Peacock's 'The Tattooist of Auschwitz' tackles a Holocaust love story based on real events

• Published date: 22 April 2024
• Author: SHIRA LI BARTOV/JTA
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

But "The Tattooist of Auschwitz," a new television series, is based on two Slovakian Jewish prisoners — Lali Sokolov and Gita Furman — who really did meet at Auschwitz, survive, marry and move to Australia together after the war. The six-part drama premiering May 2 on Peacock and Sky draws from a 2018 novel of the same name by Heather Morris, who interviewed Sokolov over three years before his death in 2006

"It's what drew me in, when I read the book a few years ago — that something like this could happen was so surprising," Jonah Hauer-King, who plays young Lali at Auschwitz, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. "Any kind of love at first sight is surprising, let alone in a context like this."

Alongside Hauer-King, known for his role as Prince Eric in Disney's live-action "The Little Mermaid," Academy Award nominee Harvey Keitel plays Lali's older counterpart in his late 80s, recounting his experiences to Morris (Melanie Lynskey) from his home in Melbourne shortly after Gita (Anna Próchniak) has died.

Directed by Tali Shalom-Ezer and executive produced by Claire Mundell, the series will also feature an end-title song by the legendary Jewish artist and EGOT holder Barbra Streisand. "Love Will Survive" is Streisand's first recording for a TV series, set to release on April 25 ahead of the series premiere.

"Because of the rise in antisemitism around the world today, I wanted to sing 'Love Will Survive' in the context of this series, as a way of remembering the six-million souls who were lost less than 80 years ago," Streisand said in her announcement. "And also to say that even in the darkest of times, the power of love can triumph and endure."

"The Tattooist of Auschwitz" joins a crop of World War II-period TV series inspired by buzzy bestselling novels. Hulu recently launched "We Were the Lucky Ones," based on Georgia Hunter's 2017 novel about her Jewish family's dispersion across the world. And in just the past year, Netflix adapted "All the Light We Cannot See" from Anthony Doerr's 2014 war novel and aired "Transatlantic," about Varian Fry's mission to rescue Holocaust refugees, based on Julie Orringer's 2019 book "The Flight Portfolio."

Like the other networks, Peacock has billed its series as "inspired by the real-life story," with the added interest of a real-life romance "in the most horrific of places." But preserving the authenticity of Lali's story in a TV show, based on a novel that fictionalized his testimony 12 years after his death, comes with...