105 pages • 3 hours read
The Tattooist of Auschwitz
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Chapters 4-8Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 4 Summary
Walking together from Birkenau to Auschwitz, Lale gets to know Baretski a little better. Like Lale, Baretski is obsessed with women; unlike Lale, he does not treat them respectfully, viewing them solely as sexual objects. Baretski is Romanian, not German, and “ran away from home to Berlin and joined the Hitler Youth and then the SS” (54-55).
Lale takes Baretski up on his offer to send a message to the girl with the number 34902. Baretski arrives in Lale’s room in the middle of the night with a pencil and paper for him. He gives Lale two hours to come up with a message for the girl.
Lale decides to go with a simple message. He introduces himself and asks her to wait for him by the administration building the following Sunday. He realizes this puts her in danger, but he cannot help but risk it.
Her response the next day is short as well: she, like Lale, is from Slovakia; she has been in Auschwitz longer than he has and works in a warehouse. She agrees to meet him at the appointed time and place; however, she does not leave her name.
The next day, Baretski teases Lale about his relationship with the girl.
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