Character Analysis Essay on Lale From The Tattooist of Auschwitz

Introduction

The Holocaust was the Genocide, led by the Nazi Party, of Jews, Gypsies, LGBT, and any other people who did not fit their standards. In “The Tattooist of Auschwitz”, the Holocaust forces Lale to become Tätowierer Von Auschwitz and changes his life forever. The Holocaust was the biggest impact on the true story, “The Tattooist of Auschwitz”. The Holocaust impacted the lives of each character in my book and completely set the scene for my book.  The Holocaust mentally and physically scared all of the main characters. It also sent them to Auschwitz, the place they were tortured, and it took three years away from every character’s life. An influence is something that happens that changes the outcome of something else. In “The Tattooist of Auschwitz”, the Holocaust alters the path of all the character’s lives by locking them in a concentration camp for three years.

How Holocaust Influenced on Lale's Life in The Tattooist of Auschwitz?

One way the Holocaust influenced the book because it took three years away from all of the people in the book. In a normal life, Lale would be going to work dating girls coming home to see his family. The Holocaust though interrupted that and throughout the book, you can see him and everyone else is not the same. Lale instead of going to his normal work has to scar people for life, just to survive. Doing these things took away three years from his life, but also took many more because he had to live with the harrowing memories of what had happened. When Lale is escaping from a work camp after being transferred from Auschwitz, he says, “This has taken three years away from me, it will not take another second”. This shows that after taking three years away from his life Lale could not stand another second of his life being taken away by the Holocaust. He decided to escape and after escaping he soon got his life back together without the influence of the Holocaust. During a time when the characters should be living their lives to the fullest, they are instead stuck in a concentration camp. This shows how the Holocaust took away three great years of their lives and when Lale was at the end he had enough and was forced to escape. While the Holocaust took away three years of their lives it also physically and mentally scarred them forever.

The Holocaust mentally and physically scared everyone who went through it including the people in the book, “The Tattooist of Auschwitz”. While in Auschwitz, Lale was mentally scared because every day he had to Tattoo every victim that came through. He was also physically scared when he got caught laundering gems and was sent to block 31, to be tortured. There he had to back-breaking work like carrying a heavy stone on his back across a field until he died or it was time to go back to the Block. On the first day at Auschwitz people said, “We’ll all be dead from starvation by morning,” says someone in the back of the block. “And at peace,” a hollow voice adds.” (Chapter 1). This shows how the camp morally degraded them. After the first night, they already thought that they were not going to make it out alive, they had already decided their fate. They were already being mentally tortured and also physically tortured by being starved. On the first night, the people had decided they were destined to die. They were being psychologically tortured and treated like dogs. Like dogs their leader or in this case, the SS could give them food or take it away. This caused the people to look at the SS like their masters. By the first day by only depriving them of food the SS had shown how they are in charge and you are not. They also physically scar people all of the time. Throughout the book, the SS shows their dominance by just shooting or casually sentencing a person to death. By psychologically and physically hurting them the Holocaust influenced every person in the book in a harmful way. The Holocaust was the reason that all of this happened but there maybe perhaps another stronger influence.

The Holocaust was the reason they were in the death camps but maybe there is a stronger reason. The Nazi party was how Hitler came to power and was the party that caused the concentration camps where Lale and the other characters lived for three years. They also decided how many people came into the camps and ran them from the outside. However, the Nazi Party influenced them but not in as strong ways as the Holocaust. The Holocaust is known as the Genocide of the jews and wiped out ⅔ of the Jewish population in Europe and put almost all of the rest of the jews there to back-breaking work. Lale and the other characters were influenced the most by this work because it is what they had to do every three years. The holocaust directly impacted their daily lives where the Nazi Party impacted more how the camps ran rather than the people’s lives, which is what the book focuses on.

Conclusion

The Holocaust ruined the lives of every individual in the book by mentally and physically scaring them and taking away three years of their lives they will never get back. It also has left them with memories of what happened which they will never be able to forget. It is important that we hear the story of Lale so as people we learn from our mistakes. If we learn from our mistakes we will know not to let something like the Holocaust damage the lives of millions of people. By reading how the Holocaust influenced people’s lives to turn to the worst, people should realize that we should never get into another situation like this and people should make sure they never forget what happened because if history repeated itself that would mean millions of more people dying. The Holocaust had a negative influence on every life it touched and scared each person who endured it.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz Quotes

1. “If you wake up in the morning, it is a good day.”

2. “To save one is to save the world,”

3. “remember the small things, and the big things will work themselves out.”