I loved The Tattooist of Auschwitz. After I read the book I discovered that there were questions concerning the veracity of the novel. I did not read this as a work of nonfiction, but rather a work of fiction based on real events. I certainly get that there may be inaccuracies, but the spirit of the novel worked for me. A message that must be conveyed - the importance of never forgetting the horrific things that happened. Things that we have to be reminded of because there are so few Holocaust survivors left, because of the rise of antisemitism in the world, and because there is a lack of awareness of the Holocaust among young people. There are, I’m certain, many nonfiction books and documents covering the Holocaust and the Siberian Gulags , but I’ve never been a big reader of nonfiction. For me, and this is just my personal experience, it has been mostly Holocaust fiction that has has opened my eyes to the atrocities and has broken my heart with immensity of the loss of so many people. If a work of fiction can do that, in my opinion it is worth reading. It is with this view that I read Cilka's Journey and that I high recommend it. I appreciate that Heather Morris tells the reader upfront that the book is a work of fiction. In a note at the end, she explains what is fact and what is fiction.
It’s unimaginable that a young girl could survive the horrific Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp for three years after being subjected to sexual abuse, forced to do unthinkable things in order to stay alive and then be sentenced to fifteen years in a Gulag in Siberia for aiding the enemy. Heather Morris enables us to imagine these horrors and takes us to both of these places in this novel. Moving back and forth between Cilka’s flashbacks of Auschwitz-Birkenau and her present Siberia, we are seamlessly taken from place to place, from time to time. Sometimes it’s a thought, a dream , or a present ugly reminder that takes Cilka and us back and forth . It is difficult and uncomfortable and necessary for us to see and imagine how horrible it was. I’m not going to detail any of that here, but will just say that this is an important work of fiction which reflects the horrors of these times and places, but also the real emotions, the real humanity, the real love and the real resilience of people that historical fiction can convey.
It’s unimaginable that a young girl could survive the horrific Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp for three years after being subjected to sexual abuse, forced to do unthinkable things in order to stay alive and then be sentenced to fifteen years in a Gulag in Siberia for aiding the enemy. Heather Morris enables us to imagine these horrors and takes us to both of these places in this novel. Moving back and forth between Cilka’s flashbacks of Auschwitz-Birkenau and her present Siberia, we are seamlessly taken from place to place, from time to time. Sometimes it’s a thought, a dream , or a present ugly reminder that takes Cilka and us back and forth . It is difficult and uncomfortable and necessary for us to see and imagine how horrible it was. I’m not going to detail any of that here, but will just say that this is an important work of fiction which reflects the horrors of these times and places, but also the real emotions, the real humanity, the real love and the real resilience of people that historical fiction can convey.