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Actress in New Series ‘Tattooist of Auschwitz’ Was ‘Heartbroken’ to Discover She Doesn’t Have Jewish Roots
Melanie Lynskey at Elton John AIDS Foundation’s 32nd Annual Academy Awards Viewing Party in Los Angeles, California, on March 10, 2024. Photo: Faye’s Vision/Cover Images via Reuters Connect
Actress Melanie Lynskey thought her whole life that she was Jewish because of her Jewish-sounding last name and was disappointed to learn recently that she only has Irish roots, she admitted on Thursday.
“My name is Irish, as it turns out. I’m only Irish,” the New Zealand native, 46, said during her guest appearance on the British talk show This Morning. She then added that she was “so heartbroken” to discover she’s not Jewish. “I believed it my whole life,” she said.
Lynskey — whose credits include Yellowjackets, Ever After and Coyote Ugly — now stars in the six-part series The Tattooist Of Auschwitz, which will stream next month on Peacock. The miniseries, based on Heather Morris’ best-selling novel of the same name, is inspired by the real-life love story of Lali Sokolov and Gita Furman, who met while prisoners in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp during the Holocaust. Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew, was taken to Auschwitz in 1942 and was forced to become one ff the camp’s tattooists, who inked identification numbers on to the arms of prisoners. He met Furman, who was also Slovakian, while tattooing her arm.
The miniseries goes back and forth between Sokolov’s time in the Auschwitz concentration camp and him being an elderly widower in his 80s, recounting his life story and memories to Morris. The author met Sokolov in 2003 and the Holocaust survivor died in 2006.
Lynskey plays Morris, who is also from New Zealand, and Harvey Keitel plays an elderly Sokolov. Jonah Hauer-King and Polish actress Anna Prochniak star in the leading roles of the two lovers. The series is directed by Israeli filmmaker Tali Shalom-Ezer and its score is composed by Oscar winner Hans Zimmer and Kara Talve.
During her appearance on This Morning, Lynskey also talked about starring in the series and said she had not read The Tattooist Of Auschwitz before joining the project. “I had read the book after I had read the screenplays [and] the screenplays were wonderful,” she said. “The story is so compelling. It’s an almost unbelievable story and beautifully written.”
Morris, who was also a guest on the morning show, said that when writing The Tattooist Of Auschwitz, she felt a pressure to share Sokolov’s story with the world. “I owed to him and nobody else,” she explained, adding: “I’ve written Lali’s story. His memory. And when the facts doesn’t always meet up with what he was telling me, I went with his memory.”
The Tattooist Of Auschwitz begins streaming on Peacock on May 2. Watch the trailer below.
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Lebanon Must Disarm Hezbollah to Have a Shot at Better Days, Says US Envoy
Thomas Barrack at the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse in Brooklyn, New York, U.S., November 4, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
i24 News – Lebanon’s daunting social, economic and political issues would not get resolved unless the state persists in the efforts to disarm Hezbollah, the Iranian proxy behind so much of the unrest and destruction, special US envoy Tom Barrack told The National.
“You have Israel on one side, you have Iran on the other, and now you have Syria manifesting itself so quickly that if Lebanon doesn’t move, it’s going to be Bilad Al Sham again,” he said, using the historical Arabic name for the region sometimes known as “larger Syria.”
The official stressed the need to follow through on promises to disarm the Iranian proxy, which suffered severe blows from Israel in the past year, including the elimination of its entire leadership, and is considered a weakened though still dangerous jihadist outfit.
“There are issues that we have to arm wrestle with each other over to come to a final conclusion. Remember, we have an agreement, it was a great agreement. The problem is, nobody followed it,” he told The National.
Barrack spoke on the heels of a trip to Beirut, where he proposed a diplomatic plan for the region involving the full disarmament of Hezbollah by the Lebanese state.
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Report: Putin Urges Iran to Accept ‘Zero Enrichment’ Nuclear Deal With US
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of a cultural forum dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the birth of the Turkmen poet and philosopher Magtymguly Fragi, in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Oct. 11, 2024. Photo: Sputnik/Alexander Scherbak/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – Russian President Vladimir Putin has told Iranian leadership that he supports the idea of a nuclear deal in which Iran is unable to enrich uranium, the Axios website reported on Saturday. The Russian strongman also relayed the message to his American counterpart, President Donald Trump, the report said.
Iranian news agency Tasnim issued a denial, citing an “informed source” as saying Putin had not sent any message to Iran in this regard.
Also on Saturday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated that “Any negotiated solution must respect Iran’s right to enrichment. No agreement without recognizing our right to enrichment. If negotiations occur, the only topic will be the nuclear program. No other issues, especially defense or military matters, will be on the agenda.”
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Syria’s Al-Sharaa Attending At Least One Meeting With Israeli Officials in Azerbaijan
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, May 7, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/Pool
i24 News – Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa is attending at least one meeting with Israeli officials in Azerbaijan today, despite sources in Damascus claiming he wasn’t attending, a Syrian source close to President Al-Sharaa tells i24NEWS.
The Syrian source stated that this is a series of two or three meetings between the sides, with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani also in attendance, along with Ahmed Al-Dalati, the Syrian government’s liaison for security meetings with Israel.
The high-level Israeli delegation includes a special envoy of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, as well as security and military figures.
The purpose of the meetings is to discuss further details of the security agreement to be signed between Israel and Syria, the Iranian threat in Syria and Lebanon, Hezbollah’s weapons, the weapons of Palestinian militias, the Palestinians camps in Lebanon, and the future of Palestinian refugees from Gaza in the region.
The possibility of opening an Israeli coordination office in Damascus, without diplomatic status, might also be discussed.
The source stated that the decision to hold the meetings in Azerbaijan, made by Israel and the US, is intended to send a message to Iran.
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