TW: Mentions of the holocaust.
The only thing that made ‘Tattooist of Auschwitz’ a worthwhile read for me was the anticipation of the book that followed: Cilka’s Journey. I was very excited about the book because something inside me told me that it’d be a better experience than Lale’s story of survival and love; probably because this time it would be a woman’s account of the horrific history.
Obviously, this book is more carefully written and I could feel that it was an attempt to correct the mistakes made in the first book. The trouble I had with the first book was the absolute disconnect with the characters. In this one, I could at least feel something. Cilka’s horrific experiences did stir up emotions in me. But then again, the fact that it is narrated in the present tense still kept bugging me. Although, the way the narration kept moving back and forth in time made it quite interesting.
Coming to the accuracy of the events behind this book, I am happy that Morris has duly mentioned that this book is mostly fiction based on whatever traces of information she could find regarding the obscure figure of Cecelia Klein. My usual research after completing the book has brought to my attention that there are controversies regarding this book as well. Cecilia’s husband’s actual name was wiped from the story and replaced with a different character named Alexandr. In the Afterword she writes:
“I have not included the name of the man she (Cilka) met in Vorkuta and married, in order to protect the privacy of his descendants,”
This was done later on due to the grievance that Cecilia’s stepson George Kovach (her husband’s son from a previous marriage) put forward when he was approached by Morris and her publishers in order to acquire some pictures of Cecilia and her life after the Siberian Gulag. George, on listening to passages from the book, said that it ‘had nothing to do with the Cecilia that he knew, or her history as she (Cecilia) recounted to him’
I liked the story for how it at least attempts to show a woman’s struggle for survival in a concentration camp as well as the Gulag system but for that I had to treat it just like I would treat any other fictional account and not as a part of history. Nevertheless, I am glad that I read the story of Cilka because it did give me more insight into life after the liberation of the concentration camps. Cilka’s character has been crafted flawlessly, I must say. Morris has tried to build up a character with limited information and for that, she does deserve some praise.
The controversies that I learned after finishing the book did not tamper with the emotions that I felt while reading the book and my respect for a figure such as Cilka still remains the same. I adore and respect her bravery and her dedication towards the people she built connections with; not only in Auschwitz - Birkenau but also in the Siberian Gulag. As the author herself begins the book by saying, “I hope that further details about Cilka and those who once knew her will continue to come to light once the book is published”, I too sincerely hope the same because Cilka Klein/Kovachova and her story deserves to be known to everyone out there.
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