In 1983, the German news Magazine ''Stern'' published extracts from what purported to be the diaries of Adolf_Hitler, known as the '''Hitler Diaries'''. The magazine had paid 10 million German marks ($6 million at that time) for the sixty small books as well as two "special issues" about Rudolf_Hess' flight to the United_Kingdom, covering the period from 1932 to 1945.
Journalist Gerd_Heidemann claimed to have discovered them, and submitted them to be reviewed by a number of experts in WWII history, notably the historians Hugh_Trevor-Roper and Gerhard_Weinberg. At a press conference on April_25, 1983, the diaries were declared by these experts to be authentic. Even though they had not yet been properly examined by scientists, Trevor-Roper endorsed the diaries thus:
:''"I am now satisfied that the documents are authentic; that the history of their wanderings since 1945 is true; and that the standard accounts of Hitler's writing habits, of his personality and, even, perhaps, of some public events, may in consequence have to be revised"''
Trevor-Roper was at that time a director of Times Newspapers, and although he denied acting dishonestly, there was a clear conflict of interests, because ''The_Sunday_Times'' had already paid a substantial sum for the rights to serialise the diaries in the UK.
Heidemann claimed to have received the diaries from East_Germany, smuggled out by a Dr. Fischer. The diaries were claimed to be part of a consignment of documents recovered from an aircraft crash in Börnersdorf near Dresden in April 1945. However within two weeks the Hitler Diaries were revealed as being "grotesquely plump fakes" made on modern paper using modern ink and full of historical inaccuracies, the most obvious of which might have been the fact that the monogram on the title page read 'FH' instead of 'AH' (for Adolf Hitler) - even though in the old German font those letters looked strikingly similar. The content had been largely copied from a book of Hitler's speeches with additional 'personal' comments. As a reaction, ''Stern'' editors Peter Koch and Felix Schmidt declared the end of their work with the magazine and Heidemann was arrested for Fraud.
The diaries were actually written by Konrad_Kujau, a notorious Stuttgart forger of Hitler's works. Both he and Heidemann went to trial in 1985 and were each sentenced to 42 months in prison.
In 1991 a television mini-series based on the Robert_Harris book of the affair called ''Selling_Hitler'' was produced for the British ITV network. A 1992 Film by German director Helmut_Dietl called ''Schtonk!'' with fictional characters mirrored many of the events.
Mocking the whole event, one anonymous German humourist sent a letter to Stern reading:
"I hereby confirm that my diaries are real.
Signed: A. Hitler"
==External links==
* ''Selling Hitler'' by Robert Harris, ISBN 0-394-5533-5
* {{imdb title|id=0124256|title=Selling Hitler}}
* {{imdb title|id=0105328|title=Schtonk!}}
Category:Political_forgery
Category:Hoaxes
Category:Adolf_Hitler
De:Hitler-Tagebücher
He:יומני_היטלר
Nl:Dagboek_van_Hitler
Pl:Dzienniki_Hitlera