A Long Walk

Paul Berck, the protagonist in A Long Walk, personifies the enemy we fought in World War II. Growing up in post-World War I Germany, he was forced into allegiance to Nazi propaganda, marched in Hitler’s “young folk,” and shot Allied airplanes out of the sky. How could he possibly be anything other than cruel, ruthless, and morally corrupt?

And yet, as author Claus Hackenberger revisits these events from Paul’s perspective, he casts a shadow over certainty. As we learn about Paul’s barren home life, his doubts about his country, his coercion into complicity, his friendship with a Russian prisoner, and his own years of suffering in prison camps, we come to know Paul for the person he truly is — a complex and compassionate human being, and someone we would be proud to call our friend.

With its inventive and evocative language, its frank portrayal of events and emotions, and the startling fact that everything within these pages actually happened to the author, A Long Walk delivers a powerful story that will not soon be forgotten.