The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom

by Slavomir Rawicz

A very interesting and sometimes moving account of a Polish soldier's escape from a Siberian gulag. The author claims to have been captured by the Russians in 1939 and falsely convicted for espionage. After suffering torture, imprisonment and relocation to Siberia he and a few fellow political prisoners escape from the camp with help from the commandant's wife.

It's a fascinating story if it's true. Unfortunately there is absolutely no evidence other than the author's word. Is it true? We will probably never know. It could be true but at times it seems rather hard to believe. Certainly there were many people who suffered similar fates and there are documented instances of people who escaped from Siberia on foot. I'd like to believe this account is true but I remain a little skeptical.