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Because Lale’s supply bag indicates that Lale technically works for the “political wing of the SS,” the bag—in which Lale keeps his tattooing instruments—comes to signify the added protection that Lale’s job affords him. When Lale first becomes the tattooist, he learns that none of the Nazis will bother him if he carries his bag everywhere he goes, since none of them want to be accused of interfering with somebody affiliated with the SS. Of course, this also means that he is directly involved with the Nazis and therefore that he is—however unwillingly—part of the regime working to persecute his fellow prisoners. As a result, Lale’s bag comes to represent not only the safety that Lale gains from his position, but also the fraught implications and interpersonal dynamics that come along with working for the SS.
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Lale’s Supply Bag Symbol Timeline in The Tattooist of Auschwitz
The timeline below shows where the symbol Lale’s Supply Bag appears in The Tattooist of Auschwitz. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 3
After work, Baretski gives Lale a bag in which to keep the tattooing supplies and he tells him to report to an...
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When Lale retrieves his bag of supplies from the administration building the next day, an office worker tells him that...
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Chapter 6
...Lale breaks the sausage into multiple parts and he puts the pieces in his supplies bag before going outside again. He then goes to the warehouse known as “Canada,” where he...
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...capable of giving them something in return. In response, Victor puts two packages into Lale’s bag and he tells him to come back tomorrow.
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...to give him jewels and money. In turn, they drop two packages into Lale’s supplies bag. That night, Lale spreads what the women gave him on his bed, looking at a...
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Chapter 21
...it. He agrees, and in the morning he puts the diamond ring in his supplies bag before going to see Victor and Yuri, moving with much more caution than he used...
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With the chocolate in his bag, Lale goes to Gita’s block, where he bribes the kapo into letting him spend alone...
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