The Hitler Diaries (Hitler-Tagebücher)

APR 25 1983

On 22 April 1983 the German magazine Stern announced it had acquired Hitler's personal diaries covering 1932-1945, presenting the scoop at a press conference on 25 April. The 60 volumes had been forged between 1981 and 1983 by Konrad Kujau, a Stuttgart dealer in Nazi memorabilia, and brokered by Stern journalist Gerd Heidemann, who embezzled roughly half the payments. On 6 May 1983 the Bundesarchiv declared them crude forgeries, the paper and ink being postwar. Both men were convicted in July 1985.