The Tattooist of Auschwitz Ending Explained (2024)

Summary

  • Love and kindness shine even in the darkest of places, as shown in the powerful drama The Tattooist of Auschwitz.
  • Lali's guilt is manifested through haunting visions of his past while confronting his story.
  • The significance of Lali's role as a tattooist at Auschwitz highlights the dehumanization of prisoners in the most heinous way.

The powerful historical drama The Tattooist of Auschwitz offers an unflinching look at the horrors of the Nazi regime's most infamous concentration camp, but in doing so demonstrates that even in the grimmest setting in human history, love and kindness can shine. Based on the 2018 novel of the same name, The Tattooist of Auschwitz depicts a story from the memories of the real Lali Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew who survived more than two years in Auschwitz. Sokolov was the tätowierer, the person responsible for tattooing identification numbers on incoming prisoners at the infamous death camp.

Lali's driving force is his love for Gita, a fellow Slovakian Jew he fell in love with instantly while tattooing her arm. Lali and Gita are able to carefully develop a relationship in the camp thanks to the kindness of fellow prisoners, and even the assistance of a Nazi SS guard. Lali and Gita survive fear, sickness, and untold cruelty before ultimately finding each other again outside the camp and building a life together. Decades later, Lali reveals his story to an aspiring writer, and in the process confronts the guilt he's lived with his entire life.

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The harrowing biographical drama The Tattooist of Auschwitz features outstanding performances from both familiar faces and relative unknowns.

The Significance of Lali Sokolov's Final Vision Explained

Lali experienced a happy memory

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As the older Lali Sokolov (Harvey Keitel) talks through his memories with Heather Morris (Melanie Lynskey), he is plagued by visions of people from his past, who appear in the room with him and talk to him. For most of the time he's talking to Heather, the visions are unpleasant, and appear as he recounts a particularly painful point of his story. In fact, the most common vision is that of the Nazi SS guard who acted as his handler, Stefan Baretzki.

His final vision, however, is the exact opposite. Lali goes into his bedroom to find a happy and smiling Gita (Anna Próchniak) cradling their infant son Gary, appearing as lovely as she did in 1961 when Gary was born. Now an old man, his face lights up before lying down next to his beloved wife and their son, and he closes his eyes for the final time.

All episodes of The Tattooist of Auschwitz are now streaming on Peacock.

This happy vision stands in stark contrast with the previous grim memories he relived in the course of his conversation with Heather. It serves as an indication that he had unburdened himself of the grief and guilt that he had carried for so long. He is reunited with Gita at a time when they were at their happiest, free of the tragedy their love was born from.

What Lali's Visions Symbolized

Lali's past revisited in the form of various people

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While that final vision was pleasant, most of the ghosts of his past that appear during his conversations with Heather are not. The visions are a manifestation of his guilt, which comes in many different forms. Lali has an acute version of survivor's guilt, as evidenced by his vision of Tomas, who reminds Lali that Aaron (the prisoner who had saved Lali's life when he was sick with typhus) was selected for death quite literally in place of Lali. The older Lali's repeated visions of Baretzki speak to a different kind of guilt.

As a tattooist of the camp, Lali was afforded privileges and access that his fellow prisoners were not. That extra freedom and security came at the price of working for the Nazis as part of the greater machine that ran the death camp. One of the primary reasons Lali never shared his story until decades after it happened was due to his belief and fear that he would be seen as a Nazi collaborator; Lali feels guilty for being complicit in the atrocities done to his own people, and Baretzki acts as a manifestation of his own conscience.

The Importance of Lali's Role As The Tattooist

Lali's job at the camp carries metaphorical significance

While there were several different jobs that a Jewish prisoner at Auschwitz could have, which placed them above their fellow prisoners, Lali's job as a tattooist carries an extra degree of complicity. Of all the deplorable crimes committed against the many prisoners at Auschwitz, one of the most heinous was the stripping of their humanity. By reducing every person to no more than a number on their arm, no different from cattle, the Nazis took away the very thing that made them human beings: their identity.

As the person responsible for placing that identification number on each prisoner, Lali was a major cog in the machine designed to exterminate an entire race of people. The placing of that number symbolically stripped away a person's history, personality, values, relationships, and dreams, and made them a simple statistic in the mind of the Third Reich. Lali is shown saying "I'm sorry" to each prisoner he tattoos, meaning he understands the gravity of what he is doing beyond the pain of the needle. It's at the core of the guilt he carries for the rest of his life.

The Prisoner Portrait Shots In The Tattooist of Auschwitz Explained

The haunting camera technique served multiple purposes

One of the most gut-wrenching elements of The Tattooist of Auschwitz is the litany of live portrait shots of prisoners that are sprinkled throughout the show. The first purpose served by the prisoners looking right into the camera is to signify that the person had died. In the case of people seen in the show (like Tomas or Aaron), the look into the camera and accompanying bell concluded their story, even if they met their end off-camera. For those not previously seen in the show, they simply serve the purpose of reminding the viewer to look beyond the numbers.

Roughly 77% of all Jewish citizens of Slovakia in 1940 (like Lali and Gita) were murdered in the Holocaust.

It's easy to grow numb to the staggering scale of the Holocaust; the Nazis murdered over 11 million people, over 1 million at Auschwitz alone. The parade of prisoner close-ups throughout the show are a reminder that behind every single statistic there was a living, breathing person with a rich life and history that was erased prematurely by the Nazis. It's a powerful device that underscores the importance of bearing witness to the tragedy despite the show's focus on a love story.

Why Baretzki Really Helped Lali & Gita

He did so at great personal risk

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Jonas Nay's sadistic SS guard, Stefan Baretzki, is intriguing due to the sheer volatility of his character. The young soldier is shown tormenting prisoners and murdering them independently, and seems to delight in his work; after he forces Lali into a gas chamber to read the number on a dead prisoner's arm, he jokes that Lali is the first Jew to walk out of the chamber alive. It seems odd that he would risk his own security and position by assisting Lali and Gita in any way.

Yet he does so in exchange for, at first, something as trivial as advice on how to talk to women. Baretzki's relationship with Lali seems born entirely out of loneliness and, to some degree, ignorance. The real Stefan Baretzki was tried during the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials, and the court labeled him a "simpleton", which is something that was carried over in The Tattooist of Auschwitz. That Baretzki could ever think that Lali would help him outside the camp is a testament to his ignorance. He may have helped Lali, but it wasn't due to any goodness in his heart.

Did Lali Testify On Behalf of Baretzki During The Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials?

The Nazi guard asked him to via a lawyer

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Stefan Baretzki was indeed tried in the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials, and he received a life sentence for his role in the crimes committed at the death camp. He eventually committed suicide in prison in 1988. While the real Stefan Baretzki may have never reached out to Lali to testify on his behalf in the 1960s, the scene at the end of The Tattooist of Auschwitz where Lali is approached by Australian police officers with the legal request from Baretzki's attorney serves an important purpose.

Lali and Gita's confrontation over the request from Baretzki spirals into a greater argument about how Gita wants to visit Europe and Lali doesn't, and she does indeed go without him. Baretzki serves as the ultimate avatar for Lali's guilt, as it's implied that while Lali knows that Baretzki was a murderous monster, he feels obliged to mention to the courts that he wouldn't be alive if not for the SS guard. Baretzki's request is the most significant reminder of Lali's own complicity, and it shows how much it threatens to undermine even his relationship with Gita years later.

The Real Meaning Of The Tattooist Of Auschwitz's Ending

While The Tattooist of Auschwitz serves as a necessary reminder of the horrors of the Holocaust, the central takeaway is not despair; it's hope. Lali and Gita's journey of survival is not one that they could have accomplished alone. It took the kindness of many people for their love to flourish, and that kindness was pervasive in the show and in the real Auschwitz concentration camp. Sacrifices made for others are what made it possible for anyone to survive in that setting, as evidenced by Lali and Gita's friends risking their own lives to save them.

Joy and love are central elements that define humanity, and their persistence in Auschwitz is proof that, despite all the Nazis' best efforts, those elements can't be stripped away.

At its heart, The Tattooist of Auschwitz is a testament to the human spirit. In the most nightmarish hell ever devised by the hand of man, beauty and joy can still be discovered. A baby was secretly born against the rules and, through the efforts of many, was able to survive and grow. A young man and woman fall in love at first sight, and have friends and allies willing to risk their own lives just so they can steal a few moments together. In the unforgiving darkness, light can still shine if there are those willing and able to fight for it.

That joy and love is one of the central elements that defines humanity, and its persistence in Auschwitz is proof that, despite all the Nazis' best efforts, those elements can't be stripped away. A person can be robbed of their belongings, their dignity, and even their name, but never their convictions, beliefs, or the love they hold in their heart. The Tattooist of Auschwitz shows how the scars of tragedy and guilt may never fully heal, but they can be overcome with the armor of love and kindness.

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The Tattooist of Auschwitz

Drama

History

Romance

The Tattooist of Auschwitz is the true story of Lale Sokolov, a Jewish prisoner who was forced to tattoo the ID numbers on the other prisoners at the concentration camp during World War II. The series is based on the novel of the same name from authorHeather Morris.

Cast
Jonah Hauer-King , Melanie Lynskey , Anna Próchniak , Harvey Keitel , Jonas Nay

Release Date
May 2, 2024

Seasons
1

Writers
Gabbie Asher , Jacquelin Perske , Evan Placey
Where To Watch
Peacock
The Tattooist of Auschwitz Ending Explained (2024)
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