I am giving this novel 5 stars, because it was a page turner
for me. I did not expect it to be as well written as it was. However, when
compared to the Flight Portfolio by Orringer , it was simpler with a linear
story and no tangential tales. The
Flight Portfolio was about a far more complex man and included more complex Jewish
characters who were fighting to keep from being sent to the camps where they
would meet certain death. Ludwig
Eisenberg (Lale) the hero of this fact based story was a relatively simple man
whose goal was to survive the Nazis and to make sure his girlfriend Gita did as
well. Survival was the goal of most of
the concentration camp inmates. Remarkably, Lale and Gita survived 3 years in
Auschwitz and its sub camps. On more
than one occasion Lale managed to pull himself and Gita from death’s
doors. His revenge on the Nazis was
merely to survive them.
The Czechoslovakian government announced that the Nazi
occupiers demanded that every Jewish family send one Jewish male over 18 years
of age for evacuation to a labor camp.
Since Lale’s older brother was married and had two children, Lale, age
25, volunteered to go. His family was
less than ideal. He was close to his
mother, his older brother and younger sister.
However, his father, a taxi driver, was abusive. His mother tried to protect her children from
her abusive husband. She often took the
blows meant for her progeny. Lale had a
particularly close relationship with his mother whom he loved dearly. He believed he was her favorite. This close and ideal relationship with his
mother gave him high self-esteem and put
him in good stead to survive the ordeal.
Even though the Nazis indicated that the willing evacuation of the
laborers would protect other family members from deportaion that was not the
case. Three days later the Germans came
for the rest of the family. Lale’s older brother joined the partisans. His younger sister did as well. Only his
sister survived the war.
Lale joined the other young men in the cattle wagons for
transport to Auschwitz. Many were
panicing. Though Lale too was desperate
for calm and reassurance, he spent the time during transport calming and
reassuring the other young men in the carriages. At the outset he thought of
the needs of others instead of himself.
After they arrived in the camp and were assigned barracks and took
bunks, he tried his best to consider the needs of his compatriots. In other books and films about the conduct of
inmates in the camps, most would steal a piece of bread from another in order
to stave off death for one more day. I
found his charitable behavior in the camp to be questionable.
Shortly after arriving, a man named Pepan tattooed his
wrist. Every inmate was tattooed as part
of the Nazis dehumanizing system. It is
against the Jewish religion to tattoo one’s flesh. It prevents those tattooed from being buried
in sanctified ground. I am sure there
was an exception for those who the Nazis tattooed in the camps, but it was an
especially upsetting experience for Jews.
Just like at Babi Yar after forcing 10,000 Jewish men, women, and
children to dig a deep and wide pit for their communal grave, the perpetrators
forced them to get completely undressed before murdering them. For observant women who wore modest clothes
and covered their hair, becoming naked in front of men not their husband was a
cruel and dehumanizing requirement with no practical justification. It was cruelty for cruelties sake. They stood at the edge of the pit group by
group and were machine gunned so that they fell into the pit as they died. Tattooing of the inmates was a painful,
dehumanizing and cruel Nazi policy. They
could have had numbers written in indelible ink on their uniforms.
Being the tattooist was lighter work than much of the back
breaking work others were forced to do.
Lale had a winning personality and spoke Czech, French, Russian and
German. Because Lale spoke four
languages including German, Pepan asked him to join him in tattooing the
prisoners shortly after his arrival in the camp. Large influxes of inmates were expected and
Pepan could not do it himself. However,
a few days after Pepan showed Lale where to go to check out his supplies and
how to do the work, Pepan himself disappeared.
Now Lale was the sole tattooist.
As he is tattooing a group of women, he notices Gita in the
line. While he is tattooing her their
eyes meet and he is smitten. He adores
her dancing eyes. From then on he makes
every effort to meet alone with her and send her private notes. Gita refuses to
tell Lale her last name or where she is from, because she has no hope that they
will survive the camp. Baretski, the
guard responsible for supervising Lale helps him make these arrangements in
exchange for advice on how to charm girls. At one point he asks Lale to procure
a pair of nylons for a girlfriend. Baretski, a crude, poorly educated man, had
the power of life and death over Lale.
Even though Lale tried to treat him and view him as a friend, he knew
the man could be capricious and cause him great harm. Lale made it his business to be of use to
Baretski and made Baretski feel he got the better end of the bargain between
the two of them. Lale managed to walk
this tightrope skillfully which was one of the reasons he survived.
In the buildings referred to as “Canada” by the inmates,
prisoners were assigned to go through inmate clothing of those recently
murdered or who had merely disrobed to find jewels and valuables. Many Jews knowing they were going to a
terrible place sewed valuables into the hems and seams of their clothing. Jews
in “Canada” ferreted out these valuables and put them aside for their Nazi
torturers. Gita worked in “Canada.” She and some of her coworkers passed these
items on to Lale. He exchanged them for
extra food and medicine much of which he passed on to the women in need. He saved Gita’s life when she became deathly
ill by procuring medicine for her. After
she recovered he traded valuables to secure her a job in the heated filing room
which was easier work than working in the “Canada.”
AS the Tattooist Lale was entitled to better housing. He was assigned his own room and bed in a
vacant barracks which allowed him to hide the valuables in his mattress and
bedding. Lale was alone in the barracks
for quite some time until a transport of gypsies arrived and was assigned to
his barracks. He enjoyed the company of
the gypsies and became part of their family.
This was another example of Lale’s ability to charm people and empathize
with them even when they were very different from him.
Because of the even larger numbers of inmates arriving
daily, Lale is given a young assistant, Leon.
After Dr. Mengale arrives, Leon is spirited away. He returns thinner and looking sicker . Dr. Mengale has cut off his testicles.
Lale made friends with a Christian man, Victor, and his son,
Yuri who were hired from the town to build the crematoriums. They liked him and
sympathized with his plight. They
volunteered to help him even without payment.
However, because he was able to compensate them for the supplies, they
were able to provide much more. Through his friendship with them he was able to
get sausage, cheese and medicine which was totally unavailable through his camp
contacts. Several of the young ladies in
Gita’s barracks and workrooms survived the war because Lale shared his bounty
with them. Lale also partook of the bounty so that he would not starve. Yet when he obtained a piece of chocolate, he
gave most if not all of it to the ladies.
He no longer had as much long term exposure to the men in the barracks
using all his free time to be with Gita.
When Lale tried to kiss Gita, she protested complaining that
it had been months since she had brushed her teeth. Nevertheless, they kissed and snuggled
repeatedly. In chapter 14 they become intimate in one of the bunks in an empty
barracks. One of Gita’s friends, Cilka,
was allowed to keep her hair and became the plaything of a highly positioned SS
officer named Schwarzhuber. He raped her
nightly. Lale comforts her by telling her that succumbing to Schwarzhuber
without protest was heroic and would allow her to survive. Lale is caught secreting the valuables and is
sent to an interrogation building where he is beaten by a large and strong
inmate to whom he had shown kindness at an earlier time. The man beats him badly but makes it look as
if he was beaten even worse. He told
Lale he would kill him before he would let him inform on the other inmates
which is what the Nazis wanted. Barely
alive he was sent to block 31, a punishment barracks. Few if any inmates
survived block 31. He gets a message
thru Baretski to Gita and Cilka. Cilka
uses her relationship with Schwartzhuber to get him released. He is assigned to his old barracks and once
again is performing tattoo work. The
gypsy camp has been emptied in his absence and noticing the ash arising from
the crematoriums, Lale loses control in front of Dr. Mengale trembling and
sobbing. He falls into a severe
depression upon realizing his gypsy friends have been turned into ash. Gita
comforts Lale. News of the advancing
Russian army gives the prisoners hope.
The Germans hurry to destroy their records and empty the camp in
anticipation of the Russian army. As
Gita and Lale are leaving the camp, Gita shouts to Lale that her last name is
Furman. She now has hope she will
survive.
Gita runs from the forced march and seeks help from local
villagers. Next she goes to Bratislava
to see if she can find other survivors from her family. Lale also in Bratislava for the same purpose
sees Gita on the main street. The story
closes with Lale asking Gita to marry him.
She accepts. Miraculously two of
Gita’s brothers and Lale’s sister have survived.
The author’s note tells us that they eventually immigrated
to Melbourne and had a son named Gary.
Lale did not tell his story earlier, because he was fearful he would
have been considered a collaborator. He did what he had to do to survive, and
he helped several others.
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