Cornelius Rost Cornelius Rost ( born 27 March 1919 in Kufstein , Austria ; died 18 October 1983 in Munich , Germany ) was a German World War II soldier who claimed to have escaped from a Soviet Gulag camp in Siberia . The experiences he described were the basis for a book , a television series and a film . Life . Rost was born on 27 March 1919 in Kufstein , Tyrol , Austria . He was living in Munich when World War II broke out , and during the war he was captured by the Russian Army . By his own admission made in 1942 , he held the rank of private , although Clemens Forell , his alias in his novel , was depicted as a Wehrmacht 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 in Munich . He ruined numerous book covers because he had been made color blind in Russia ' s lead mines , where he was forced to work during his imprisonment . Ehrenwirth sought an explanation for this and thus learned about Rost ' s 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 . 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 novel " So weit die Füße tragen " ( " As far as feet can carry " ) . 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 . 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 . Doubts of the authenticity of Rost ' s claims . Comprehensive researches , condensed in 2010 into a three - hour radio feature by radio journalist Arthur Dittlmann for the Bayerischer Rundfunk ( Bavarian Broadcasting Company ) , left serious doubts about the authenticity of the events told in Rost ' s original story . For example , no prisoner of war camp existed at Cape Dezhnev in the Far East of Siberia at the time claimed in the book ; Rost was not a Wehrmacht officer as depicted in the story ; the German Red Cross , with headquarters in Munich , never received any inquiry about his whereabouts , which is unusual for a ten - year imprisonment ; and Rost had been released from a Russian prisoner of war camp on 28 October 1947 , about two years before his alleged escape in 1949 - 1952 , which he therefore could not have accomplished . It is suspected that his story consists only partly of real experiences , and partly of hearsay and knowledge possibly acquired by reading . Among other errors , the main street in Moscow , along which he and his captured comrades were driven at the beginning of the novel , was named by Rost as Nevsky Prospekt , which is actually located in Saint Petersburg . Bauer , as the author of the book , is now blamed for not having critically cross - checked the most unreliable details in Rost ' s story . Adaptations . In 1959 Rost ' s story was the subject of a 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 to convey to German and other non - Russian viewers the feeling of helplessness experienced by the protagonist with his limited knowledge of Russian .