TV adaptation of The Tattooist of Auschwitz ‘distorts and falsifies’ Holocaust truth, says historian

The book tells the story of a man called Lali who arrives at Auschwitz concentration camp and falls in love with Gita, right – MARTIN MLAKA/SKY UK

A historian has claimed the new TV drama The Tattooist of Auschwitz “distorts and falsifies” the truth about the Holocaust.

The six-part series is based on a bestselling novel by Heather Morris inspired by real-life events of Holocaust prisoners.

First published in 2017, it tells the story of a man called Lali who arrives at the concentration camp in 1942 and falls in love with a woman, Gita, while tattooing her.

The novel is said to express the notion that love can conquer evil even in the face of slim odds. However, Dr Wanda Witek-Malicka from the Research Center of the Auschwitz Museum has criticised the show on Sky Atlantic, claiming it “distorts, falsifies, or romanticises the reality of Auschwitz”.

The museum was created in 1947 to memorialise the largest of the German Nazi concentration camps where more than one million Jewish people were killed as part of Adolf Hitler’s attempted ethnic cleansing.

Posting on the research centre’s official social media account, Dr Witek-Malicka said the Sky Atlantic depiction is “much closer to the book than to the factual historical images of the Auschwitz camp”.

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, she said: “In terms of content, the TV adaptation of the ‘Tattooist of Auschwitz’ remains much closer to the book than to the factual historical image of the Auschwitz camp.

“It includes numerous highly improbable scenes. Some of these events are direct replicas of the book’s erroneous content, while others are original ideas of the series’ creators.”

Harvey Keitel as the series’ main character Lali Sokolov – MARTIN MLAKA/SKY UK

Dr Witek-Malicka said the organisation is working on a detailed factual analysis of the series following its release on May 2.

She added: “This portrayal, in many cases, distorts, falsifies, or romanticises the reality of Auschwitz to the same extent that Morris’s text does.

“The series perpetuates numerous common stereotypes that do not align with the reality of the camp we know from multiple testimonies and documents.

“The most severe criticism of the series is that it leaves unresolved (or somewhat completely unaddressed) what is crucial in the history of Auschwitz – namely, the mass murder of Jewish men, women, and children who were taken to gas chambers straight from the selection platforms.”

The Holocaust is deemed a tertiary issue in the series, according to Dr Witek-Malicka who said the love story was given more prominence.

She criticised the message that “love allows one to survive great evil and overcome all odds”, calling it a naive perspective which oversimplifies a nuanced situation.

She said: “The Tattooist of Auschwitz is a poor series about Auschwitz-Birkenau, certainly not recommended as historical teaching material.”

Dr Witek-Malicka did however praise the creators’ “effort to create a more credible picture than the one presented in the book”, but said despite this the series is closer to Morris’s perspective than the realities of Auschwitz.

A Sky spokesperson said: “The series, The Tattooist of Auschwitz is a drama inspired by one man, Lali Sokolov, and his story of survival during the Holocaust. It does not claim to be a factual resource for Holocaust education.

“Drama can play an important role in bringing stories to new audiences and we hope that this story will encourage audiences to seek factual education on the topic including from the Auschwitz‑Birkenau Memorial and State Museum. “

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