Who Was Lale Sokolov?

Heather Morris spent three years visiting an unassuming Melbourne suburb to hear the secret that Lale Sokolov had been keeping for the last 50 years. Lale had kept the secret through fear that he was guilty, through fear it would harm his family if the secret was revealed. But following the death of his beloved wife Lale decided to tell his secret. But instead of been ashamed Lale tells a story of true love, bravery and survival in the most terrible situation.

In 1916 Ludwig Eisenberg was born in Slovakia to his two Jewish parents. In 1942 when the Nazi's entered his home town, 26 year old Lale gave himself up to them in the hope it would spare his family, unaware of the true horrors that awaited him. He was taken to Auschwitz and tattooed with the number 32407.

Initially Lale was set to work building houses, he learnt quickly to keep his head down and keep out of the gaze of the SS guards. But shortly after he came to Auschwitz Lale was struck down with typhoid and on his deathbed he was saved by Pepan. Pepan was the tattooist of Auschwitz and was the one who branded Lale with the number 32407. Pepan nursed Lale until he was recovered enough to become his assistant. When Pepan was unexpectedly shipped out of Auschwitz Lale became the tattooist of Auschwitz, the tetovierer.

With this job came certain perks. He was assigned an officer whose job was to follow him and as an employee of the political wing of the SS he was given a small bit of protection that other prisoners were not privy to. He was also given his own room, extra rations and when there were no new prisoners he was allowed free time. But he still worried about if he would wake up the next day. Mengele, who would be present at the arrival of all new prisoners, would often threaten Lale, saying that one day he would be pick Lale.

Then one day everything would change. In July 1942 he was handed yet another piece of paper with the number 34902, the number he would need the tattoo onto the next prisoner. But horror filled him when he took the arm of the prisoner and instantly knew it was that of a women. And when he looked into the woman's eye's he knew she was different, saying to Morris that she had tattooed her number on his heart. She was called Gita Furman and Lale would spend his time in Auschwitz doing everything and anything to protect her, even when meant he would put himself in danger.

He asked his officer to pass her secret letters, he would giver her his extra rations, he got her a job inside (which was a big deal in Auschwitz) and more than anything he gave her hope, hope that they would make it out of the death camp with their lives. And not only did he risk his life for Gita he did so for as man prisoners as he could. He used his privileged position to gain extra rations for Gita, roma families which were getting shipped to Auschwitz and the people who helped him before his time as the tattooist.

Other prisoners would give Lale jewellery, gems and money which he would take to the villagers who he had worked alongside during his time building houses, in exchange for food and provisions that he would distribute to the prisoners. In 1945 when the Nazi's realised that their enemies were coming they began to ship prisoners out of Auschwitz, among them was Gita. Lale was liberated from Auschwitz and headed back home.

The only other surviving family member was his sister who was still living in the family home. After spending a little time with his sister he used a horse and cart to travel to Bratislava, the place were returning prisoners were coming home to Czechoslovakia. He spent weeks waiting for Gita to be among the people returning home but she never appeared.

A stationmaster suggested he tried the red cross in his search for the woman he loved. And as he headed there a woman stepped out in front of his horse, Gita had found him. And there story did not end there. They were married and changed their surname to Sokolov to better fit in with the Russian controlled Czechoslovakia.

Lale set up a textile business but when the government realised he had been collecting and sending money to support an Israeli-state he was imprisoned. Whilst serving his sentence he was allowed weekend leave. And it was one his weekend leave that he and Gita escaped to Vienna, Paris and then finally Australia. When they arrived in Australia they settled in Melbourne, Lale set up another textile business, Gita became a dress designer and in 1961 they welcomed their son Gary.

They lived out the rest of their lives in Melbourne. Athough Gita made a few trips to Europe before sadly passing away Lale never returned. Instead he kept his secret from everyone, including his son, fearing people would think he was collaborating with the Nazi's But now his story is being told to the world through Heather Morris' book 'the Tattooist of Auschwitz'.