Why do we read survivor stories? by Aaina Jassell
For this article I will be focusing on a novel which I read recently called “The Tattooist of Auschwitz” by Heather Morris. It follows the true story of a Slovakian Jew named Lale Sokolov during 1942 in the Holocaust which took over Eastern Europe. It shows his tale of finding love during arguably one of the darkest times in history as well as how he managed to survive these atrocities. Whilst reading this novel I was struck by three main things. 1.
I now know a lot more about the Holocaust than I ever learnt in history at school.
2.
My emotions went all over the place and during some moments I truly did forget this was a survivor’s story, I felt for sure that Lale would be caught and killed.
3.
I realised truly how lucky I am to not have had to go through something like that.
Survivor stories are not just novels which give us entertainment, they have a deeper meaning, a darker meaning. These stories feed our souls; they allow us to go back in time to a place of persecution (which realistically wasn’t that long ago in this instance). Reading a survivor story can spread the truth about what happened. This was their life and unlike some of the history books they have nothing to gain by covering up information. They are the truth. The idea that this novel is an insight into history, and an opportunity for learning, shows a lot. I had no idea that in the camps the Nazi’s had put in place, the prisoners had different jobs. The prisoners were used to build the camp, to go through all the clothes and belongings of other prisoners and to tattoo the number onto the prisoner’s arms. I also had no idea that people from the surrounding areas came into the camp willingly every day to help build or sort through belongings and at the end of the day they could return home, like this was just a normal job. This raises the question of did these civilians know what they were doing? Did they know the purpose of their work? As well as the civilians and the prisoners, we get an insight into the lives of the Nazi’s. In this particular novel we become very familiar with a SS soldier called Baretski. We learn that he is deathly afraid of his boss, much like how the prisoners were afraid of him, and that he has the
