'The Tattooist of Auschwitz' Trailer Will Break Your Heart

The Jewish holiday of Passover, one of the most important in the Hebrew calendar, begins at sundown on Monday, April 22, 2024. The holiday comes extra late this year and is separated from Easter for once due to the vagaries of the lunar calendar (plus the need for the Jewish calendar to throw in leap years every so often since the lunar calendar is almost a fortnight shorter than a standard Earth year.) It also means the eight-day celebration will end on April 30, only hours before May 2, the day Berlin fell in 1945, and the first concentration camps were liberated, and Sky and Peacock will globally debut their adaptation of The Tattooist of Auschwitz to honor that date.

Inspired by the real-life story of Lali and Gita Sokolov, who met while prisoners in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp during the Holocaust, their story was turned into a novel of the same name by author Heather Morris, who met Lali Sokolov a few months after the passing of his wife. The true-life romance that blossomed in one of the most famous sites of the Holocaust and survived the war was one of the best-selling novels of 2017 and has been in the works as a prestige series for years since.

It's a bit ironic that the show has come to fruition now, as anti-semitism is on the rise again, while those who have forgotten their history seem doomed to repeat mistakes one would have thought we all would have learned better by now. But perhaps that's why a series like this is more important than ever to watch across the globe.

Here’s the series synopsis:

Lali, a Slovakian Jew, in 1942, was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Shortly after arrival, he was made one of the Tätowierer, charged to ink identification numbers onto fellow prisoners’ arms. One day, he meets Gita when tattooing her prisoner number on her arm, and they experience love at first sight. Under constant guard from a volatile Nazi SS officer, Baretzki, Lali, and Gita became determined to keep each other alive. Around 60 years later, Lali meets novice writer Heather Morris. Recently widowed, Lali finds the courage to tell the world his story. In recounting his story to Heather, Lali, in his 80s, faces the traumatic ghosts of his youth and relives his memories of falling in love in the most horrific of places. 

The Tattooist of Auschwitz stars a global cast with British actor Jonah Hauer-King (World on Fire) as Lali Sokolov in his younger years, American Harvey Keitel (Life on Mars) as the modern-day Lali Sokolov, New Zealander Melanie Lynskey (Yellowjackets) as Heather Morris, Polish actor Anna Próchniak (Baptiste) as Gita Furman, and German actor Jonas Nay (Transatlantic) as Stefan Baretzki.

Jacquelin Perske (The Cry) wrote all episodes of the six-part series along with Evan Placey (Soulmates), Gabbie Asher (Personal Affairs), and author Heather Morris consulting. Director Tali Shalom-Ezer (The Psychologist) helmed all episodes; composers Hans Zimmer (Dune) and Kara Talve (Prehistoric Planet) wrote the soundtrack. Perske and Shalom-Ezer are credited as executive producers, alongside Claire Mundell for Synchronicity Films and Serena Thompson for Sky Studios. 

All episodes of The Tattooist of Auschwitz debut on Peacock on Thursday, May 2, 2024.