Chapter 1 – 2 (April 1942)

Lale is a Slovakian Jew from Krompachy. All across the country, Jewish families are being
forced to hand over a child who is at least 18 years old to work for the German concentration
camp. Lale hands himself over since his brother had a wife and a child at home. During the
transport in the wagon, he makes a friend who goes by Aron. As they arrive at Auschwitz,
they are stripped, their heads are shaved, and they get a number tattooed on their arm, Lale
ends up with the number 32407. Later on, they are put to work constructing new blocks of the
concentration camp. Another thing to take note of is that as a jew he wears a yellow star,
criminals wear green triangles and political enemies wear red. There are also Russian
prisoners in the camp, captured during the war, who don’t wear patches.

Soon after arriving, Lale contracts typhus and wakes up 7 days later with a new face, Pepan, a
French man who serves as the Tattooist of Auschwitz. He is regaled with what happened
while he was out cold, he was put on a death cart but was saved by Aron and cared for by the
others in his block. Tragedy strikes when Aron is killed by their Kapo when he found out that
Lale was missing. Pepan offers to let Lale work with him as a tattooist as well, and
Oberscharführer Houstek, who oversees Pepan, approves it.

Chapters 3 – 6 (June – December 1942)

Lale previously worked in a department store. Now, he tattoos involuntary people. One day,
Pepan is not there and Lale is told he is the tattooist now. Lale asks for an assistant, and Leon
is brought to him. As the tattooer, Lale is part of the political wing of the camp
administration, which offers some protection and privileges like extra rations and his bed in a
new, empty block. He shares his food with his old blockmates. Baretski is the SS officer who
oversees Lale and Leon. He’s disagreeable, but Lale puts up with it and gets to know Baretski
by advising him on women.

A woman catches Lale’s eye one day, and he writes her a note which Baretski takes to her,
even though prisoners having paper or pencils is forbidden. She soon introduces herself as
Gita. Gita lives in Block 29, and she works in the warehouse sorting prisoner’s possessions.
Her friends are Dana and Ivana. On Sundays, most prisoners do not work, and Gita can see
Lale if he is not working. She says she will not tell Lale her last name or where she’s from
until the day they leave this place.

Lale meets two paid builders, Victor and his son Yuri, who are constructing crematoriums for
the concentration camp. They give him some sausage. Lale asks them to bring chocolate and
says he can pay for it. Lale then asks a few women at the warehouse (sorting possessions) to
sneak him some jewellery or valuables in exchange for chocolate and food. The women
agree, and Lale can pay Victor for goods from outside.​
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Chapters 7 – 10 (January – March 1943)

Lale hears that Gita is sick and needs penicillin. He rushes to Victor, who can acquire some.
He asks Baretski to have Gita moved to the administrative office to work, where there is heat.
There, Gita meets Cilka, who is nice and very pretty and is permitted to keep her hair long.
One day as Gita and Cilka are working, Cilka is dragged into a room with Schwarzhuber,
Senior Commandant of Birkenau, who rapes her.

One day, a new prisoner named Jakub comes in, a large man who is very hungry. Lale sneaks
him some food. Lale soon has accumulated quite a stash of jewellery and cash from the
women at the warehouse, and he gives Gita a diamond ring. Meanwhile, more and more
people arrive at the camp, including whole families with children in tow. Lale’s block is now
filled with Gypsies. He meets Nadya, whose son and husband have died of typhus. He enjoys
playing with the children there.

Chapters 11 – 15 (May 1943)

Now people across Europe are arriving at the camp. And there is a new doctor in the camp,
Josef Mengele. Mengele is selecting patients for something and takes Leon away, despite
Lale’s protests. Later, Lale is told to tattoo a bunch of naked girls that Mengele is inspecting.

One day, Baretski asks Lale to find eleven prisoners to play in a football game against a team
of SS officers. Lale assembles a team but warns them that they must lose. It ends up being
moot since they are eventually too weak to compete effectively. As they play, ashes from the
crematorium rain down on them. There are now five crematoriums working constantly, but
more prisoners arrive daily too.

A neighbour that Gita once knew, Mrs Goldstein, shows up at the camp. She tells Gita that
Gita’s family is most likely gone. Gita strikes a deal with their kapo to spare Mrs Goldstein
from hard labour in exchange for Lale’s diamond. There are a few weeks when Lale is
working every day with so many more prisoners coming in that he does not see Gita for a
while. Meanwhile, Leon finally returns, looking thinner. He tells Lale that Mengele cut his
balls off.

Chapters 16 – 21 (March – April 1944)

A boy, Mendel Bauer, shows up asking for help since he was caught escaping and will be
hung the next morning. Lale asks Bella at the administration office to secretly put him on
transport out to a boy’s camp that’s going out at midnight.
Gita finally tells Lale what’s going on with Cilka, that Schwarzhuber has been using her for
sex for the past year or so. Lale notes that there is one other girl who is allowed to keep her
hair long at the camp.

One day, the SS officers discover Lale’s stash of currency and jewels. They march him into
Block 11, one of the punishment blocks. He finds Jakub there. His job is to beat people into
giving up names or kill them. Jakub remembers Lale’s kindness towards him, but Jakub
would rather kill Lale than hand over a bunch of names to the officers. Jakub beats Lale until
the SS officers are satisfied that he doesn’t know anything. Lale survives the beating, and
Jakub secretly cares for him until the SS offices come for him. He’s taken to Oberscharführer
Houstek, who assigns him to hard labour but doesn’t kill him.

Lale sees Baretski, who he asks to give a message to Gita and Cilka that he is alive, but doing
hard labour. Cilka realizes he told her to ask for help. Cilka asks Schwarzhuber for a favour,
who then reassigns Lale to his previous job as the tattooist, against Houstek’s wishes. Lale
resumes trading with Victor and Yuri, but is more apprehensive now.

Chapters 22 – 23 (Summer 1944)

More people continuously arrive at the camp, and one night the Gypsies that Lale lives with
are herded on a truck to be taken away and cremated. Another night, in an act of defiance,
ammunition workers manage to stockpile gunpowder to try to blow up one of the
crematoriums.

Chapters 24 – 25 (Fall 1944 – Spring 1945)

A cold autumn passes. In late January, there is a commotion when it’s announced that the
Russians (allied forces) will be arriving soon and that the camp is being emptied. The women
are herded out to an unknown fate by the SS officers, and as Gita leaves, she shouts to Lale
that her last name is Furman.

Gita and the other women march for a long time, and Gita ends up marching with some
Polish girls, who decide to make a break for it. They can get away to a nearby house. They
eventually make their way to the sister of one of the girls in Krakow. From there, Gita gets a
ride on a fruit truck back home to Bratislava, where she lives in a crowded flat with other
survivors. Her two brothers, who had joined the Russian army, find her, and they talk briefly,
but they cannot stay.

Chapters 26 – 27 (Spring-Summer 1945)

With Auschwitz emptied, Lale is shuttled to a different concentration camp. He finally

Eventually, Lale is allowed to scout for girls without a guard. He takes the opportunity to
escape. He walks until he gets to a bus station and rides home to Slovakia.

Chapter 28 (Summer 1945)

Lale goes home to Krompachy to find his sister Goldie is still alive. She is married to a
Russian man with the last name Solokov. He tells her about Gita, and Goldie suggests going
to Bratislava to find her since people from the concentration camps are arriving there. He
buys a horse and cart and travels there, living in his cart for two weeks. Finally, he is reunited
with Gita, and he proposes immediately.

Epilogue

Lale and Gita take his sister’s Russian last name, which is more accepted than his own,
Eisenberg. They settle in Bratislava. In October 1945, Lale and Gita were married. He starts a
business importing fine fabrics. They also smuggle money and jewellery for wealthy people
out of the country, so the business is eventually shut down and nationalized.