Der Held

By Karl Rühmann

A powerful and morally exacting novel about a war hero, a hidden crime, and the cost of keeping a nation’s story intact.

After a brutal civil war, two former officers — once allies, then enemies — face trial for war crimes in The Hague.

When the general of the victorious army is acquitted and returns home while the defeated colonel remains imprisoned, their fragile connection survives only through letters shaped by memory, guilt and denial.

In the general’s village, a widow begins working in his house and gradually uncovers a truth the tribunal failed to prove: the general ordered a massacre that destroyed her life.

The Hero is a restrained and morally precise novel about complicity, loyalty and the fragile myths societies construct to survive.

Key Facts:

• Publisher: Rüffer und Rub, Zurich (2020)

• Language: German (materials available in EN/FR)

• Genre: Literary Fiction

• Themes: civil war and its aftermath; responsibility and complicity; justice and its

  limits; the fragility of memory

• Published translations: Croatian

• Other translation rights: Available

• Der Held was shortlisted for the Swiss Book Prize 2020