The author knew his father, Henry, had been to Auschwitz but also knew that his father’s experience in the horrific Concentration Camp was not the worst of it. It took the entirety of Henry’s life to get the entire story of his, tragic, Holocaust experience. As the author attempts to get to the heart of Henry’s story, he discovers the heartbreak and horrors that his father suffered under Nazi occupation. This is a well-written and researched book and while not easy to read, it is important to keep reading these life stories. I received a digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

I received a complimentary copy of this book via Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are my own opinions.

An interesting reality of a Holocaust survivor that written from his words and witness statements. The story tends to focus on the trauma that Henry lived with after his imprisonment and the generation trauma his family lived with.

Although the story is a fascinating one, the writing is a little long-winded and detailed orientated for myself.

The Ghost Tattoo is a fascinating and gut wrenching memoir written about Henry Bierzynski Bernard's life with a focus on WWII. Author Tony Bernard, his son, accompanied his father on several trips back to Eastern Europe later and wrote about Henry's experiences at killing camps to gain a better understanding of his tormented hidden world..

Before the war Henry was a beloved doctor who became a police officer in a Polish ghetto in the early 1940s, something he had to do to save his life. His position afforded him comparative luxuries. But he was taken to Aushwitz and Blizyn where he existed through horror after horror with death as his constant shadow, including an attempt at his own life. I have read many, many books on the Holocaust but this is different in that Henry's story includes his perspectives on actions he regretted but felt he had no choice but to collaborate with Nazis. He also testified at trials to bring these killers to justice. But it is galling so many Nazis got away with murder. In order to get as far away from Poland as possible, Henry emigrated to Australia where he continued practicing medicine until health issues forced retirement.

If you are intrigued to learn more about the Holocaust, do add this one to your list. I am grateful Holocaust survivors such as Henry have told their stories. Everyone should be occasionally rattled into remembering these crimes to prevent a repeat.

My sincere thank you to Kensington Books and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this mesmerizing book.

This was a very moving story. You would think Henry Bernard had it made with a successful medical career, wife, children. But his past haunted him coming out in ways the people around him didn’t understand. It was a hard and heartbreaking book to read, but it was an important story to be told. The timeline jumped around which I found difficult to follow in the beginning.

Thank you to the author, Kensington Books, and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) copy of this book and I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

This book was just ok to me. The content, of course, was very moving and powerful. However, I found the writing hard to follow. The son is telling his Dad's story, but this perspective makes it confusing at times. I also felt like the author kept trying to bury this big secret, but in the end, it wasn't much of a secret at all. This book was not bad, I just think there are better written memoirs out there.

This book will sit with me for a long while. How can one rate a book about the Holocaust? I read many WWII books, both fiction and non-fiction. Some I love, some I don't.

This book reads as a conversation. The author compiled and wrote this book based on interviews, videos, visits to the actual places, research for confirmation of events, and conversations with his dad, Henry, whom this book is about.

I cringed, wept, and laughed while reading this book. The events that Henry went through and survived are incredible, both fantastic and horrible.

My dad was in the US Army during this time. Reading this, I could remember times when I asked him about his time in Europe and what he went through, saw, did, etc. which he never spoke of. I am so glad Henry eventually wanted to speak about it, and everything was documented.

What would you do to survive? We all live with ghosts of our past; some more so than others.

I found this very interesting, especially reading about how much Henry’s experience in the holocaust had impacted on his life. Hearing about the atrocities from a different viewpoint and eyewitness is always, in my opinion, very important. We can only speculate about what actually happened and cannot begin to imagine what life was like during this time and rely on these accounts.
However, I did feel that the beginning of the book jumped around a lot, going from one timeline to another, and at times found it confusing. The last section though had me totally focused. I have read many accounts about this time in history and every time I struggle to get my head round how it happened and how so few Nazis were actually held accountable.

Thank you to NetGalley to allow me to read an advanced copy of The Ghost Tattoo. I'm always very interested in books dealing with the Holocaust and this was a memoir told from father to son.

Henry lived in a small town in Poland and he talks harrowingly of his time spent in work camps and in the infamous death camp, Aushwitz. Miraculously Henry survives the Holocaust but at a cost. He is forever a changed man due to the work he had to carry out to stay alive.

I did not particularly care for this book. It was written in various time periods which made for a very confusing and tedious read. The part I felt was most compelling was Henry's testimony in Damshadt, Germany in 1970. The evidence he provided was instrumental in finding a Nazi guilty of war crimes. It was an outrage that of the testimony given by thousands, very few Nazis were found guilty.

It was also horrendous to read that to this day Poles still think of Jews in a prejudicial manner.

I thought The Ghost Tattoo to be a great read. I highly recommend it for readers who enjoy reading about the Holocaust. Five stars.

“The Ghost Tattoo,” by Tony Bernard (ISBN 9780806542584), Publication Date: 26 September 2023, receives one star, but it should be negative five stars. Putting sugar frosting on a Jewish Polish citizen who “didn’t look like a Jew or talk like one” and who decided to serve as a member of the Ghetto Police enforcing Nazi brutality and worse, and claiming after the war to be suffering PTSD, is an insult to all humans and humanity. He should’ve been tried for war crimes. Contrary to the author’s (i.e., his son’s) claims, his father didn’t choose to bear witness; he created carnage that had to be witnessed. He should’ve been in the dock with his Nazi police superiors.
Thanks to the publisher (Kensington Books, Citadel) for granting this reviewer this opportunity to read this EPUB Advance Reader Copy (ARC), and thanks to NetGalley for helping to make that possible.

'Fate is vile and brutal...its double-edged sword is terrible. I would never believe that freedom could be so tragic'.

Living on Sydney's northern beaches, running a successful medical practice, and raising a family, you would presume that Henry Bernard had finally escaped the torment of WWII. But, he wears a blue tattoo from Auschwitz, he bears a white scar from an attempt to end his own life on his terms, and his conscience is burdened with a ghost tattoo that only Henry can eternally see and feel. As Henry's son, Tony, grew up, he saw the physical evidence of Henry's time as a Polish Jew during WWII but he never knew his father's story. As time percolated, however, Henry ever so slowly drip-fed his tale. What made Henry's account unique amongst a myriad of holocaust memoirs, is the fact that Henry spent much of the war as a member of the Jewish Order Service (ghetto police) in his Polish hometown. At first, lulled into the belief that he may be able to help his people, it quickly became a daily moral dilemma, 'What a burden to carry: to feel you had inadvertently assisted the Nazis in their oppression and murder of your community'. Indeed, how do you balance your innate sense of survival with your sense of humanity? This is Henry Bernard's journey.

Every time I read a WWII holocaust biography or memoir, my ignorance and lack of any real comprehension are punctuated. I'm aware of literal facts. I've read about horrible atrocities, and I've been surprised and humbled by heroic endeavours and the indomitable human spirit, but I will never truly fathom the magnitude, the terror, and the abject cruelty that pervaded people's lives daily, for years during WWII.

This book is a definite read, as we always need to learn more, understand more, and remember more.

The beginning of this book felt a little like it dragged on but once you got past that part, it was very heartbreaking. The atrocities of WWII should never be forgotten and to understand that the trauma goes on should be remembered. It was just one generation that felt it, but multiple.

The Ghost Tattoo is a harrowing memoir of perseverance, resilience & the survival of Tony Bernard’s father forced into Nazi concentration camps between 1940 & 1943 & the atrocities he endured in order to survive.

At times I needed to put this memoir down to reflect on what I was reading & the emotions it brought out in me to immediately pick it up again to continue on. This memoir is unique in its own way & is highly recommended.

Side Note: From time to time I pick up a memoir of a Holocaust survivor. I’m not exactly sure why. It could be reading about the atrocities committed to innocent people is a reminder that there is such a thing as pure evil. Pure evil that should NOT exist in our world.

My sincere thank you to NetGalley, Kensington Publishing Corp. & Tony Bernard for an ARC in return for an honest review.

I found this to be very repetvitve. I was a little annoyed at the continuous use of his fathers name. I did not really enjoy that aspect. The writing was not very well done.

An absolutely brilliant recall of Henry, his life rebuilt in Sydney and the events of the holocaust.
I read this book in two sittings and could not get enough. The way the author told of his dads life, struggles and hardships; yet included the positive events made the read all that much better.
Being from Sydney myself, and also being a Historian; I soaked up all the information that was here. I could visualise Henry at many times during the book and by the end I felt like he was family.
Congratulations on a very well written booking and thank you for sharing your dads story. It is one I will remember always

This was a beautifully done memoir, I appreciated Tony Bernard sharing this story with us. It was written perfectly and had everything that I was hoping for. I appreciated getting to read this as it shows a real perspective. Tony Bernard does a great job in telling this story.

This was a great book. This one is sure to go down in history as the best of its genre. Keep watching this book. There will be lots of talk about it.