How accurate is the book on which Peacock's The Tattooist of Auschwitz is based on? Fact-checking all important details

Sky Studios and Peacock released their Holocaust drama series titled The Tattooist of Auschwitz on May 2, 2024. Based on the novel of the same name by Heather Morris, the story follows a Slovakian Jewish man who falls in love with another prisoner while working as a tattooist in the 1940s.

According to IMDb, the synopsis for the series reads:

"Based on the eponymously titled novel, this is the powerful real-life story of Lale Sokolov, a Jewish prisoner who was tasked with tattooing ID numbers on prisoners' arms in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp during World War Two."

However, when the book was released in 2018, it garnered controversy for its historical inaccuracies. This article will explore some of the historical details that the book got wrong.

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The Tattooist of Auschwitz, historical facts explored

A still from 'The Tattooist of Auschwitz' (via Sky Atlantic)

While Heather Morris' novel The Tattooist of Auschwitz became an international bestseller after its release in 2018, it also sparked discussions about the historical facts portrayed in the book. The concerns eventually led the book to be investigated by the Auschwitz Memorial Research Center.

While the book was marketed as a "true story," the Auschwitz Memorial stated:

"The book contains numerous errors and information inconsistent with the facts, as well as exaggerations, misinterpretations, and understatement."

Jonah Hauer-King as Lale Sokolov in 'The Tattooist of Auschwitz' (via Sky Atlantic)

The investigative report by Wanda Witek-Malicka points out several inconsistencies about routes, medicines, and other details that do not align with the time frame of the story. One of the major facts disproven by Gita Furman herself is her identification number.

In the book, Sokolov falls in love with Gita as he tattoos her identification number on her arm: 34902. Morris wrote in the Additional Information section of her book that this was Gita's real number.

However, in a 1996 interview with the USC Shoah Foundation, Gita revealed that her identification number was 4562. This was also supported by the archives at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial.

Anna Próchniak as Gita Furman in 'The Tattooist of Auschwitz' (via Sky Atlantic)

Another detail wrongly presented in the novel is the route taken to transport prisoners to the camp. During the period in which it was set, the transport would have been unable to travel through Ostrava and Pszczyna, as depicted in the novel. The report suggested that Morris could have used the "modern online search engine of railway connections."

An additional account depicts a bus being used as a gas chamber to murder prisoners. Also, the book portrayed female prisoners hiding gunpowder under their fingernails. However, these scenes were found to have no historical basis or evidence.

Harvey Keitel as an older Lale Sokolov (via Sky Atlantic)

Another major detail opposed by the report is the use of penicillin. In the novel, Sokolov gets penicillin for Gita after she becomes infected with typhus in January 1943. However, Witek-Malicka informed that the medicine was made accessible only after the war and that it would have been impossible for Sokolov to get it.

In addition, notorious German physician Josef Mengele is depicted in the novel as performing sterilizing experiments on men. However, in reality, Mengele primarily performed experiments on twins and dwarves.

The report also rejected the portrayal of a relationship between German officer Johann Schwarzhuber and Jewish prisoner Cilka, calling it "non-existent."

Melanie Lynskey as Heather Morris in 'The Tattooist of Auschwitz' (via Sky Atlantic)

After finding many other inaccuracies within the novel, the report concluded:

"Given the number of factual errors, therefore, this book cannot be recommended as a valuable title for persons who want to explore and understand the history of KL Auschwitz."

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While the book contains several inconsistencies, as mentioned, it remains to be seen if the series will fix those mistakes. All episodes of The Tattooist of Auschwitz are available to stream on Peacock.