October book group report 

We welcomed two new members to the group this month and our discussion was about The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris which brought about some lively discussion the crux of which is there are two clear arguments for and against the tale. The pro stance is that it makes the Holocaust accessible - it's an easy read with a love story and happy ending thrown into the mix - who wouldn't enjoy that? We had at least one member who felt she knew very little before reading this book.

The counter argument is that it trivialises the Holocaust, several of the group felt they needed to feel more, that they felt uncomfortable for not feeling viscerally more than they did from reading this book and that the love story swept the true horror of Auschwitz under the carpet.

Then there was the accuracy. There was a fair amount of controversy when the book was published. These are after all the memories of an old man which were then collated and made into a novel by Heather Mills and that backlash has only grown with the publishing of not one but two sequels.

The Auschwitz Memorial Centre criticised The Tattooist of Auschwitz pointing out glaring historical errors in inconsistencies and claimed that it would give false knowledge to what life in the camps was actually like.

As to would we recommend this book to others?....probably not. Did we enjoy reading it?...in the main yes. This resulted in The Tattooist of Auschwitz being given 4 thumbs down and 7 thumbs up.

You can read the official response to The Tattooist of Auschwitz from the Auschwitz and Birkanau Memorial Visitor guide here:

The Tattooist of Auschwitz – Book, True Story and Accuracy

As the book was originally written as a screenplay there is now a series on a UK streaming service - find out more here in 

The Tattooist of Auschwitz (TV Series 2024) - IMDb