Jacob the Liar

​One of the most remarkable novels of the Holocaust ever written, and the basis of the 1999 major motion picture starring Robin Williams.

A novel about the Holocaust "that has never been surpassed" (Times Literary Supplement), Jacob the Liar is a now classic work from one of the giants of German postwar literature and a tale of everyday heroism and the extraordinary power of illusion.

In the ghetto, possession of a radio is punishable by death. Like thousands of his fellow prisoners, Jacob Heym is cut off from all news of the war—until he is arrested one evening and brought to the German military office, where he overhears a report of the Red Army’s advance to a city some 300 miles away. Miraculously, he is allowed to return to his quarters, but when he tries to spread the good news, the only way to make people believe him is to tell a lie: “How do I know? I have a radio.” One lie leads to another, and before long Jacob finds himself feeding the entire ghetto fabricated news reports of the Russians’ advance—reports that save lives by giving people renewed hope. So Jacob is a hero and a liar. But how much longer can his web of lies hold?

Told with suspense and humor, here is a masterful tale of hope, desire, and the life-giving force of fiction. Awarded Germany's prestigious Heinrich Mann Prize for fiction and in a new translation by Leila Vennewitz, Jacob the Liar is a masterpiece of Kafkaesque comedy which unfolds with the impact of a timeless folk legend. This edition includes a new afterword by Louis Begley.

Jurek Becker was born in Lódz, Poland. The exact date of his birth is unknown, because, while the family was living in the Lódz ghetto, his father made him out to be older in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent him from being deported. From 1939 until 1945, Jurek Becker was a prisoner in the concentration camps of Ravensbrück and Sachsenhausen. After the war, Becker's father took him to East Berlin, where they were among the few surviving Jews who chose to stay in Germany. An acclaimed screenwriter and novelist, Becker won several literary prizes including the Heinrich-Mann and the Charles Veillon Prizes for Jacob the Liar. He is also the author of the novels Sleepless Days, Bronstein's Children, and The Boxer as well as the collection The Wall. He died in 1997.

Leila Vennewitz was the distinguished translator of Heinrich Böll and other postwar German writers, including Jurek Becker and Martin Walser. She won numerous awards for her translations. She died in 2007.

Louis Begley is the award-winning author of Wartime Lies, About Schmidt, and many other acclaimed novels and works of nonfiction.