Jurek Becker was one of the giants of postwar German literature. The novel for which he is best-known, Jacob the Liar, won wide acclaim, was awarded the Heinrich-Mann and Charles Veillon Prizes, and was made into two movies. The Wall is a new, brief collection of stories by Becker that have either never been translated into English or been published here in book form before. The title story, "The Wall," recounts two boys' risky adventure when they...