For instance, although Lale thinks it’s wrong for him to tattoo unwilling prisoners, his job as the tattooist won’t in and of itself destroy a person’s life. By contrast, his friend Jakub’s job as the camp’s torturer has more serious implications, since he’s expected to hurt and kill his fellow prisoners. However, even Jakub manages to reframe his horrific job, attempting to find the least immoral way of going about his task. When the Nazis want to know who helped Lale smuggle jewels and gems into the camp, they force Jakub to beat him. Before doing so, though, Jakub secretly tells his friend that he shouldn’t give up the names. He explains that he will try to spare Lale as best he can but he says he would rather kill Lale than report more names to the Nazis, adding that he would “kill one Jew to save ten others.” Needless to say, hurting or killing another human is immoral, but Jakub’s survival depends upon carrying out this role—and in the same way that Lale takes the job as the tattooist because he thinks he will at least be able to carry out the task gently, Jakub tries his best to minimize the harm he inflicts. In turn, Morris suggests that people attempting to survive harrowing experiences should strive to be as moral as their circumstances allow, even if those circumstances require an altered kind of morality.
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Survival and Morality Quotes in The Tattooist of Auschwitz
What they all share is fear. And youth. And their religion. Lale tries to keep his mind off theorizing about what might lie ahead. He has been told he is being taken to work for the Germans, and that is what he is planning to do. He thinks of his family back home. Safe. He has made the sacrifice, has no regrets. He would make it again and again to keep his beloved family at home, together.
Lale clings to his suitcase, hoping that with the money and clothes he has, he might be able to buy himself out from wherever they are headed, or at the very least buy himself into a safe job. Maybe there’ll be work where I can use my languages.
As they disappear into the darkness, Lale makes a vow to himself: I will live to leave this place. I will walk out a free man. If there is a hell, I will see these murderers burn in it. He thinks of his family back in Krompachy and hopes that his presence here is at least saving them from a similar fate.
Whenever possible, he listens to the talk and gossip of the SS, who don’t know he understands them. They give him ammunition of the only sort available to him—knowledge, to be stored up for later.
“You want me to tattoo other men?”
“Someone has to do it.”
“I don’t think I could do that. Scar someone, hurt someone—it does hurt, you know.”
Pepan pulls back his sleeve to reveal his own number. “It hurts like hell. If you don’t take the job, someone will who has less soul than you do, and he will hurt these people more.”
“Aron could have told him you were ill, but he feared the kapo would add you to the death cart again if he knew, so he said you were already gone.”
“And the kapo discovered the truth?”
“No,” yawns the man, exhausted from work. “But he was so pissed off, he took Aron anyway.”
Lale struggles to contain his tears.
The second bunkmate rolls onto his elbow. “You put big ideas into his head. He wanted to save ‘the one.’”
“To save one is to save the world,” Lale completes the phrase.
Should I be fearful, now that I am privileged? Why do I feel sad about leaving my old position in the camp, even though it offered me no protection? He wanders into the shadows of the half-finished buildings. He is alone.
That night, Lale sleeps stretched out for the first time in months. No one to kick, no one to push him. in the luxury of his own bed, he feels like a king. And just like a king, he must now be wary of people’s motives for befriending him or taking him into their confidence. Are they jealous? Do they want my job? Do I run the risk of being wrongfully accused of something? He has seen the consequences of greed and mistrust here. […] He is sure that as he left the block and walked past the bunks of beaten men, he heard someone mutter the word “collaborator.”
“Very nice,” Baretski says as he and Lale walk away. Lale ignores him and fights to control the hatred he feels.
“Would you like to meet her?” Again, Lale refuses to respond.
“Write to her, tell her you like her.”
How stupid does he think I am?
“I’ll get you paper and a pencil and bring her your letter. What do you say? Do you know her name?”
4562.
Lale walks on. He knows that the penalty for a prisoner caught with a pen or paper is death.
“I’m just a number. You should know that. You gave it to me.”
“Yes, but that’s just in here. Who are you outside of here?”
“Outside doesn’t exist anymore. There’s only here.”
[…]
“I don’t want to upset you, but will you promise me one thing?”
“What?”
“That before we leave here, you will tell me who you are and where you come from.”
She looks him in the eye. “Yes, I promise.”
“I’m happy with that for now. […].”
Lale squeezes Dana’s hand. “Thank you. Try to get some food into her. I’ll have medicine tomorrow.”
He departs, his mind a whirlpool. I barely know Gita, yet how can I live if she does not?
That night, sleep evades him.
The next morning, Victor places medicine, along with food, into Lale’s bag.
That afternoon, he is able to get it to Dana.
“But we have no future.”
Lale holds her firmly around her waist, forces her to meet his gaze.
“Yes, we do. There will be a tomorrow for us. On the night I arrived here, I made a vow to myself that I would survive this hell. We will survive and make a life where we are free to kiss when we want to, make love when we want to.”
Their lovemaking is passionate, desperate. It is a need so long in the making that it cannot be denied. Two people desperate for the love and intimacy they fear they will otherwise never experience. It seals their commitment to each other, and Lale knows at this moment that he can love no other. It strengthens his resolve to go on another day, and another day, for a thousand days, for however long it takes for them to live by his words to Gita: “To be free to make love wherever, whenever we want to.”
“What do you mean, hero? She’s not a hero,” Gita says with some annoyance. “She just wants to live.”
“And that makes her a hero. You’re a hero, too, my darling. That the two of you have chosen to survive is a type of resistance to these Nazi bastards. Choosing to live is an act of defiance, a form of heroism.”
How has he done it? How is he still breathing, when so many aren’t? He thinks back to the vow he made at the beginning. To survive and to see those responsible pay. Maybe, just maybe, those in the plane had understood what was going on, and rescue was on the way. It would be too late for those who died today, but maybe their deaths would not be entirely in vain. Hold that thought. Use it to get out of bed tomorrow morning, and the next morning, and the next.
“Have you lost your faith?” Gita asks as she leans back into Lale’s chest […].
“Why do you ask?” he says, stroking the back of her head.
“Because I think you have,” she says, “and that saddens me.”
“Then clearly you haven’t lost yours?”
“I asked first.”
“Yes, I think I have,” Lale answers.
“When?”
“The first night I arrived here. I told you what happened, what I saw. How any merciful god could let that happen, I don’t know. And nothing has happened since that night to change my mind. Quite the opposite.”
“You have to believe in something.”
“I do. I believe in you and me, and getting out of here, and making a life together where we can—” […]
“The thing is,” Jakub says, “I can’t let you give me any names.”
Lale stares, confused.
“You were kind to me and I will make the beating look worse than it is, but I will kill you before I let you tell me a name. I want as little innocent blood on my hands as possible,” Jakub explains.
“Oh, Jakub. I never imagined this would be the work they found for you. I’m so sorry.”
“If I must kill one Jew to save ten others, then I will.”
The men in Lale’s block also tell him of rumors about a general uprising, which they wanted to join but didn’t believe it was meant to happen on this day. They have heard that the Russians are advancing, and the uprising was planned to coincide with their arrival, to assist them in liberating the camp. Lale admonishes himself for not having made friends with his block companions sooner. Not having this knowledge nearly got Gita killed.
He starts to talk occasionally to one of them. The guard is impressed that Lale speaks fluent German. He has heard about Auschwitz and Birkenau but has not been there, and wants to hear about it. Lale paints a picture removed from reality. Nothing can be gained by telling this German the true nature of the treatment of prisoners there. He tells him what he did there and how he much preferred to work than to sit around. A few days later, the guard asks him if he’d like to move to a subcamp of Mauthausen, at Saurer-Werke in Vienna. Thinking it cannot be any worse than here, and with assurances from the guard that conditions are slightly better and the commandant is too old to care, Lale accepts the offer. The guard points out that this camp does not take Jews, so he should keep quiet about his religion.
