I read Cilka’s Journey before this book because it was written with a female perspective, while this book had a male protagonist. And my intuition proved to be right. I definitely enjoyed Cilka’s story more than Lale, not only because Cilka endured a lot more than Lale did, but also because being a woman I could relate to Cilka’s emotions more. But that does not take away the fact that this was a great novel as well.
Lale like most other persecuted groups in occupied Germany was led to believe that he was going to work for the Germans. The harrowing conditions of the train journey to Auschwitz were only the beginning. Soon he realized than he was in a concentration camp destined for persecution. But he did not lose hope and determined that he would survive and tell his story to the world no matter what. This determination of his did not waver even when he was on doors of death by various means. Cholera, the beating, or even in the end during the death march. Soon he realised that in order to survive he needed to work a privileged job sans hard labour. Thus he eagerly took up job as the assistant Tattooist when an Elderly French prisoner offered him. Soon he became the head tattooist and started getting extra rations and began sharing it with people.
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| Auschwitz Concentration Camp |
Another driving factor to his survival was his love for Gita. Gita
wasn’t the most beautiful women, but she had this connection with Lale right
from the moment he set eyes on her while tattooing her prisoner number. She
worked in the offices and Lale set up occasional meeting with her. The guards
who oversaw him as well as her were well bribed for these meetings by him so
they didn’t really mind.
One incident that really pierced Lale’s heart was when all the Roma
people living in his block were killed. The pain of seeing his friends and the
children with whom he played everyday being killed, prevented him from making
friends inside the camp ever again. He also stuck a bargain with the local
Polish father-son duo to exchange valuables for things he needed.
His Romanian Guard was one broken character, who had left his family to
join the Nazis and was one hell of a misogynist. I both hated and pitied him
cause he was trying to be friends with Lale but his selfish nature prevented
him from forming any sort of friendship with anyone. One time Lale was
discovered with stolen valuables by the Nazis and beaten almost to death for
it, but Cilka with her influence saved him.
The most disturbing character for me was the Doctor. He used to give
poisonous toffees to children, selecting them for getting executed, and did
horrible experiments on people just for fun. The time when he cut Lale’s
assistants balls angered me a lot.
When the Russians were on their way to Auschwitz the male prisoners
were moved elsewhere, Lale managed to escape and was then caught by the
Russians. There due to his skill with languages he was recruited by them
forcibly, to find local Polish women for
having sex with. His job was to go into town each morning and offer women money
and jewellery for their services in the evening. Each day he was accompanied by
a guard in a jeep, but one day he was sent alone. So he took chance and escaped
the Russians. Then he came back home to Czechoslovakia to find that only his
sister had survived the ordeal, and she was now married to a Russian man named
Sokolov. He then began his search for Gita in Prague.
Gita had been sent on a death march along with other women prisoners from Birkenau. But she along with some polish women managed to escape the Germans and take shelter with local people. She then made her way back to Prague and was waiting for Lale. Their meeting in the end was truly a scene from the movies and really emotional. They got married, started a business, went bankrupt, Lale went to jail, he escaped on bail, they escaped to Australia, started another business there, had a son after trying for years. But in all these years of troubles they never cried to God for help, rather they were just happy to enjoy the life God had granted them.
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| Gita and Lale with their son |
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