Claire Mundell, Jonah Hauer-King and Anna Próchniak on Carefully Crafting The Tattooist of Auschwitz

We were recently joined for a conversation on Peacock series The Tattooist of Auschwitz by executive producer Claire Mundell, and actors Jonah Hauer-King and Anna Próchniak to talk about the their telling of the true story of Holocaust survivors Lali Sokolov and Gita Furmanova.  Based on a book of the same name by Heather Morris, all of the series scripts were carefully written ahead of filming, both to serve the sensitive nature of the story and as Mundell mentioned, to test out the narrative interplay between past and present. In the estimated two-hundred times Mundell watched the series, it was a screening with the survivors’ family that opened her eyes to the weight of responsibility in creating the show.

Actors Jonah Huaer-King and Anna Próchniak found it both nerve wracking and insightful to play real people on screen. They explored the ample footage of their counterparts in research for the roles, and on set, trusted one another to be vulnerable in the moments where their characters know they may never see eachother again.  As these moments were plentiful under the circumstances at Auschwitz, Jonah was grateful to be able to bring Lali’s charisma and humor to the role. Mundell named their connection as an act of bravery, aptly stating, “It takes courage to remember your own humanity in a death camp.” The love between Lali and Gita lived well beyond their time at Auschwitz, and as Jonah remarked, it is inspiring that they stayed together for decades after surviving such a unique trauma.

Watch the full conversation below.

Based on the eponymously titled novel, this is the powerful real-life story of Lali Sokolov, a Jewish prisoner who was tasked with tattooing ID numbers on prisoners' arms in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp during World War Two.