Hamburg
The man who helped sell the fake Hitler diaries that caused a scandal in the mid-1980s was an East German spy, the weekly Der Spiegel reported this week. Gerd Heidemann, the reporter who bought the fakes for the weekly Stern for $5 million, was working for the Stasi secret police in 1983, when the sale occurred. The revelation has prompted some German commentators to speculate that the East Germans manufactured the hoax to embarrass West Germany. The scam was a huge humiliation for Stern, as well as for the Hitler historians who believed the writings to be authentic. Konrad Kujau, the forger, cobbled the diaries together from Hitler’s published speeches, embellishing them with such made-up entries as “Must get Olympics tickets for Eva.”
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Is New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s plan for free buses realistic?Talking Points A transit innovation or a costly mistake
-
5 side hustle ideas to supplement your budgetthe explainer Almost two-thirds of Americans are looking to get a second job in the next year
-
DOJ indicts John Bolton over classified filesSpeed Read Continuing the trend of going after his political enemies, Trump prosecutes his former national security adviser
