Cornelius Rost (27 March 1919, Kufstein, Austria – 18 October 1983,

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, Germany)a short biography with a small image of his gravestone
Retrieved 23 December 2011. was an Austrian drafted into the German army as a

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a Conscription, conscripted or volunteer Enlisted rank, enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, a warrant officer, or an Officer (armed forces), officer. Etymology The wo ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

who allegedly escaped from a Soviet

Gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

camp in Chukchi Peninsula,

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

. His supposed experiences were the basis for a book, a television series, and a film. Later research strongly indicates that Cornelius Rost's escape story is not true.Arthur Dittlmann: "As far as your feet can take you." A global success – poetry and truth. BR-online, archived from the original on 20 October 2010; accessed on 15 December 2016 (information about the broadcast on Bayern 2).

Life

Rost was born on 27 March 1919 in Kufstein, Tyrol, Austria. He was living in

when the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

broke out, and during the war, he was captured by the Soviet Army. By his own statement, made in 1942, he held the rank of private, although Clemens Forell, his alias in his novel, was depicted as a

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

officer. According to the Munich registration office, Rost returned from war imprisonment in Russia on 28 October 1947. In 1953, he started working in the in-house printing division of the Franz Ehrenwirth

publishing house Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

in Munich. After ruining numerous book covers, Rost said that he had been made color blind by being imprisoned in

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

lead mines. Seeking an explanation, Ehrenwirth learned of Rost's prisoner of war experiences. Sensing a good story, Ehrenwirth asked Rost to write down his recollections. Rost's script was of very poor quality, but Ehrenwirth was keen on the story and hired professional writer Josef Martin Bauer to get the material into shape.

Book

Allegedly fearing a possible backlash by the post-war Allied authorities, Rost agreed to an oral interview only after being granted the use of the alias Clemens Forell. Bauer then processed the eight hours of taped material into his famous 1955 ''So weit die Füße tragen'' (''As far as my feet will carry me''). In the 1960s, Rost used some of his recollections in his own paperback, ''Unternehmen Konterbande'' (''Mission Contraband''), but it was never printed or published. Bauer's novel, however, was translated into at least 15 languages and is still being re-published.
(Amazon.de – latest edition as of March, 2011.), accessed: 23 December 2011

Death

Rost died on 18 October 1983 and was interred at Munich's Central Cemetery.

True identity

Almost 20 years after Rost's death, Ehrenwirth's son Martin revealed Rost's true identity to radio journalist Arthur Dittlmann, who researched the life of Bauer for a radio feature-documentary for the author's 100th birthday anniversary.
(Sueddeutsche Zeitung – Online), accessed: 23 December 2011

Adaptations

In 1959, Rost's story was the subject of a As Far as My Feet Will Carry Me (TV series), six-part television adaption, starring the German character actor Heinz Weiss. When it was first aired, it quickly became Germany's first television blockbuster. In 2001, it was remade as the film '' As Far as My Feet Will Carry Me'', starring Bernhard Bettermann as Forell. Added to the story was a duel between Forell and a Soviet officer who was chasing him, ending in a showdown on a bridge on the Soviet-Iranian border. Many scenes feature characters speaking Russian and other foreign languages, without any subtitles; the intention was to convey to German and other non-Russian viewers the feeling of helplessness experienced by the protagonist with his limited knowledge of Russian.

Fraud Allegations

Currently Rost's escape story is widely dismissed. In addition to numerous factual errors (e.g., the supposed lead mine in the Chukchi Peninsula never existed), key points in his tale cannot be verified (e.g., his repatriation via Iran). After many years of research, in three broadcasts on Bayerischer Rundfunk on 2, 3 and 4 April 2010, the journalist Arthur Dittlmann concluded that Rost's descriptions cannot be true. As a result, within Germany today, Rost's tale is widely regarded as "eine Fälschung" (a fake).

References

External links

1979 series at IMDB
* 2001 Movie at IMDb {{Authority control German escapees 1919 births 1983 deaths German prisoners of war in World War II held by the Soviet Union Escapees from Soviet detention