One of The Most Extraordinary Frauds in History – Adolf Hitler’s Diaries

Heidermann urged against bringing experts in to examine the material. Absolute secrecy was essential: if the existence of the diaries became known, the East German general would stop sending them across the border. Stern’s management agreed that it was a small price to pay.

Genuine belief

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What the executives at Stern overlooked, however, was the nature of Heidermann’s obsession with the Nazis. He had already spent a large amount of the magazine’s money in fruitless search for Martin Bormann. Hitle’s aide, who had vanished at the end of the war. Heidermann’s own collection of Nazi relics was full of fakes, although he believed every item to be genuine. And his determination to restore the yacht that had belonged to the Luftwaffe commander, Hermann Goering, had plunged Heidermann into debt.

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Nevertheless, Stern accepted all of the conditions that Heidermann laid down. Heidermann was the only person to have contact with Fischer. A special bank account was set up from which he could draw the large sums of cash would need to pay Fisher on Stern’s behalf.

First Sight

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Early in February 1983 Heidermann presented the Stern executives with the first of the diaries: three notebooks, each about half an inch thick, bound in black imitation leather, embossed with the initials “A.H.,” and when a red wax seal on the covers. A label signed by Hitler’s deputy, Rudolf Hess, testified that they were Hitler’s property. The pages of the notebooks were filled with an old-fashioned German script. No one present had any doubts about their authenticity.

http://u.nu/4gz43

or: http://u.nu/3gz43

Heidermann met no resistance when, after delivering only 12 of the diaries, he said that the price had risen to 100,000 marks ($40,000) per volume. Six volumes later the price rose again, to 200,000 marks each. Heidermann also persuaded Stern to pay him a fee of 1.5 million marks ($615,000) for his part in finding the diaries. And, he announced, many more than the 27 volumes first mentioned have been saved from crash.

http://u.nu/8hz43

or: http://u.nu/6hz43

Fischer was to receive considerably smaller sums than these for his part in bringing the diaries into West Germany. Heidermann kept a large portion of Stern’s money for himself. But then, Fisher’s own efforts were slightly less dangerous than he had led Heidermann to believe.

http://u.nu/4iz43

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Fisher’s real name was Konrad Kujau, and his brother the general was in reality a railway porter. Kujau had become expert at forging Nazi relics. His specialty was producing paintings by Hitler, which he sold at astronomical prices to gullible but wealthy collectors. He turned out hundreds over the years, each with a certificate confirming its authenticity. Then he decided ti try forging a diary. It was to prove the simplest, and the most lucrative, work he had ever done.

Story of Forgery

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Kujau amassed a library of more than 500 books and periodicals to provide details of Hitler’s day-to-day existence. Once his research was completed, it took him less tan five hours to write a volume in Hitler’s handwriting. The notebooks he used were old schoolbooks he had found in East Germany. To age them he bent and beat tem, and splashed them with tea.

http://u.nu/4kz43

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The content of the diaries is in general so banal that no one familiar with Hitler’s real thoughts could possibly have been taken in. Page after page is devoted to some detailed accounts of official engagement and Nazi Party announcements. One five-page entry, for example, consists of nothing more than a list of promotions in the German Army. But Heidermann was convinced that the diaries were genuine. 

Incontrovertible Evidence

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Under mounting international pressure, Stern finally had the diaries rigorously tested. The forensic evidence was indisputable: Stern’s great scoop was nothing but forgery. But the management of Stern had no one but itself to blame. Eager for a massive journalistic coup, executives had ignored the fact that Heidermann had in the past shown himself to be exceptionally gullible, and they had initially allowed only the most cursory examination of the diaries. Because of fears that story would leak out, only a few key executives knew of the transaction, despite its enormous cost.

http://u.nu/8rz43

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The magazine had paid out 9.4 million marks (almost $4 million) through Heidermann, of which 5 million are still missing today. Other liabilities brought the total cost of the fiasco to 19 million marks. After their conviction, Heidermann and Kujau went to jail for fraud.

http://u.nu/4sz43

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The trade in Nazi mementos, real or otherwise, continues to thrive. The grim figure of Adolf Hitler still fascinates the world long after his death.