The Fake Hitler Diaries
Did a clever imposter rewrite Hitler's story?
4.4 (25)
48 mins
Explore how a talented forger managed to fool a major German magazine with sixty fake Hitler notebooks. Discover the chemical analysis and forensic tests that quickly exposed the modern materials used in the deception. Learn about the severe journalistic fallout and legal consequences that ruined reputations across the publishing industry.
Ep 1:
A Plane Crash and a Forger's Dream
A real WWII plane crash and a struggling East German forger collide, seeding history's most audacious hoax: sixty-two fake Hitler diaries born from greed and obsession.
Ep 2:
Two Con Men and a Magazine's Gamble
A Nazi-obsessed journalist meets his forger, and together they con each other and a magazine into paying millions for diaries authenticated against their own fakes.
Ep 3:
The Scoop That Became a Scandal
Stern unveils its world-exclusive Hitler diaries to global fanfare, only to watch the celebration implode as the forgeries unravel in days before stunned journalists.
Ep 4:
Turtles All the Way Down
As trials, prison, and bizarre second acts play out, the hoax's deepest questions emerge: why so many wanted desperately to believe a kinder Hitler existed.
Discussions (5)
Donald
Level 4 · 2 hours agoChecked the FH vs AH detail. Kujau used Gothic script where A and F look similar. Every single volume had wrong initials and nobody caught it during authentication. That part is completely accurate.
Alexander
Level 10 · 2 hours agoThey spent $13M and nobody checked the initials. Iconic.
Owen
Level 2 · 2 hours agoFH not AH on all 62 covers
