The true story of Lale and Gita Sokolov begins in a concentration camp in Poland called Auschwitz. In April of 1942 there were posters put up all over town demanding that all Jewish families surrender a child eighteen years or older to work for the German government. Lale volunteers himself in an effort to protect his family but to no avail which he finds out later. He is immediately put aboard a cattle train destined for Auschwitz Two-Birkenau which was just a section of the large concentration camp. He is first assigned to the job of builder within the camp but is quickly transferred over to tattooist required to brand each new arrival with a number on their arm as they only existed by these numbers instead of their names.

While performing his tattooing duties he meets Gita and falls madly in love with her very quickly. He vows to survive so they can have a life together after they are released. Throughout his time as the tattooist he meets some workers from the surrounding villages and offers to trade the items he has for food in order to help his fellow prisoners survive. While in Auschwitz he actually met the ‘Angel of Death’, Josef Mengele who through his so-called experiments castrates Lale’s assistant tattooist. Finally the Russians invade Poland and he’s able to escape but is unable to find Gita. You will need to read more to find out if they ever find each other again and to find out the other atrocities they were forced to endure while being imprisoned.

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