In April 1983, a large German magazine Stern released a press release with shocking news: the publication has several dozen volumes from Previously unknownmi Fuhrer's diary records. Is it really almost 40 years after the war that no one could find such valuable documents?

62 Notepad of Adolf Hitler gradually entered the STERN editorial office for two years. An employee who was engaged in negotiations with the owner of the diaries claimed: they were discovered in the place where the aircraft with part of the personal archive of the Fuhrer crashed in 1945, and now they are ready to transmit a resident of the GDR. The publication of such valuable materials was supposed to become a sensation, and foreign publications were invited to join the process: English The Sunday Times and the American Newsweek.

The fact that in Stuttgart there are some previously unknown diaries of Hitler, became known in the late 1970s. Rumors, wandering among West German collectors, reached Gerd Haydemann - a full -time photographer SERNFascinated by the Nazi heritage. Upon learning of the diaries, Haydemann began to insist: they should be published as soon as possible. To do this, the photographer found the contacts of the owner of the diaries, which was a presented Peter Fisher.

The first telephone conversation between them took place in early 1981. Fisher assured Heidemann that he owns 27 Fuhrer diaries and other numerous relics of the time of the Third Reich. He also demanded not to involve experts and historians, but when discussing the publication with the journal to observe secrecy. Haidemann agreed to pay for originals with the leadership Gruner + Jahr - publishers who issued SERN. Each volume of diaries was estimated at several tens of thousands of marks, part of this amount Haidemann took himself. By 1983, it turned out that Fisher has 62 volumes of diaries and their cost gradually increased.

To give publication of weight, at least some examination was needed. Haidemann, representing SERN, agreed to check with representatives of the Federal Archive of Germany. They were offered to compare the page from diaries with Hitler's handwriting samples - experts came to the conclusion that the diary is genuine. The British historian Hugh alarmist was also attracted to the audit, who was initially skeptical. Representatives SERN They convinced him that the chemical examination confirmed: the diaries were written during the Third Reich. Moreover, it was impossible to get acquainted with thousands of pages-it was impossible to believe that someone made fakes in such a volume.

The cover of the magazine *SERN* of April 22, 1983

April 22, 1983 SERN He released a press release about the upcoming publication, and three days later a press conference dedicated to the diaries was to be held. In this interval, numerous doubts about their authenticity, which were expressed by journalists, scientists, and Chancellor Germute Helmut Kol, began to sound in this interval. He doubted his original verdict and Trevor-Roper. The magazine was threatened with a lawsuit for the spread of Nazi propaganda, and one of the lawyers of the publication transferred not a page to the archive, but three full -fledged volumes.

Specialists of the federal archive concluded that the diaries were written on modern paper, and in the bindings a polyester was used, which became available to the mass consumer only in 1953. Grafologists drew attention to the fact that Hitler’s signature does not correspond to well -known originals. To make the final verdict, another 15 volumes were distributed between the federal archive and specialists in the Swiss St. Gallen. On May 6, 1983, experts confirmed that the diaries were written over the past two years, the handwriting only reminds Hitler’s letter, and the diaries themselves are compiled from performances, comments and the already famous texts of the Fuhrer.

A few days later, Konrad Kuyau surrendered to the police on the border of Germany and Austria - it was he, under the fictional name, Peter Fisher discussed the publication of diaries with the photographer SERN. During the search, Kuyau found empty notebooks similar to those in which Hitler's “records” were. On May 26, 1983, the falsifier gave a confession, they were judged with Heideman for theft SERN 9.3 million marks (about $ 3.7 million) as fees for the sale of false diaries. In 1985, both were sentenced to four years and eight months in prison. Two years later, Kuyau was ahead of schedule due to health problems. Before his death in 2000, he owned a gallery in Stuttgart, where he put and sold fakes of great painters. The canvases were proudly signed by the name of Kuyau.

Konrad Kuyau in court in 1984
© The New York Times

How is this possible? It turned out that Kuyau, a native of East Germany, was a professional falsifier. He faked literally everything: from his own documents to dinner coupons. Once Kuyau noticed that in Germany artifacts of war of war are very popular, and began to create and sell fakes. Among them were the paintings allegedly written by Hitler and even as if lost the third volume Mein Kampf. Photographer Haydemann, in turn, was fond of Nazi heritage, was constantly in debt and wanted a luxurious life. Considering that the process of transmitting diaries went through it, Haidemann could falsify the results of the examinations: for example, when preliminary verification in the archive, specialists compared the page from the "Diary" not with the real sample of Hitler's handwriting, but with the fake of the authorship of Kuyau.

The scandal with Faken diaries of Hitler is considered one of the largest in the history of European journalism. Two editors SERN They were fired, and the magazine for a long time lost the reputation of one of the flagships of high -quality journalism. The participating in the preparation of the publication Brian MacArthur explained: “The publication of Hitler's diaries was so tempting that we all wanted to believe that they were genuine. Moreover, we had to continue to believe in their authenticity until the opposite was proved. <...> We were going to release the most amazing sensation in our career. ” In 2013, most diaries were transferred to the Federal Archive of Germany, where they Stored And today in the fund dedicated to the history of the media.