BOOK CLUB QUESTIONS: The Tattooist of Auschwitz

 FEBRUARY'S BOOK CLUB QUESTIONS

 

Welcome to my questions on The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris.

 

DAY 1

Is the first book you’ve read on the Holocaust? If not, which other books have you read on the subject, and how does this one compare?

 

DAY 2

The role of camp tattooist earned Lale several privileges. In your opinion, why do you think Pepan chose him as his assistant?

 

DAY 3

When Pepan disappeared, do you think taking on the role of camp tattooist made Lale complicit in the work of the Nazis?  What about Gita’s friend, Cilka?

 

DAY 4

We all agree that Lale and Cilka did what they did to survive. But after the war ended, the Russians sent Cilka to a labour camp because they saw her as a German collaborator. She spent ten barbaric years there. Do you think the other camp prisoners saw her and Lale as collaborators too?

 

DAY 5

There was an interesting power dynamic between Lale and his guard, Baretski? Why?

Do you think Lale would have survived if he’d had a different guard?

 

DAY 6

Of all the thousands of women Lale tattooed, why Gita? If it hadn’t been for the war, and they had met in different circumstances, do you think they would have still got together? Did you think they would have a happy ever after?

 

DAY 7

Once the Soviets liberated Auschwitz, were you surprised that Lale became a prisoner of yet another regime? Why do you think he didn’t try and escape this one sooner?

 

DAY 8

Heather Morris never met Gita. She died just before Lale decided it was time to tell his story. Why do you think he waited until Gita died? And why do you think he chose a non-Jew?

 

DAY 9

If you got to ask Lale or Gita or the Author one question, what would it be?

 

DAY 10

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=55&v=70pxBGXkm9E&feature=emb_logo

 

FURTHER READING:

 

Cilka’s Journey by Heather Morris

The sequel to the Tattooist of Auschwitz, Heather Morris tells the story of Cilka’s ten years in a brutal Siberian prison camp.

 

The Volunteer by Jack Fairweather

Winner of the Costa Book of the Year 2019, The Volunteer tells the story of Witold Pilecki who infiltrated Auschwitz.

 

When Time Stopped by Ariana Neumann

A daughter uncovers how a Jewish survivor hid in plain sight at the heart of the Third Reich.

 

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

A girl growing up during World War II steals books and finds comfort in words.

 

Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

A young girl who, when the French collaborators of the Nazis brutally arrest her family, locks her brother in a cupboard thinking she will be back that day to get him out.