To commemorate the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Stan released The Tattooist’s Son: Journey to Auschwitz which premiered on January 28.
This poignant documentary follows Gary Sokolov, the only son of Gita and Lali Sokolov (depicted in the book and series The Tattooist of Auschwitz), as he visits his parents’ home towns in Slovakia before they were imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
For Gary, this is a personal pilgrimage to honour his parents. “I’m 63, they deserve from me to understand what they went through,” he says in the film.
The Tattooist of Auschwitz was written by Heather Morris and published in 2018, after Lali sought an author to record his life story. Over many years, beginning in 2003, Heather interviewed Lali and he told her his memories of how he fell in love with Gita after tattooing her arm at Auschwitz.
The book became a phenomenal success. Heather recently dedicated a memorial to Lali and all Holocaust survivors in his home town of Krompachy in Slovakia, which Gary visited in the documentary. In Slovakia, Gary also attended a registry and learnt information about his family that he never knew, including that his mum had three sisters, and that he was named “Baruch” after his grandfather.
“My whole life no one spoke to me,” Gary says in the documentary. Like many children of Holocaust survivors, his parents did not talk to him about what they endured during the war. “The people who have read the book knew more than I did growing up,” he said. “There were so many unanswered questions. Why was my father so hardened? Why was my mother depressed?”
After his parents arrived in Australia in 1949, he believes they were focused on “moving forward” and when he was born in 1961 they tried to shield him from the horrors they faced. Gary felt the need to fill those gaps, and this documentary follows Gary as he visits Auschwitz-Birkenau for the first time.

Speaking to The AJN, Gary shared that this journey was not only about walking in his parent’s footsteps but also to fulfil his father’s last wish. Around five weeks before Lali passed away, he told Gary he needed to go back to Auschwitz. Gary was surprised and when he asked why, his father said, “Because I need to apologise to all the lives I couldn’t save.”
Gary said he regrets not getting on a plane with his father the next day, and this need to make an apology on his father’s behalf became an obligation that haunted him. Lali said he was involved in the underground at Auschwitz that led to the blowing up of a crematorium, and Gary assumes his dad wished he could have done more to save lives.
In the documentary, we see Gary fulfil his father’s wish. “I had the opportunity to say Kaddish at Auschwitz, and it was such a relief on my conscience to finally get to do that,” he said.
Gary describes the journey as life-altering. “I’m not empty anymore,” Gary reflects on his return to Australia. He feels a sense of “relief” that he now has a better understanding of what his parents endured and he can share that with his daughters who will continue their family’s story.
Although The Tattooist of Auschwitz book and mini-series have been critiqued for factual inconsistencies as they are based on Lali’s memories, this documentary, in taking the viewer to see Auschwitz, the place where 1.1 million people were killed, is an important contribution to Holocaust education. It shows the gas chambers and crematoria, the tiny shoes that had belonged to children, and the luggage thrown away.
For those who relished the story of Lali and Gita falling in love in the most horrible of places, this documentary will also offer a deeper understanding of the true nature of the horrors of the Holocaust. This is especially important at this time amid rising antisemitism and when younger generations are unaware about the Holocaust.

A national survey by Deakin University found that “a quarter (24%) of the population aged 18 years or older have little to no knowledge of the Holocaust, with that number rising to 30 per cent among millennials.”
Hopefully documentaries such as this can help.
“Someone was telling me that the Auschwitz site got more hits after the launch of the mini-series than it ever did since opening,” Gary told The AJN. “People are becoming more aware … The fact that Heather Morris wrote a schoolbook version for kids, it’s becoming part of their curriculum … It’s actually having a positive impact. People who knew nothing now know.
“If there’s a Holocaust denier out there that watches the documentary, and if I can change one person’s mind about the fact that the Holocaust did exist, that would be a big achievement as well.”
Gary also hopes that the film will encourage people to speak to their parents and grandparents about their past. “For me it’s just been beyond my wildest dreams … I’m so happy that my parents’ story is out and that it’s had such a positive impact on the world.”
The Tattooist’s Son: Journey to Auschwitz is available to stream now on Stan.
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