Cover Image: Cilka's Journey

Cilka's Journey

Pub Date:   |   Archive Date:

Member Reviews

This is a very worthy successor to The Tattooist of Auschwitch. It is a well constructed blend of fact and fiction set not in a Nazi camp but this time in a Soviet Russia facility for those considered to be potential enemies of the state. Cilka was considered to have collaborated with the Nazis officers in
Auschwitz despite having little option. Those who did not were murdered. This is no easy read given the description of the desperate abuse and cruelty dealt out to the inmates. However,it is a story that needs to be written. Like the tattooist,Cilka survives to tell her tale and to find live. This book is set to become an important literary and historical work.

Was this review helpful?

I loved the first book that this is the sequel to but was greatly disappointed in Cilka's Journey. The style of the book is a bit rushed and almost childishly written which I found difficult to read as it was bothering me throughout. The subject matter is serious but the way it is handled just feels a bit off and sensationalist. Cilka is working as a nurse in the concentration camp and I'm not sure if this is actually a true story but it just felt rushed and a bit ridiculous.

Was this review helpful?

A heartbreaking read which has obviously been very well researched. This book brings history to life. I knew about the existence of the Gulags but I did not know that concentration camp prisoners were sent there if they were thought to be collaborators. I found this to be an eye opening and interesting read which is full of sadness. It also shows the strength of humanity.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

Was this review helpful?

After reading The Tattooist of Auschwitz I was desperate to read Cilkas story. Although fictional it’s based on a real person and true events,

It was heartbreaking. For Cilka to go through the horrors of Auschwitz doing what she had to do to survive to be then punished for war crimes was just horrific. This is a very emotional read and I really hope Heather Morris writes more books like this.

The true horrors of Auschwitz and events after need to be told.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for an honest and unbiased opinion.

Was this review helpful?

Cilka’s Journey begins with the liberation of Auschwitz at the end of the war. Cilka is sentenced to 15 years hard labour at the Soviet Gulag camp in Vorkuta at the outset of the novel for having (purportedly) collaborated with the Nazis. She was in fact raped for three years at Auschwitz, but surviving this abuse is seen as ‘collaboration’ by the authorities. We then move onto a dual timeline - in the present of Cilka’s life at the Soviet labour camp and in flashbacks to her time as a prisoner at Auschwitz.

This is a novel about love versus hate. There is kindness in Cilka along with a capacity she should no longer have, to care for others having known such cruelty and sadness herself. There are bonds of friendship, even among those she sees as enemies but with whom she shares lived experiences of atrocities. There is love, loss and redemption.

I liked Cilka. Factually, the events of Cilka’s life are far less verifiable than was the case with Lali Sokolov (the Tattooist of Auschwitz). That she existed, there is no doubt, but as with the Tattooist of Auschwitz, I advise you to come to both books as NOVELS and NOT as historical accounts. The Tattooist of Auschwitz received some fierce criticism from the Auschwitz Memorial Research Centre which claims inaccuracies ‘blur the authenticity’ of the true history.

I’ve been balancing up my own opinions on this and I had a conversation with my eldest son, who is a history teacher and keenly interested in the Holocaust as a specialist subject. I expressed concern that where a book on a subject is marketed as “a novel” shouldn’t that enough to mean that it won’t be judged against the non-fiction history book, and so becomes fatally flawed in the eyes of critics? Can we not trust the reader to have their interest piqued by the subject matter raised in the book and THEN go off in search of more authoritative historical sources to educate themselves fully and accurately? Or should we never write books “based on “ or “inspired by “ true events - especially where such events as the Holocaust are involved?

This was my experience with Cilka’s Journey. I hadn’t realised that so many Jews and Prisoners of War were not successfully (or indeed immediately) repatriated after World War II. Upon discovering this at the beginning of the Cilka’s Journey, I paused in reading the novel to go to the history books, to find out for myself why so many prisoners of war continued to be prisoners AFTER the war.

My son was of the opinion that “we need people to write more interesting history books.” Perhaps he’s right. Meanwhile, I feel it’s worth remembering that many people find a route into knowledge and facts on subjects they’d previously never considered, precisely THROUGH novels.

So please read both of these books for the novels they are - two novels inspired by actual events but not the definitive historical guide to the events of the Holocaust. If you then go on to read about the history of the Holocaust, you will have learned some important history, because The Tattooist of Auschwitz and Cilka’s Journey made you think about the subject long after you turned the final page. After all, isn’t that what books are meant to do? Take us on a journey, feed our mind and make us search for more answers? I think so.

Tattooist of Auschwitz 4 / 5 stars
Cilka’s Journey 4 / 5 stars

Was this review helpful?

Devestating. Breathtaking. Moving beyond words. And completely and utterly heartbreaking.

I won't focus on discussing the plot, as I feel that this is almost redundant. Elements of the plot will already be known if you've read the first novel, and those that aren't pack just as much of an emotional punch as the events of the first novel.

What I will comment on is the incredible quality of Morris' writing. She writes with such clarity, such beauty, and in a manner that is so incredibly moving it is truly something to behold. I have to admit, I wondered if this was a fluke with regards to the first novel, but seeing it again here shows the truth of the matter - Heather Morris is a truly unique, and incredibly skilled writer. She has immediately made her way onto the list of authors whose books I will always buy.

I would recommend this to anyone. Reading the first novel will of course ensure you have a slightly better understanding, but even if you haven't read it, I can ensure you will be moved by Cilka's Journey.

Was this review helpful?

Cilka’s Journey’ is a fictional retelling of testimony from Lale Sokolov (the Tattooist of Auschwitz) and others who knew Cilla, and Morris’ research. After the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp by the Russians, Cilka is taken aside and convicted as a collaborator, traitor and spy for the Germans. She’s sentenced to 15 years hard labour at the Gulag camp in Vorkuta, Siberia. Yet another camp. And the irony of her new jailers is that they line their prisoners up the same way as the Germans did; selecting women whose bodies can be used. Due to the treatment of Cilka and fellow prisoners, the Russians are no better than the Germans. As she travels through her new life, we see flashbacks to her time at Auschwitz, and her time before, how she loved and how she survived. (Some irony here in that it’s how she survived Auschwitz that caused her to end up in the Gulag). She suffered frequent bouts of ‘darkness’ that threatened to consume her, especially from her time at Auschwitz, but she manages to find ways to survive the new camp; through her friends who become her family and through her work training as a nurse. She encounters more horror and more abuse, but survives. However, she survives but doesn’t live, she has no hope. And it’s through her later time in the camp that she finds reason to hope. This is a hard read, but based on the notes from Morris and additional information, this was a real eye opener for me. And although a work of fiction, it shows the resilience of the human spirit - how we can survive. “What you are doing, Cilka, is the only form of resistance you have–staying alive. You are the bravest person I have ever known, I hope you know that.”

Was this review helpful?

I have been waiting for this book to come out ever since I read and fell in love with, “The Tattooist of Auschwitz”. I wondered what happened to Cilka and was one of the many who emailed Heather Morris asking this question who replied telling me that she was indeed working on a follow up

Cilka was a beautiful 16 year old when she went into Auschwitz and did what she could to survive. In the eyes of the Russians who liberated the camp that made her a collaborator and she was sentenced to 15 years hard labour in the frozen landscape of Siberia.

This is the story of Cilka’a survival. It is made clear that the story is based on fact and fiction. It’s a heartrending story. My only slight upset being that I’d love to know which characters were real and what became of them

Thank you Heather for this wonderful follow up

Was this review helpful?

I could not read this book fast enough. After reading the Tattooist of Auschwitz I was very much looking forward to finding out more about Cilka and her story. Although Cilka was in the Tattoo of Auschwitz briefly this is a stand alone story.

After surviving Auschwitz Cilka is forced into another hellish time all over again. This is a powerful and heart breaking story of a young girls survival.

Highly recommended. Please tell me Heather Morris is going to work on more stories like this.

Was this review helpful?

I was excited to being given a copy of Cilka’s Journey by Heather Morris as I have read The Tattooist of Auschwitz which is an amazing book. This is the second in that series but, a standalone novel.
Cilka Klein is 16 years old and is sent to Auschwitz – Birkenau with her family. When she is noticed by the SS officers for her beauty but then raped repeatedly by them. She is also forced to do things she doesn’t want to do so she can survive. Even directing the other prisoners to the gas chambers, to their deaths and even sees some of her own family get murdered.
When the camp is liberated by the Russians, Cilka thinks she is free but then she is arrested and sent to camp in Siberia for being a ‘collaborator,’ She is sentenced to 15 years hard labour. She gets unwanted attention from the men at the camp an even the guards. But when she is sent to work as a nurse in the hospital and is helping others, she feels that her life can be redeemed from what she did in the past.
This is another harrowing tale of what happened in the camps during the war and the atrocities that took place in them. This is also a story of survival and how far you will go to get it. This book was well researched. Like the previous book I really enjoyed this but, I felt it was a bit disconnected at the start of this book, It was like it report and not a personal account. Four stars from me.

Was this review helpful?

This followup to Heather Morris's smash hit bestseller, The Tattooist of Auschwitz, has many of the hallmarks which made the original so popular. A harrowing, yet heartlifting story of love and redemption in the darkest places, Cilka's Journey follows one of the side characters from The Tattooist of Auschwitz from the horrors of Auschwitz-Birkenau to the Siberian Gulag where, sentenced to fifteen years of hard labour, Cilka Klein endures new hardships, meets new people, and never lets go of hope.
Cilka's Journey includes a foreword by the author, which explains that while this book is grounded in reality, many aspects of it are fictionalised, both because of the constraints of narrative storytelling, and because Cilka Klein had passed away, and thus Morris didn't have the same interview and first-hand testimony on which to build her story.
I think this actually makes the book stronger. Knowing and acknowledging that it's fictionalised gives the mind a chance to accept that not everything will be factually perfect, and instead the heart can join with Cilka on her journey as she survives the depths of humanity's evil, The sparse writing style, which made The Tattooist of Auschwitz feel like a sometimes barely adapted screenplay is much more nuanced in this, her second book. The narrative is harsh and bare bones at times, but this gives space for the story and the experience of the characters (people!) to shine through.
A more developed, mature, and better written book than The Tattooist of Auschwitz, this has all of the strengths of its predecessors while improving on its weaknesses. Heartwrenching and deeply moving, Cilka's Journey chronicles a depth of human horror that is at times almost incomprehensible. But the friendship and love that Cilka and her hut-mates show each other, the strength and resilience of people in the face of despair, make this book a deeply moving and affecting experience that I will treasure.

Was this review helpful?

After reading the story of Gita & Lale in The Tattooist Of Auschwitz and reading a little about the character Cilka, I was eager to know more about her story. In fact, I do remember messaging Heather Morris to ask if there would be a book about Cilka, her reply was something along the lines of “never say never” and “it’s a possibility”. As soon as I found this book was available, I knew I absolutely had to read it. The Tattooist Of Auschwitz had stayed with me long, long after finishing reading it and yes we had an end for Gita & Lale, but I kept wondering but what about Cilka? I like the cover of this book and feel it really represents the book well.

The book is a mixture of “present” and “past. The present is based in the Siberian hard labour camp that the now 18 year old Cilka Klein is sent to. The past is in the form of flashbacks to her time in Auschwitz and Auschwitz-Birkenau.


The book begins in the present at Auschwitz and the arrival of the Soviet Army. A soldier tries to explain to Cilka that she is free now, sadly that does not turn out to be the case for Cilka. Soon the Army is joined by counter intelligence officers who question all those that remain in the abandoned camp. As the retreating German Army are considered the enemy so is anyone who has helped or worked with them in any way. Cilka is accused of fraternising with the enemy. The “fraternisation” being that she slept with the German Officers. She is charged as a collaborator and sentenced to 13 years hard labour. Of course, Cilka tries to protest her innocence but it is to no avail, it seems someone has reported her and the Russians believe what they have been told. Cilka sets off on yet another long arduous train journey. As before Cilka and the other prisoners are all packed into rail carriages and given the bare minimum. Every time the train stops the heavy door is opened and the dead bodies are passed out and bread is thrown in, water is also given but there is never enough of either for everyone. The women quickly come to a decision and work out a system to share what they have, giving the youngest the first food and water. They then take turns receiving the bread and water. It is on this long sometimes horrific journey that Cilka meets Josie. Josie has dark brown eyes that remind Cilka of her best friend Gita. Josie is with her grandmother but does eventually speak to Cilka. When Josie’s grandmother becomes ill and dies it is Cilka that comforts the young Josie. Josie’s grandmother is by no means the first, nor the last one to die on the train journey. Once they arrive at the Siberian camp, Cilka sort of takes Josie under her wing. Attempting to guide her through the following degradations of being shaved, de-loused, given prison uniforms. They are placed in the same hut that accommodates 20 women. The woman in charge of them introduces herself as Antonina Karpovna and she wastes no time in laying out the rules and what she expects of them. Once again Cilka finds herself at the bottom of the prisoner hierarchy. It soon becomes apparent in the Siberian camp that some seem to think that Cilka had it easy in Auschwitz-Birkenau, that she had better clothes than everyone else, better food to eat and generally an easier time than everyone else.
Sadly one thing that the Siberian camp has in common with Auschwitz-Birkenau is that the women can be chosen by the male trustees as “wives”, “girlfriends” or basically picked out to have sex with. The women have no choice in the matter, so once again Cilka finds that her beauty attracts her attention she would rather not have. Having said that by being chosen as a “wife” neither Cilka nor Josie are touched by any other men. Still there are women who make snide remarks as if Cilka, Josie and the other chosen women are somehow enjoying being repeatedly raped!

It’s not long until Cilka is offered a job at the hospital, after it is noticed how quickly she reacted and treated her friend Josies burnt hand. At first Cilka does not wish to be “chosen” she doesn’t want the extra food or so- called perks that come with the job. Finally, she gives in and takes the job and manages to smuggle out some of her extra food to share with the women back at her hut.

The book tells of the back-breaking work even the women are expected to do, filling buckets with coal that the men from the neighbouring camp have mined and moving it. It is as if even the weather has it in for the prisoners with its bitter coldness, snow, rain and almost constant night time. Then in summer the continual light preventing them from sleeping. The book covers a lot the harshness, the degradation, hostility and indignities the prisoners had to suffer. It also re-tells the friendships the women make, how they band together to help each other when they can.

Cilka’s beauty really ends up being a mixed blessing as it draws the attention of German Officers in Auschwitz-Birkenau and then the trustees in the Siberian camp. This means she is repeatedly raped, over and over again, whenever the men wish. Cilka is called a slut on more than one occasion. The whole reason she is in the Siberian camp is because the German Officers singled her out in Auschwitz-Birkenau, it wasn’t her choice. She would have been raped either way. Cilka tries to block the repeated rapes out, to go somewhere else in her head whilst it is happening. Cilka also tries to help Josie do the same when she is chosen, she explains if you fight it, you will end up with a beating too. In Cilka’s mind she is not giving the men anything, she certainly doesn’t feel love for them, even though one professes his love for her! Cilka is an extremely brave young women who is made old before her time. With her job she realises that she can use her elevated position to help others, she quickly learns how to help the patients she helps to care for as well as the women that live in the same hut as her.

As it was in Auschwitz-Birkenau Cilka witnesses, death from starvation, from mines collapsing with the prisoners still in them, working accidents, fighting injuries and more. Cilka also see’s new life being born when she works in the maternity ward of the camp hospital. When Cilka has the chance of a favour from the Commandant and his wife, she choses to use it for someone else securing an early release for her friend and the baby she has given birth to whilst in the camp.

I couldn’t believe that Cilka was sentenced to 13 years hard labour for the “crime” of being repeatedly raped in Auschwitz-Birkenau. A weaker minded or weaker bodied person would have either just given up and died or even committed suicide but not Cilka. Not only did Cilka stay strong in her mind, she tried her very best to help all those around her. I adored the way she looked back on the friendship between herself and Gita to draw strength from. The way a small smile during an accidental meeting gave her the encouragement to think there may well be a life for her after her sentence. Cilka survives despite everything the Germans and Russians could throw her way.

I finished reading this book which was very late, late/early hours of the morning as I got to a point, I couldn’t put the book down I had to know how Cilka’s story ended. My immediate thoughts were that Cilka Klien was a brave, brave woman that went through hell at Auschwitz, then Auschwitz-Birkenau and then after surviving that she was given 13 years hard labour at Siberia. An amazing story of what is known of her life.

What more can I say, Cilka’s beauty not only possibly saved her, it condemned her to being repeatedly raped. Having said that I suppose you would have to say that Cilka’s beauty also saved others around her. Cilka learnt early on in her experience that she couldn’t stop the men, so she blanked out her trauma and whatever perks, if any she received, she shared with those around her. She quite literally “turned the other cheek” on many, many occasions.

So, do I have any questions for the author, Heather Morris this time? Yes, please, please tell me there will be more survivor stories? Personally, I would love to know more about Josie and her family? I want to read about more survivors of the holocaust, their stories must be heard, must be told and remembered.

The research done for books such as these must be incredibly interesting, emotionally moving yet harrowing too. When I read a blurb, such as this one, that the book is based on real people like Cilka, Gita & Lale, or even a book with fictional characters based on the real events they seem somehow attract and draw my attention I feel I have to read them. These stories need to be read and handed down the generations so that they are never ever forgotten.

Was this review helpful?

‘Cilka's Journey’ is another fantastic and poignant read from ‘The Tattooist of Auschwitz’ author Heather Morris. It is also the sequel to that award winning work of fictionalised non-fiction (faction). Cilka’s story is true, just like Lale Sokolov’s, although some names have been changed to protect the privacy of the descendants of certain characters. It is cleverly and meticulously researched and all of the facts available to be quizzed have been verified using artefacts and documented entries of what happened at the time. The author has visited Cilka's home town of Bardejov, her school, both prisons where she was held based upon the most flimsy suppositions. She also visited ‘Cilka's marital home, a place of comfort and happiness to Cilka for almost 40 years after her freedom was granted, speaking to people who were with her and knew her family. The story is told with compassion, immense skill and talent, It followed Lale Sokolov’s comment about Cilka Klein whilst talking to Heather Morris. 'She was the bravest person I ever met'. Cilka had actually saved him from certain death in Auschwitz and he was in awe of her tenacity, bravery and determination to walk away from prison. Even when her German captors fled Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Russians interrogated her and gave her another 15 year sentence to be served at the Vorkuta Gulag in Siberia within the Arctic Circle, an inhospitable dessert area, built on the unstable tundra. Lale felt that her experiences deserved a story of her own and so did Heather.
Throughout her two sentences Cilka was continuously raped, even as a young girl. Imprisoned at the age of sixteen, she was made to witness the marches of fellow Jews to the gas chambers and this guilt she held onto for her entire life. She felt worthless but also sought to live against all odds. It is certainly a verified fact that ‘Millions of Jewish men, women and children died, many lived and carried the burden of their suffering, too ashamed to mention it to their families, their partners. Rape is a long established weapon of war and oppression’. Even then Cilka looked after the women she had come to love in her block, seeking the freedom of her best friend and daughter as an alternative to her own freedom. She was loyal, unselfish and extremely brave, as witnessed by many when she was the nurse chosen for dangerous ambulance retrievals in unstable mines. She would risk her own life to preserve the lives of her patients. She was so dedicated.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from publisher Zaffre through my membership of NetGalley. Thank you most sincerely for my copy sent in return for an honest and unbiased review. This true story was at times harrowing and very, very sad, it had shocking scenes of crime and was dark and disturbing. But it was also beautiful, a total education to me and joyful, extremely interesting and definitely well worth reading. It is an all-round 5* read in my opinion and I would recommend it to anyone that takes an interest in historical events or wishes to find out more about the holocaust. It really was a tremendous story of hope, survival and sheer human determination.

Was this review helpful?

I have no words. I am heartbroken, overwhelmed and destroyed by this story.
What Cilka had to endure is beyond inhumane. No person should have to see or suffer the things she had to, never mind a sixteen-year-old girl. She had the best years of her life stolen from her.
This story encapsulates her story beautifully. As soon as I started to read, I was moved to tears, and there were numerous times throughout the book where I just had to put it down as I just couldn’t bear the cruelty any longer. Heather Morris has done a wonderful job of telling Cilka’s story, and I know some of the details are fabricated, but everything felt so starkly real.
You fall in love with Cilka and with the other woman that she befriends in her hut. You feel her pain when she loses yet another person from her life, and you suffer with her when she is in anguish.
I am really finding it difficult to comprehend that this is based on a true story, that these women were punished in such a horrific way. I know I said something similar after reading ‘The Tattooist of Auschwitz’ that it is hard to imagine that these things did actually happen. This is what makes this story that more harrowing and distressing.
Cilka did not deserve this ten-year punishment after all she had done to simply stay alive. She really did show herself to be a truly brave, strong and heroic person.
I wished there had been a little more in the Epilogue about her life and who had been real and who hadn’t. Did she ever find Josie, or was she fabricated, I do hope not? I felt like I needed to just spend a little bit more time with Cilka in a more happy time and more pleasurable environment. I felt a sense of responsibility for her after reading her journey; I just needed to make sure she was ok. So a little longer an epilogue would have been greatly appreciated.
This book, though, is a beautiful tribute to Cilka’s life and the horror she must have endured. I think this book will stay in my heart and with me for a long time to come.

Was this review helpful?

A poignant accompaniment to The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Cilka’s Journey dramatises the life of Cilka Klein, described by Lale Sokolov, the tattooist of Auschwitz, as “the bravest person I ever met”.

As well as garnering facts from her conversations with Lale Sokolov, Heather Morris has researched Cilka’s story from multiple other sources, and dramatised her life. Taken to Auschwitz at 16, Cilka was forced to sleep with the commanders, and oversee the death block. On liberation, these ‘crimes’ meant she was then transported to Siberia to face many years in a labour camp – and this forms the main account of the story.

A wealth of complex and damaged characters inhabit the labour camp, and Cilka faces many different experiences, yet again many of them traumatic. Yet out of it all shines a small beacon of hope which pulls you through the story. Another fascinating read from Heather Morris, highly recommended.

Was this review helpful?

The heartbreaking story of Cilka Klein who was taken to Auschwitz Concentration Camp at the age of sixteen because she was Jewish.
She survived the camp and when it was liberated by the Russians she was charged with collaboration and sent to another Prison camp in Siberia.
Through hard work and bravery Cilka tries once again to survive.
The story is based on a real character that we first heard about in The Tattooist of Auschwitz.
Cilka was a great character and I found it hard to put this book down.
Thank you to NetGalley and Bonnier Zaffre for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

Another brilliant book by Heather Morris, she captures the time so perfectly and makes you feel as if you are right there witnessing these poor people suffering. Reading her books has
Made me want to learn more about these horrific events in our history.

Was this review helpful?