ＵＰＤＡＴＥＤ GUARDIANＵＫFeb. 1, 2019
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/feb/01/cilkas-journey-the-tattooist-of-auschwitz-heather-morris
"The Tattooist of Auschwitz" by Heather Morris has been ''debunked.'' *Now what?* TO #DEBUNK a novel means ''to expose the sham or falseness of a book." https://korgw101.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-tattooist-of-auschwitz-by-heather.html
NOTE: The Auschwitz Memorial was not the first to flag concerns about the novel. Literary sleuth and blogger Dan Bloom first blogged about the untruthfulness of the novel in a September 22 post at
cli-fi-books.blogspot.com
Later on November 8, alerted by Bloom's stready stream of tweets and emails 24/7 sounding the alarm, an editor at the NYTimes bureau in Australia assigned a reporeter to write an article in the New York Times in November and it ran -- by Christine Kenneally -- and pointed out that the number that Morris says was tattooed on Furman was 34902, but that Furman herself testified that her number was 4562.
Blogger Lisa Hill highlighted errors in the novel back June. After being alerted by Bloom in September she refused to print his comments in her comments section and deleted his comments sounding the alarm because she feared reprisals from the publisher and a possible libel suit if she allowed Bloom's comments to appear on her blog ...but she did write this on her blog at the end:
P.S. 22/9/18 -- ''I have been contacted today [September 22] by a journalist [Dan Bloom] in who says he has proof that there are serious doubts about the veracity of this book. I will provide further details about that if and when I can. I cannot print Dan's comments for fear of a libel suit which I cannot afford to chance, so sorry Dan.''
MAJOR UPDATE: How a savvy screenwriter in Australia got an elderly Holocaust survivor to go along with her Hollywoodized story arc
LINK on how Heather Morris gently and quietly groomed and manipulatde Lali to go along with the story she concocted from his rambling memories
Guardian newspaper UK on Dec, 8, 2018 , article by Alison Flood
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/feb/01/cilkas-journey-the-tattooist-of-auschwitz-heather-morris
IMPORTANT UPDATE: READ THIS FIRST:
NEWS ALERT! "The Australian" Dec. 6 - by Fiona Harari - HEADLINE: " #TheTattooistofAuschwitz is distorting, Holocaust historians say'' https://northwardho.blogspot.com/2018/12/scanned-pages-1-and-2-from-australian.html
*UPDATE...The blog post, ''The Tattooist of Auschwitz' novel faces fuzzy future after reporter's expose', is now published and can be found at
https://blogs.timesofisrael.co
20 readers say their say about controversial Holocaust sexed-up romance novel 'TheTattooistofAuschwitz' -
https://northwardho.blogspot.com/2018/12/some-reader-comments-in-australia-after.html
Update, see article in The Australian titled "Controversy inked indelibly on world war II Holocaust love tale" November 30 issue by Caroline Overington. UPDATE LINK HERE:
Truth or consequences? Controversy indelibly inked on World War II Holocaust love tale
https://northwardho.blogspot.com/2018/11/truth-or-consequences-controversy.html
November 8...The New York Times has published a damning expose of this Holocaust literary hoax with Melbourne reporter Christine Kenneally reporting from Australia.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/
The book and movie will be cancelled soon. Game over, Heather. See nytimes.com Heather Morris wrote the script for this obviously ''faked'' and manipulated interview with Lale in 2004 as she was creating this literary hoax, some savvy observers say... SOME MEDIA PEOPLE in Australia and USA and UK ARE LOOKING INTO THIS NOW. Meanwhile The Jewish Anti-Defamation Commission in Australia is looking into this literary fakery now, too. Commision Chairman Dvir Abramovich in Sydney says: "The Holocaust in which 6 million Jews and millions of others were systemically murdered, should NOT be the subject for student pranks, Halloween costumes, entertainment or literary hoaxes like "Apples Over the Fence" and other fake memoirs and faked novels."
MEANWHILE ''The Times of Israel'' website has an expose on this book here:
The post, 'Truth behind bestseller Holocaust 'romance novel' called into question by some', is now published and can be found at
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/truth-behind-bestseller-holocaust-romance-novel-called-into-question-by-some/
And this just in: An Australian woman, not Jewish, a friend of mine, just told me when I asked her her POV, she wrote: "I just finished reading that book! I assumed it was all an elaborate fiction, including the accompanying notes. It never occurred to me that it was true.''
QUOTE UNQUOTE: ''Dr Detective is interested in pursuing this, but they need to contact Lale's son Gary Sokolov, 59, in Australia, and ask him if he has for a copy of the application that was provided by his mum Gita to the Claims Conference for Holocaust reparations. Doc D feels if there was no mention that Gita met Lale in the application, then Lale and Gita most probably never met in Auschwitz during the war which many people now already suspect. Most likely they met after the war and married then and Lale then made up his "story, which Heather accepted hook line and sinker. If there is no mention on the application, then more questions can be asked by literary reporters and hoax investigators worldwide. As it is now, it's a ''he'' (Lale) said; ''she'' (Heather) said. Forensics will be key.'' [''The only way this novel and movie project can be ''spotlighted'' is if hoax investigators find out that Gita was nevr an inmate in Auschwitz. If someone can ''prove'' both Lale and Gita were not in Auschwitz at the same time, then it will open this up to being a bogus story.'']
AND THIS JUST IN FROM Doctor DETECTIVE TEAM:
''I checked with the Holocaust Centre in Melbourne. .....No one is disputing the fact that literary license was used
to make the story more colourful, ..... I don't think any book on the Holocaust should resort to literary license
of any kind and that would be a good argument. This paragraph by Heather Morris in her book intro makes it clear:
''95% of it is as it happened, researched and confirmed. What has been fictionalised is where I’ve put Lale and Gita into events where really they weren’t. They weren’t together when the American planes flew over the camps, for example. Lale was on his own at that point. I put him and Gita together for dramatic licence. '' PERHAPS HEATHER ALSO USED POETIC LICENSE TO MAKE UP THE POETIC SCENE WHERE LALE TATTOOS GITA'S ARM WHEN SHE WAS 18 AND THEY FUCKED IN THE NAZI Camp which Hitler's henchmen controlled completely. Even Gary the son says the fucking scene was invented by heather to sex up the novel for romantically inclined female readers.
Dr Detective: ''Somone should contact Gary and Heather and let them know that literary license is unacceptable for many readers and historians, Jewish and Christian, when writing about the Holocaust. If someone can find a historical discrepancy, then there is something that can be pursued. Putting the two together when the U.S. planes flew over ....is putting them into events when they really weren't together is not a big deal...but if finding out that they weren't at Auschwitz at the same time or didn't know each other during their time together in the camps, then there is an issue that could put a cold damper on the movie project just like happened with the cancellation of the Holocaust hoax novel and movie titled "Angel at the Fence" in 2008."
AND:
''The problem is it's a "he-said; she-said" Lale vs Heather, and Lale's dead as is Gita. There has to be something concrete to make the case the book is a literary hoax. The clear way to "out" this would be if someone found his wife Gita was never in Auschwitz at the time Lale was there. Investigaors needs to find something concrete besides one's word against another's?''
"The Tattooist of Auschwitz" -- a novel about the Holocaust written by a sweet and sincere and ''creative'' non-Jewish Australian woman originally from New Zealand named Heather Morris, a screenwriter and a novelist -- has been called "a literary hoax" by Holocaust some education bloggers in Australia and USA, in much the same way that Herman Rosenblat's 2008 Holocaust memoir "Apples Over the Fence" was blessed and championed by Oprah Winfrey 9 times on her show with Herman making 3 appearances himself and then when Gabriel Sherman exposed the memoir as a literay hoax based on a big fat white lie and fib that Herman told on TV show, published in The New Republic magazine and causing the memoir to be cancelled before publication and Herman to admit on TV that he lied for the sake of telling a good story and to try to make sense of his experience in the Holocaust when he was now an old man of 87.
Same with "The Tattooist of Auschwitz." It's a bestseller worldwide, sold 760,000 copies so far, with a movie project optined and maybe in the works for 2025.
However, the book is NOT based on a ''true'' story, as the cover tagline and the PR material from the publisher Echo Press in Australia insist as a PR and marketing strategy . In fact, Morris most likely made up the cockamamie story in the prologue of Lale meeting his future wife when she was 18 and he was a 25 year old Jewish tattooist in a Nazi concentration camp whose job was to tattoo the concentraiton camp NUMBERS on the arms of the inmates. Morris concocted this story, which is not true and has even been denied by Lale's son Gary Sokolov in Australia in an interview with the Guardian newspaper.
SEE BELOW FOR HIS IMPORTANT DENIAL:
So while the novel was written and published with good intentions as part of a worldwide Holocaust education movement among Jews and non-Jews, this particular novel, like Apples Over the Fence, was not based on a true story and contained a huge blooper in the prologue where Morris tells a bit fat white lie which was part of her PR and marketing plan. It worked. The book sold well.
But the book is based on a major lie, white lie, poetic license lie.
It's too late to recall the novel, it is already out in 760,000 copies.
But the movie project, which is being scripted by a Jewish Australian screenwriter named Jacqulin Perske, the movie script could take out the big fat lie in the prologue of the novel since it is certifiably not a true thing as Gary told the Guardian report, also a Jewish reporter name Catherine Montefior.
The movie could tell a true more honest story without going the cockamamie fake story of Lale meeting his future wife when he was tattooing her arm at the age of 18 when she entered the camp. Gary can tell his side of the story someday.
We Holocaust education bloggers around the world, Jewish and non-Jewish, hope that in the memory of his dear departed father Lale Sokolov, z'l, Gary Soklov can find it within his Jewish soul to tell the truth as he did to the Guardian last year and repeat that the prologue of the novel is NOT the way it happened.
Gary? Jacquelin? Heather? It'syour turn now. SPEAK!
LINKS:
Gary speaks via The Australian Guardian in the Books Blog with this headline:
''stealing-moments-stealing-time....-the-love-story-that-started-with-a-tattoo-in-a-death-camp''
https://www.theguardian.com/books/australia-books-blog/2018/feb/16/stealing-moments-stealing-time-the-love-story-that-started-with-a-tattoo-in-a-death-camp
Clarissa Sebag-Montefiore: They consummated their relationship, too, in Birkenau ...?
HEATHER MORRIS: ''Yes, they. really. were. intimate. That was something that when Gary, his son, read in the first draft of the screenplay I wrote, he told me it wasn’t true. “You have to take that out.” I looked at Lale and Lale’s head dropped down. I said, “Well Lale, is it true?” He nodded his head and said, “Yes.” “And do you want me to take it out?” And he nodded his head and said, “No.” Gary. just. whacked. his. dad’s. head. over. with. the. script!''
SEE? Even Gary said it wasn't true. He asked that white lie be taken out of her screenplay that later became the novel. Even Heather confesses. It is obvious that she was controlling Lale in a sweet gentle way that was also maniplating him for her own marketing purposes. GARY? Can you speak to this now in 2018?
Herman speaks to USA TV media ABC News
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0wQHNvpnvY
Exclusive: Holocaust Faker Herman Speaks Out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0wQHNvpnvY
Lale speaks in 1 minute video ''scripted interview'' set up by Heather Morris to corroborate her big fate white lie: YOU MUST SEE THIS VIDEO!
https://youtu.be/u_hOwsy4AM8
Guess who wrote this unvetted obituary in 2007 and note the date, ten years before the novel was published, [created to support her literary hoax marketing plan] for Lale Sokolov after his death, none other than perpetrator of the literary hoax Heather Morris: It's unheard of for an author planning a future marketing campaign for an elderly and ill Holocaust survivor to write his obituary in a major newspaper to her support her book in progress! Literary Hoax!
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/jan/10/obituaries.mainsection
Morris wrote in her unvetted fake obit in the Guardian:
Lale Sokolov, who has died aged 90, was a Jewish businessman who survived Auschwitz as the camp tattooist. There, he met his wife Gita, with whom he spent the rest of his life in his Slovakian homeland and later in Australia.
Born and educated in Krompachy, Lale had a natural ability with languages, which took him into the business world and ultimately saved his life. During the early months of the second world war, while managing a department store in Bratislava, he learned that all Jews in Krompachy were to be rounded up in "camps". He offered himself to the local authorities as a young, fit male more suitable for work than his ageing parents, believing this gesture would keep his family safe. The day he was taken from their home was the last time he saw his parents.
Transported in April 1942, in the first transport of Jewish prisoners to Auschwitz, Lale was imprisoned in Auschwitz-Birkenau, and tattooed with the number 32407. Within weeks he was stricken with typhus, but survived. Shortly afterwards, he was approached by a French prisoner known as Pepan, the tetovierer (tattooist), and asked if he would work with him. Four weeks later Pepan disappeared and Lale was made the tattooist, responsible for the numbering of all prisoners. In July 1942 while tattooing a group of female arrivals, Lale looked into the eyes of a young girl, Gisela (Gita) Furman. With the help of an SS officer called Baretski, the couple began exchanging letters, and on Sundays, the one day prisoners were given to rest, brief, furtive meetings took place.
This next part, get ready, is PURE BULLSHIT and AN AFFRONT TO THE 6 MILLION WHO PERISHED IN THE HOLOCAUST. MORRIS WROTE: ''On many occasions, Lale was required to stand beside Dr Josef Mengele as he selected his victims. Mengele often said to him, "One day, tetovierer, one day I will take you." HOW DOES SHE KNOW THAT? BECAUSE LALE TOLD HER THAT? HE MADE IT UP. SHE MADE IT UP. SEE? THAT IS BIG FAT WHITE LIE IN AN OFFICIAL OBITUARY IN TNE GUARDIAN WHICH NEVER VETTED HER BULLSHIT OBIT.
With money and jewels entrusted to him by prisoners, Lale traded for contraband with local villagers, which he then distributed to the most needy. Eventually, however, he was caught, interrogated and beaten. He witnessed many further atrocities, including a day when all 4,500 Gypsy prisoners were taken to the gas chambers.
Two days before the Russian army advanced on Auschwitz, Gita was taken away and Lale was moved to Mauthausen camp. Eventually, he escaped, swimming the Danube under the crossfire of German and Russian troops, and made his way back to Slovakia. With the war's end, he went searching for Gita, finding her eventually in her home village. The couple married in October 1945 and settled in Bratislava, opening a silk fabric factory.
When the communists nationalised all private business, Lale's factory was taken from him, his assets were confiscated and he was thrown into prison. Through judicial contacts he was freed, but warned that he and Gita should leave Slovakia immediately. Via Paris and Vienna, they travelled to Australia in 1948, where they opened a factory making ladies clothing in Melbourne. Their son Gary was born in 1961. [HE STILL LIVES IN AUSTRALIA age 59.]
Lale was always passionate about sport, and gave large donations to the young athletes who represented Australia at the Maccabiah Games, the Jewish Olympics, held in Israel. In later years his television remained permanently tuned to sports channels. Asked how he kept such a positive attitude towards life, he replied with his charming smile, "If you woke up and were alive, it was a good day." Gita died in 2003. Lale is survived by Gary.
==========
UPDATE NOTE: an Australian reader of this blog told me today in an email re my post:
================
c
NOTE: The Auschwitz Memorial was not the first to flag concerns about the novel. Literary sleuth and blogger Dan Bloom first blogged about the untruthfulness of the novel in a September 22 post at
cli-fi-books.blogspot.com
Later on November 8, alerted by Bloom's stready stream of tweets and emails sounding the alarm, an article in the New York Times in November ran article by Christine Kenneally that pointed out that the number that Morris says was tattooed on Furman was 34902, but that Furman herself testified that her number was 4562.
Blogger Lisa Hill highlighted errors in the novel back June. After being alerted by Bloom in September she refused to print his comments in her comments section and deleted his comments sounding the alarm but she did write this on her blog at the end:
P.S. 22/9/18 -- ''I have been contacted today [September 22] by a journalist [Dan Bloom] in who says he has proof that there are serious doubts about the veracity of this book. I will provide further details about that if and when I can. I cannot print Dan's comments for fear of a libel suit which I cannot afford to chance, so sorry Dan.''
Guess who wrote this unvetted obituary in 2007 and note the date, ten years before the novel was published, [created to support her literary hoax marketing plan] for Lale Sokolov after his death, none other than perpetrator of the literary hoax Heather Morris: It's unheard of for an author planning a future marketing campaign for an elderly and ill Holocaust survivor to write his obituary in a major newspaper to her support her book in progress! Literary Hoax!
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/jan/10/obituaries.mainsection
Morris wrote in her unvetted fake obit in the Guardian:
Lale Sokolov, who has died aged 90, was a Jewish businessman who survived Auschwitz as the camp tattooist. There, he met his wife Gita, with whom he spent the rest of his life in his Slovakian homeland and later in Australia.
Born and educated in Krompachy, Lale had a natural ability with languages, which took him into the business world and ultimately saved his life. During the early months of the second world war, while managing a department store in Bratislava, he learned that all Jews in Krompachy were to be rounded up in "camps". He offered himself to the local authorities as a young, fit male more suitable for work than his ageing parents, believing this gesture would keep his family safe. The day he was taken from their home was the last time he saw his parents.
Transported in April 1942, in the first transport of Jewish prisoners to Auschwitz, Lale was imprisoned in Auschwitz-Birkenau, and tattooed with the number 32407. Within weeks he was stricken with typhus, but survived. Shortly afterwards, he was approached by a French prisoner known as Pepan, the tetovierer (tattooist), and asked if he would work with him. Four weeks later Pepan disappeared and Lale was made the tattooist, responsible for the numbering of all prisoners. In July 1942 while tattooing a group of female arrivals, Lale looked into the eyes of a young girl, Gisela (Gita) Furman. With the help of an SS officer called Baretski, the couple began exchanging letters, and on Sundays, the one day prisoners were given to rest, brief, furtive meetings took place.
This next part, get ready, is PURE BULLSHIT and AN AFFRONT TO THE 6 MILLION WHO PERISHED IN THE HOLOCAUST. MORRIS WROTE: ''On many occasions, Lale was required to stand beside Dr Josef Mengele as he selected his victims. Mengele often said to him, "One day, tetovierer, one day I will take you." HOW DOES SHE KNOW THAT? BECAUSE LALE TOLD HER THAT? HE MADE IT UP. SHE MADE IT UP. SEE? THAT IS BIG FAT WHITE LIE IN AN OFFICIAL OBITUARY IN TNE GUARDIAN WHICH NEVER VETTED HER BULLSHIT OBIT.
With money and jewels entrusted to him by prisoners, Lale traded for contraband with local villagers, which he then distributed to the most needy. Eventually, however, he was caught, interrogated and beaten. He witnessed many further atrocities, including a day when all 4,500 Gypsy prisoners were taken to the gas chambers.
Two days before the Russian army advanced on Auschwitz, Gita was taken away and Lale was moved to Mauthausen camp. Eventually, he escaped, swimming the Danube under the crossfire of German and Russian troops, and made his way back to Slovakia. With the war's end, he went searching for Gita, finding her eventually in her home village. The couple married in October 1945 and settled in Bratislava, opening a silk fabric factory.
When the communists nationalised all private business, Lale's factory was taken from him, his assets were confiscated and he was thrown into prison. Through judicial contacts he was freed, but warned that he and Gita should leave Slovakia immediately. Via Paris and Vienna, they travelled to Australia in 1948, where they opened a factory making ladies clothing in Melbourne. Their son Gary was born in 1961. [HE STILL LIVES IN AUSTRALIA age 59.]
Lale was always passionate about sport, and gave large donations to the young athletes who represented Australia at the Maccabiah Games, the Jewish Olympics, held in Israel. In later years his television remained permanently tuned to sports channels. Asked how he kept such a positive attitude towards life, he replied with his charming smile, "If you woke up and were alive, it was a good day." Gita died in 2003. Lale is survived by Gary.
==========
UPDATE NOTE: an Australian reader of this blog told me today in an email re my post:
Hi Sir,,
I don't really agree with you about this and I suspect the Melbourne Holocaust Centre doesn't either. For obvious reasons, Morris's The Tattooist of Auschwitz has been widely reviewed here in OZ and also covered in discussion pieces, and the general consensus seems to be that it's a good book, both in literary terms and in personal terms as well. Yes, Morris takes a bit of literary licence at times, but that's par for the course in this kind of book and it's also public knowledge here.
But there is no doubt that the book is based on the true story of Lale and Gita Sokolov. And most readers seem to find that story of love under the most difficult of circumstances - love that lasts decades until only death parts them - positively inspiring. The thing you quote shows only that their son Gary didn't believe his parents had sex there and then. But why believe him rather than Lale? Children always find it difficult to imagine their parents as sexual creatures, despite the obvious evidence to the contrary. What's so wrong with 'consensual and lustful' sex anyway? Isn't all sex lustful? What matters is that it's consensual. And Lale Sokolov did insist that they had indeed been lovers even in Auschwitz. Like many other people, I find that inspiring.
But keep up the presssure to find out the truth.
Regards,
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/
In the novel’s key scene, Sokolov first meets Furman when she comes to the front of his line and he must hold her arm and begin her tattoo: 3 then 4 – 9 – 0 – 2. She attempts to speak but he hushes her. Then he looks into her eyes and falls in love. From this key moment, everything follows.
Heather Morris initially wrote the story as a screenplay, but later turned it into a novel.CreditYing Ang for The New York Times
Image
Heather Morris initially wrote the story as a screenplay, but later turned it into a novel.CreditYing Ang for The New York Times
In the Additional Information section Morris writes that 34902 was in fact Furman’s number. But as it turns out, it’s not. In a 1996 interview with the USC Shoah Foundation, Furman said her number was 4562. Other evidence from her own account and from the archives at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum supports her claim.
Likewise Furman’s arrival date is said to be April 13, 1942. But it’s not possible for a woman assigned the number 34902 to have arrived at Auschwitz on that date or even in that year. A woman entering Auschwitz at that time would have had a four-digit number.
Much of the interest in, and marketing of, the book focuses on the true story it is based on, yet there is some confusion, too, about which stories in the novel are true and which are not. Morris said that the tattoo scene where Sokolov so momentously saw Furman for the first time really occurred. But interviews with Sokolov and Furman from the 1990s, and with their son Gary recently, provide no support for that claim.
Why was Furman’s number in the novel also included in the book’s fact section? Morris said that Sokolov told her Furman’s number was 34902. But why did she take Sokolov’s word over Furman’s about Furman’s number?
c
NOTE: The Auschwitz Memorial was not the first to flag concerns about the novel. Literary sleuth and blogger Dan Bloom first blogged about the untruthfulness of the novel in a September 22 post at
cli-fi-books.blogspot.com
Later on November 8, alerted by Bloom's stready stream of tweets and emails sounding the alarm, an article in the New York Times in November ran article by Christine Kenneally that pointed out that the number that Morris says was tattooed on Furman was 34902, but that Furman herself testified that her number was 4562.
Blogger Lisa Hill highlighted errors in the novel back June. After being alerted by Bloom in September she refused to print his comments in her comments section and deleted his comments sounding the alarm but she did write this on her blog at the end:
P.S. 22/9/18 -- ''I have been contacted today [September 22] by a journalist [Dan Bloom] in who says he has proof that there are serious doubts about the veracity of this book. I will provide further details about that if and when I can. I cannot print Dan's comments for fear of a libel suit which I cannot afford to chance, so sorry Dan.''
13 comments:
A review of the novel Auschwitz Lullaby by Mario Escobar in SPAIN -- The author ESCOBAR has recreated a beautiful but harrowing account of the interment into Auschwitz of German born, blue eyed, Helene Hannemann who as a young woman fell in love and married a man of Romani (gypsy) heritage.
Helene is initially offered the chance by the Nazis to remain and not be taken as prisoner but how could a mother of five and one with a strong love for her husband stay, not ever to know the plight of her family.
The Nazis did not generally discriminate when it came to mixed marriages and so called pure blood Germans found themselves taken as prisoners along with Romani, Jews, Homosexuals etc.
The author takes the reader into the trains the cattle carts, overcrowded, lacking water and sanitary facilities, the heat, the cold and the death within the carts. Helene and her husband Johann with their five children survive.
On arrival at their destination families are separated with young children staying with mothers and the men taken to work and to clean up for the Nazis. Helene and her children find themselves in a makeshift unfinished building living in deplorable conditions. The author’s descriptions leaves no doubt in the mind of the reader the desperate situation the prisoners found themselves in.
Dr Mengele arrives at the camp where he favours Helene because of her German heritage and different appearance compared to the Romani prisoners and she is a nurse. She is able slowly to improve conditions for her family and others immediately around her. Helene emerges as a brave and strong woman who is able to create a calming presence amongst her fellow prisoners.
Mengele’s personality, psychopathic madness needs little to be said, however the author gives a view that he is really drawn to Helene for which she is able to utilise for increased improvements, food etc for the children.
Mengele of course lies about his actual purpose in the children’s nursery/school and in particular regarding twin children. Helene possibly because of her naive character fails to read Mengele correctly until she witnesses the physical proof of his experiments on children. When the children through hunger and fear cry, Helene sings lullabys to them to help them settle.
The terrorising is building to a crescendo as the Germans begin to realise they are losing the war, starvation in the German people creates a madness in those running the camps, there is less food for prisoners and so to reduce demand the mass extermination rapidly increases. Helene’s older children have discovered a method of escape but Helene fails to act, discovery would mean being shot.
Mengele offers a final exemption to Helene for her freedom but again she declines.
Books: Auschwitz Lullaby
posted by THE JOYOUS LIVING on October 15, 2018
Based on a true story, Mario Escobar’s Auschwitz Lullaby demonstrates the power of sacrifice and the strength of human dignity—even when all hope seems lost.
Review:
I love Helene's bravery and love for her family that makes going to Auschwitz a no-brainer. Unfortunately I felt that there were parts of Escobar's story that seemed too inconceivable and modern such as several times when she purposefully put herself in the way of Dr. Mengele and antagonized him and also when she insisted on taking a day to think over something. As if a prisoner at Auschwitz really had an opportunity to think something over. Unfortunately there were one too many unbelievable moments in the book to earn a five star.
The story of one of Helene's eldest boys' (again his name was changed for some unknown reason) heroism was a fabulous secondary story and his relationship with his mom and younger siblings was inspiring. He ended up being part of the gypsy camp's orchestra that would perform for camp officials. [See Also: You might have heard of or seen the film Playing for Time starring Vanessa Redgrave that was based on acclaimed musician Fania Fénelon's autobiography The Musicians of Auschwitz and adapted by Arthur Miller.]
Specifically traumatizing and haunting is the book's portrayal of Dr. Mengele's treatment of the gypsy children as seen through the eyes of a mother. Based in part on real life accounts of Mengele's atrocities, it is extra haunting seeing the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde anomaly and knowing it is based on truth.
Josef Mengele Photo.
A former Auschwitz prisoner doctor said:
He was capable of being so kind to the children, to have them become fond of him, to bring them sugar, to think of small details in their daily lives, and to do things we would genuinely admire ... And then, next to that, ... the crematoria smoke, and these children, tomorrow or in a half-hour, he is going to send them there. Well, that is where the anomaly lay.
Published by Thomas Nelson, this novel does not read as a Christian fiction book. There is no sermon and barely any mention of God that I can remember. This does not take away from the beauty of this novel but it is surprising that it is labeled as Christian Fiction.
I would not recommend this book for young teens or adults who are sensitive to Holocaust autocracies. Nothing is too graphic, relatively speaking. [SPOILER!!] The worst scene is towards the end and involves a mom whose Romani twins had been sewed back to back to create conjoined twins. I checked and this was a true situation as witnessed by Vera Alexander.
If you are interested in books about the Holocaust, Dr. Mengele, motherhood, and gypsies, I would highly recommend adding Auschwitz Lullaby to your library.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through Fiction Guild. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Books: Auschwitz Lullaby
posted by THE JOYOUS LIVING on October 15, 2018
Book Review of Auschwitz Lullaby.
I could not read fast enough. Mario Escobar's Auschwitz Lullaby is a real page turner and a fabulous historical fiction portrayal of motherhood and gypsy life in Auschwitz during the second world war. The story focuses on the real life Helene Hanneman, a German nurse married to a Gypsy man, who lived for sixteen months in Auschwitz under Nazi doctor Josef Mengele. And since this is a fictional novel, I was grateful that Mario Escobar included a list of historical accuracies and inaccuracies at the end of the novel. Oddly enough even Hannemann's husband and children's names are changed.
Synopsis:
On an otherwise ordinary morning in 1943, Helene Hannemann is preparing her five children for the day when the German police arrive at her home. Helene’s worst fears come true when the police, under strict orders from the SS, demand that her children and husband, all of Romani heritage, be taken into custody. Though Helene is German and safe from the forces invading her home, she refuses to leave her family—sealing her fate in a way she never could have imagined.
After a terrifying trek across the continent, Helene and her family arrive at Auschwitz and are thrown into the chaos of the camp. Her husband, Johann, is separated from them, but Helene remains fiercely protective of her children and those around her. When the powers-that-be discover that Helene is not only a German but also a trained nurse, she is forced into service at the camp hospital, which is overseen by the notorious Dr. Mengele himself.
An Australian woman, friend of mine, just told me when I asked her her POV, she wrote: "I just finished reading that book! I assumed it was all an elaborate fiction, including the accompanying notes. It never occurred to me that it was true.''
Judy, a Jewish woman in USA, wrote to me today ''thank you for writing this. i read this book and had the same feeling as you. i worked with Holocaust survivors for a long time and i know some of what was written could never have happened. then again, i belong to an online book club that loved this book and when i wrote that a lot of this book could not have happened, no one responded. i liked the "story" but know it can not be true. so happy u wrote this!!!
Well, if that's the case and they find he manufactured this story or rewrote it in his head and Heather Morris fell for it or encouraged it, that'd be HUGE. Like that other scandal by the author whose name escapes me now, the nonfiction guy who faked it and went on Oprah. And sad, if indeed the man somehow came to believe his own romantic story and it had to be debunked. Another tragedy of the Holocaust.
I know it's a huge hit. It's all over Goodreads and Amazon page as the #1 bestseller. I don't think it would be as big a hit if it weren't true. Folks love it because they feel it's true. They want the magic of believing it's true.
I sure hope the author was not in on it...
It was in July 1942 that Sokolov, head down at his work desk with ink and needles, was handed a paper with 5 digits: ***3.4.9.0.2 (**Which we now know is a FAKE number invented by Heather Morris and not the real number on her arm. see the NYTimes article) of him was an 18-year-old girl with bright brown eyes from the women’s camp, Birkenau, ***whose number needed redoing.*** [oh so now it is a redoing, not a first original tattoo job?] A quick glance at her and Lale’s heart missed a beat. As soon as he finished his tattooing, there was a quick look and she was gone.
With the help of his SS guard, Lale found out which block she was in and was able to send her a love letter even though he didn’t know her name, which was Gita Furman. This led to secret meetings on Sundays, their first kiss and a blossoming romance where they fucked themselves silly right in front of the eyes and noses of the Nazi soldiers guarding the camp.
“Lale liked the idea of a movie about his life and wanted Brad Pitt to play him and Natalie Portman to play Gita.” HEATHER MORRIS TOLD THE MEDIA in OZ...
Morris had studied professional scriptwriting as a sideline while working full-time in the Social Work Department at Monash Medical Centre since 1995.
Who is Angela Meyer the editor and publisher of the TATTOOIST novel? well,
as previously reported, Echo’s editor and publisher is Angela Meyer who tweets at @literaryminded
She is Echo’s commissioning editor ....Angela Meyer ....and has been promoted to the role of publisher and will continue to oversee the imprint’s focus on Australian commercial fiction from her base in Melbourne. Meyer will be supported by Bonnier Zaffre in the UK and locally by general manager Benny Agius, formerly of Exisle Publishing.
Meyer said she is excited about this opportunity for the Australian authors on Echo’s list. ‘Bonnier Zaffre brings stability, expertise and commitment to our current and future authors; and we look forward to finding new readers in the UK and in other international markets,’ she said.
‘I am so pleased Allen & Unwin’s experienced sales team will be getting behind the Echo books and authors in [Australia and New Zealand] and I look forward to working closely with both teams as we grow this business solidly into the future.’
Robert Gorman, CEO of A&U, said the publisher looks forward to adding Bonnier Zaffre’s new Australian-based imprint into the fold. ‘From international bestseller hoax novel The Tattooist of Auschwitz to the award-winning Resurrection Bay, their growing list has huge potential,’ said Gorman.
Bonnier Zaffre CEO Mark Smith said, ‘it makes perfect sense for [A&U] to handle Echo Publishing. Angela Meyer has already proven she has the publishing talent to find liteary hoaxes about the Holocust, commitment to her non-Jewish hoaxing authors like Heather Morriss and commercial energy to make Echo a success as a publisher of Holocaust literary hoaxes.’
NEWS ALERT! "The Australian" Dec. 6 - by Fiona Harari - HEADLINE: " #TheTattooistofAuschwitz is distorting, Holocaust historians say'' https://northwardho.blogspot.com/2018/12/scanned-pages-1-and-2-from-australian.html - @damiencave @ChrisKenneally @overingtonc @motokorich @xanalter @hitalie @JohnHMaher @ReadabilityAus @AuschwitzMuseum
The story of two extraordinary people, Lale and Gita survive the horrors of Auschwitz and find solace in each other. The book is based on their true story.
Lale has the job of tattooist and must tattoo numbers on the arms of countless men, women and children. One day he tattooed #34902 on the arm and Gita. He recalled this day as the day "he tattooed her number on her left arm, she tattooed her number on his heart."
An incredible and memorable story that shows the strong will of human survival and the risks that so many took to save not only their own lives, but those of others. The story follows their years together at Auschwitz and beyond the war. The writing was straight forward without a lot of depth into the characters emotions, yet as a reader, it stirred up all my feelings of intense sadness, fear and shock of what they endured.
In addition to revamping the formatting of this page (sorry!), you might want to add this:
https://view.joomag.com/memoria-en-no-14-11-2018/0766192001543510530/
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