Interview with Heather Morris - author of "The Tattooist of Auschwitz"

Where did your inspiration come from for this story? What led you to wanting to create the story when you first talked with Lale? Have you always been interested in Holocaust history? I was asked to meet Lale shortly after his wife had died. A friend told me Lale was looking for someone to tell his story to and that person couldn’t be Jewish. My friend knew I wasn’t Jewish and not knowing why I was talking to him or what his story was, I agreed to meet him. I knew on that first day I was sitting with living history as his story unfolded in rambling, garbled unfinished sentences. I had not been interested per se in the Holocaust prior to meeting Lale. That changed immediately as his story unfolded.

What was the most rewarding part about telling this story? Knowing I was keeping a promise I made to Lale the night he died, that I would never stop trying to tell his story.  For 12 years it existed as a screenplay as I tried to get interest in it being a feature film. When I finally got smart, gave up on my fixation with the story being told by film I set about writing it as a novel.

Was there any parts to the story that you struggled to write due to the terror/emotion that Lale and Gita went through? Absolutely. Most definitely. What Lale witnessed Mengele doing traumatised him telling me, and me hearing it. I chose to write very little of what I know from Lale. Also Lale struggled talking about the Roma (Gypsy) families he lived with. He had become very attached to them.

What does this story mean to you? I have received thousands of letters from readers who overwhelmingly thank me for enlightening them as to the horrors of Auschwitz. Many indicate they are researching and wanting to know more; many tell me they are planning to visit Auschwitz and learn from the guides there the full story of the Holocaust, I have just written a story of the Holocaust – Lale and Gita’s story. For this I am truly humbled.

How much extra research did you put in for the story? How much time did you spend with Lale? Do you wish you would have spent more time - why or why not? Professional researchers confirmed many of the stories Lale told me. With the majority of paperwork from Auschwitz being destroyed I relied on personal testimonies and was lucky to meet and talk to many Holocaust survivors who shared their experiences with me.  I knew Lale for 3 years. For most of that time we were dear friends, going to café’s, social events, movies. He was part of my life, part of my family’s life. When it came to continuing research of getting on with writing I told myself I was not writing an authoritative record of the events of the Holocaust. To have compiled such a dossier would have required much more research than was justified in the context of a love story.

What do you enjoy most about writing historical fiction stories? In my case it was meeting and befriending someone whose story was based on real historical events. I chose to write it as historical fiction to add conversations and emotions that would most definitely have taken place and been felt. I wanted to bring alive other people who Lale shared that terrible time with. It was important to me to find a way of telling this story in a simple manner that could be appreciated by any reader regardless of age or religion.

From your biography on your site, it looks as if you were not a writer originally? What made you decide to become a writer? Correct. But I have been a reader all my life, and I’ve got some years under my belt. I used to make up stories to tell my children when they were young and in some way I have always been a storyteller just never written them down – until now.

What struck you most - good or bad - about Lale's story? Good, only good – the hope that Lale and Gita’s survival gave to me and which I now hear is giving to many others. A few months ago, I visited a men’s prison in London. I was asked to write to the prisoners in a book club there who had taken my story to heart and were sharing the hope they got from Lale’s survival. I spent 3 hours with over 100 men and was overcome by the emotional connection they had made to Lale and were going to go forward with the hope they too could leave their prison and have a better life. An amazing experience, one of so many for me, each one praising the hope my writing had given them. And of course there is the love that endured for 60 years and the courage these two ordinary people living in an extraordinary time found in themselves and in each other to become survivors.