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Posted on October 4, 2019 at 9:53 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek
The sequel to The Tattooist of Auschwitz, itself at the center of some controversy, has stirred up plenty of outrage as well.
In Cilka’s Journey, author Heather Morris picks up the story of Auschwitz inmate Cilka Klein, whose relationship with the camp’s leader drew harsh words from the Auschwitz Memorial.
Cilka is based on Cecilia Kovachova, a real-life woman who survived Auschwitz only to be imprisoned in a Soviet gulag — where, in the new novel, she enters a sexual relationship with another SS commander and steals drugs from the gulag hospital.
Kovachova’s stepson, George Kovach, is the latest to complain about the new release, though he's not the only one.
He told the Guardian that he spoke with Morris in April and expressed concerns about her novel then.
In response, Morris removed Kovach’s father and acknowledges in the novel’s introduction that “it does not represent the entire facts of Cilka’s life.”
Still, Kovach wants a more explicit statement about its fictionalization, an apology from Morris and her publisher, and 10% of revenue to be donated to an appropriate charity — nothing for himself.
Read more about Kovach and his stepmother’s life in the Guardian.
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