The son of the Holocaust survivor whose life story was made famous in The Tattoo Artist of Auschwitz has told how Hollywood star Harvey Keitel’s portrayal of his father in a new Sky adaptation left him in tears.
Gary Sokolov’s father, Lali, a Slovak Jew, was forced to work as a tattoo artist in the Nazi death camp in occupied Poland.
It was in that role that he met his future wife, Gita, when she stood before him terrified as he tattooed a number on her arm.
Lali and Gita separated in 1945, but met by chance after the war and married before having a son, Gary, in 1961, following their emigration to Australia.
Her story is described in Sky’s version of Heather Morris’s best-selling novel, The Tattoo Artist of Auschwitz, which was published to great acclaim in 2018 after the author spent three years interviewing Lali.
Lali is played during his stay in Auschwitz by The Little Mermaid star Jonah Hauer-King, 28, and then by Taxi Driver’s Harvey Keitel, 84, as an older man.
Sokolov, now in his early 60s and living in Melbourne, said in an interview with Sky to promote the show: “There were times when I couldn’t tell the difference between my father and Harvey Keitel.
‘He was my father on every level. If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t have spent so much time crying.
The son of the Holocaust survivor whose life story was made famous in The Tattoo Artist of Auschwitz has told how Hollywood star Harvey Keitel’s portrayal of his father in a new Sky adaptation left him in tears. Above: Harvey Keitel as Lali Sokolov; Lali with his wife Gita
Gary Sokolov was born in 1961. His parents married in October 1945 after his ordeal at Auschwitz. Above: Gary with his mother and his father.
Morris met Lali after his and Gita’s son Gary told him he wanted to tell his story, which he had kept secret for decades because he feared he would be considered a Nazi collaborator.
Only after his wife’s death in 2003 did he feel able to tell what happened to him and Gita.
Morris, a former social worker, spent the next three years meeting with Lali several times a week, putting every aspect of her story in writing.
Lali died aged 90 in 2006 after developing a close friendship with Morris.
Initially, the author tried to turn her story into a film, but later opted to write her novel.
Sokolov said his father found in Morris “someone he trusted enough to tell his story.”
‘I needed to tell it. I can’t imagine, knowing Heather, that she could have told anyone else.
“The world needs to know this story, especially now, where hope is really important.”
Keitel, best known for his collaborations with director Martin Scorsese, said: “It is my honor to bring to light through our dramatization of Lali’s story the horror of the Holocaust and to keep this story relevant as there are fewer survivors of the Holocaust. Holocaust alive to tell”. his own stories.
Sokolov, now in his early 60s and living in Melbourne, said in an interview with Sky to promote the show: “There were times when I couldn’t tell the difference between my father and Harvey Keitel.” Above: Sokolov attending a screening of the show in London on April 9
Melanie Lynskey as Heather Morris, interviewing Sokolov (played by Harvey Keitel) in his later life
Melanie Lynskey as Heather Morris and Harvey Keitel as Lali Sokolov
Harvey Keitel as Elder Lali Sokolov in her Melbourne apartment
He said he prepared for the role by reading books by survivors Eli Wiesel and Viktor Frankl and also watching video interviews with Lali.
His preparation, which included using prosthetics to look more like Lali, paid off, according to Sokolov.
“The way he played Dad was beyond anything I would have expected,” he said.
‘There’s a saying in Jewish culture, kavod, which is the highest level of respect, and he gave it to my dad.
‘Just talking about it makes me cry! When Heather sent me a photo, I had to look at it twice. I looked at him. She looked away. She looked again.
Lali and Gita Sokolov in their old age. Their romance survived against all odds.
Lali and Gita happily embrace each other in a photo taken after their wartime ordeal in the Holocaust.
“I wasn’t sure if it was my dad or Harvey Keitel. When I watched the show, I cried in the first ten seconds of the trailer because Harvey looked and sounded like my dad.
‘He had that little bit of hardness in his eyes that my father had. His eyes were my father’s eyes; When he talked about my mother he would tear up, which was what my father did.
“I didn’t feel like I was watching Harvey in the show, I thought I was watching my dad.”
Lali, who was born in Slovakia in 1916, was taken to Auschwitz on a train full of cattle in horrendous conditions.
Like any other prisoner who was not immediately sent to die, he was assigned a number which became his name. His, 32407, was tattooed on the arm by a French academic named Pepan.
He was initially sent to work building new housing blocks as the countryside expanded.
When Lali contracted typhus shortly after arriving at Auschwitz, Pepan took care of him and put him to work as his assistant.
Polish actress Anna Próchniak (right) as Gita. Like Lali she was deported to Auschwitz but survived
Próchniak plays Gita in The Tattoo Artist of Auschwitz, which premiered today on Sky
When Pepan was taken from Auschwitz one day, Lali became the main tattoo artist.
Lali met Gita in July 1942 when she was introduced to him. Years later she would tell Morris how, while he was tattooing her number on her arm, she fell in love with him.
With the help of Lale’s personal SS guard, he smuggled letters to him. These letters led to visits outside his block in Birkenau.
He also smuggled her extra rations to her and got her transferred to a better workplace.
In 1945, the Nazis began forcing prisoners to go on death marches to other camps as the Russians closed in amid Germany’s subsequent defeat in the war.
It was then that Lali and Gita separated when she was fired.
Eventually, Lali also left the field and returned to his hometown, Krompachy, in Czechoslovakia.
Incredibly, the pair were reunited when Gita stood in front of their horse and cart.
Lali was heading to Bratislava, the entry point for survivors returning home, to search for her.
A new Sky adaptation of Morris’s novel will be released this week. The six-part series stars Jonah Hauer-King (left) and Harvey Keitel as Lali, while Polish actress Anna Próchniak (right) plays Gita.
The couple emigrated to Australia in 1949 after marrying in the final months of 1945.
When asked how he felt after watching the six-part show, Sokolov said: “I have no words.” The respect given to my father and mother and his story was beyond what I could have imagined. I really hope the world feels the same.
Heather Morris’s book was published in 2018.
‘That’s what I wanted for my parents: for the world to know their story. So yeah, it’s fantastic. Can I cry?
He also praised Melanie Lynskey’s portrayal of Morris in the show, saying the New Zealander did a “phenomenal job”.
He added: ‘I I didn’t understand until I watched the show what Heather herself had gone through, listening to my dad’s stories and then returning home to her family.
‘Heather filled a gap for my dad when my mother passed away.
‘I remember Heather telling me that no matter what happens, I will always take care of your dad.
‘I don’t think anyone else could have done the job that Heather did with my dad. She gave my dad a lot of respect.
“In fact, what really stood out to me overall was that each and every person on the show respected my parents’ history.”
Polish actress Anna Próchniak plays Gita. The show’s director, Tali Shalom-Ezer, said: “When I read the scripts I felt like all the questions I had reading the book were answered.
‘Lali only began telling her story 60 years after leaving Auschwitz and we know that the nature of memory is that events can be mixed together.
‘There were questions for me about how he felt about his special position. “I’m glad we got to explore some of that.”
