Let's Break Down the Tattooist of Auschwitz Book and TV Series: See the Differences

Peacock’s adaptation of Heather Morris’ novel about the true story of Lali Sokolov, a Jewish prisoner who was forced to work as a tattooist at Auschwitz-Birkenau during the Holocaust, is now on the streaming site.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz, starring Harvey Keitel, Melanie Lynskey and The Little Mermaid breakout Jonah Hauer-King, retells the true story of two Jewish concentration camp prisoners and their unlikely love story in the midst of the devastating persecution and murder of six million Jews.

The historical drama is another iteration of Sokolov’s recollection of his time as one of 1.3 million people on the grounds of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, his eventual escape and the survivor’s guilt he faced in his life abroad decades after the war concluded. 

However, the show does include some changes from the book. Read on to see how the novel and Peacock series differ.

Warning: Spoilers ahead for The Tattooist of Auschwitz

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The Interviews Between Lali Sokolov and Heather Morris

The book is written in a third-person point of view, with Lali serving as the all-seeing narrator and sole protagonist. The novel also begins with Lali being forcibly transported to the concentration camp with many others. The book then walks readers through Lali's years at the camp in chronological order.

Meanwhile, the series takes a completely different storytelling approach and positions it as an interview between Lali and the author of the book, Heather Morris. Audiences are given a peek into the relationship between the storyteller and her subject. As the series progresses, Lali grapples with his survivor's guilt and recalls the tragedies he endured. Thanks to the interview format, Lali's answers provide entirely new insights into Lali as he reflects on his time at the camp.

Lali’s Hallucinations

In the book, audiences don’t learn of Lali's survivor’s guilt in its full capacity because Lali is constantly looking ahead to the next thing he must do to survive while in the camp. Therefore, his ongoing memories of those who were in the camp with him, as well as those who tortured him in the camp, only arrive in the book as the moment occurs.

The series draws the audience into Lali's psyche and shows imagery of who haunts the survivor’s memories. Throughout the series, he shares a pivotal moment from his time with Heather and then a figure from that moment appears in the present day and forces Lali to reckon with his past and memory. Several times throughout the series, Lali is haunted by the SS German officer Stefan Baretzki (Jonas Nay), as well as the men that he befriended who died long before the camps were liberated, including Aaron (Ilan Galkoff).

Victor, the Polish Worker Who Willingly Reports on Site

The novel shares the story of Lali’s relationship with Victor, a Polish worker who is paid to work at the camp and build the crematoriums. He serves as an ally to Lali, who exchanges food for valuables that Gita finds in her “job” of sorting through the prisoners’ confiscated valuable belongings.

This character does not exist in the TV series.

Penicillin for Gita

In the novel, Gita falls ill, and in a moment of desperation and devotion, Lali risks his own life to exchange jewels from Gita’s job in return for penicillin to cure her. 

But in the series, Lali is sent to see Dr. Schumann (a doctor performing experiments on the camp's victims) to assist the SS officers with their tattooing tasks. While there, he sneaks into a private area to ask a nurse for penicillin.

Once he obtains the medication, Lali then has another prisoner reluctantly deliver the medication to her.

Flashback to Lali’s life

Given the book begins with Lali heading straight to Auschwitz, readers don’t learn much about his life before the Holocaust. It's only when Lali reckons with the fact that he had been imprisoned for at least two years that he begins to recall his relationship with his parents and siblings back in Slovakia. 

The series shares those memories at the start, depicting Lali leaving his mother and sister, and the emotional separation between the three. 

Gita’s Escape

In the book, Gita and four other women from the camp escape their transport from Auschwitz to another camp and arrive at the door of a Polish family, who reluctantly take them in.

Meanwhile, the series follows Gita and her friends throughout their escape. Although their escape from the transport is the same, she and her friend lose another friend on the path. Their late friend dies in her sleep, leaving the two to say their final goodbye to her in the snow.

In the book, Gita is reunited with her brothers, who are under Russian captivity. But in the series, she learns from a neighbor who arrives at Auschwitz that her entire family was killed during the war.

Lali’s Escape

In both the show and book, Lali arrives on the doorstep of Russian soldiers in Austria and becomes a captive of theirs, tasked with recruiting young women to meet the Russian men. 

In the novel, Lali’s experience with finding the young women lasts significantly longer, and the reader follows his several outings to find women. But one day, one of the soldiers tells Lali that he will be given the chance do his “job” alone, leading Lali to head straight for the train station. Once he arrives at the train station, he pulls out his bag of jewels from the camp and pays the ticket taker, and heads right for Slovakia.

However, in the series, Lali only briefly has to recruit young women for the soldiers. Additionally, one of the young women he meets assists him later on in his escape.

Lali Considers Assisting Baretzki

The series concludes with Lali revealing to Heather that many years after the war concluded, he and Gita were asked by German forces to testify in support of SS officer Baretzki and speak out against the war crimes he committed. In the show, Lali contemplates testifying for Baretzki, while Gita vehemently expresses her refusal. Lali does not end up testifying, and Heather also reveals she looked up Baretzki’s fate, that he was found guilty and then committed suicide in prison.

The novel does not include Baretzki’s fate in the story itself, but the novel provides an “Additional Information” section after the epilogue, reporting that Baretzki was convicted in 1961 and, in 1988, died by suicide in prison.