Gerd Heidemann
Gerd Heidemann | |
|---|---|
| Born | 4 December 1931 |
| Nationality | German |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Known for | Role in the publication of purported Hitler Diaries that were subsequently proved to be forgeries |
Gerd Heidemann (born 4 December 1931) is a German journalist best known for his role in the publication of purported Hitler Diaries that were subsequently proved to be forgeries.
Born in Hamburg, Heidemann showed an early interest in photography, and began his career as a freelance photo journalist. He joined the permanent staff of the weekly magazine Stern in 1955.[1] He proved to be a tenacious researcher and a determined traveller to exotic and dangerous locales, but a writer of limited ability.[2] His early work included extensive research into the identity of author B. Traven.[3]
In the 1970s, Heidemann bought the yacht Carin II, which had belonged to Hermann Göring, met his daughter Edda Göring and had an affair with her which lasted for five years. They entertained on the yacht and their guests included two Second World War generals, Karl Wolff and Wilhelm Mohnke.[4]
Heidemann came forward with his story of lost diaries written by Adolf Hitler in 1983. He sold the rights to Stern for DM 10,000,000 (then approximately US$6 million), along with his tale about how they had been hidden in a barn in East Germany for many years. Several experts, including the British historian Hugh Trevor-Roper, came forward to pronounce the diaries to be authentic. The "diaries" were exposed as fabrications and Heidemann was arrested, tried and sentenced in 1985 to four and a half years in prison for fraud. Konrad Kujau, who had forged the diary, as he had done previously with other fraudulent Hitler documents, was also imprisoned.[5] Heidemann had also stolen some of the money from Kujau; he was renting expensive residences, buying new cars and jewellery and buying more Nazi memorabilia, of which a great amount were more of Kujau's forgeries.[2]
In 2002, Der Spiegel alleged that Heidemann had worked as a double-agent for the Stasi, and that the publication of the Hitler diaries had been part of a Soviet and East German plan to embarrass and discredit the Capitalist West.[6] In the BBC Radio 4 programme The Reunion broadcast on 7 September 2008, Heidemann vehemently denied that he had ever been a spy for the Stasi.[7]
By 2008, Heidemann was living in poverty.
I am healthy. ...I am a pensioner and get €350 [£280] a month from the social security office. They also pay the rent, my health insurance and my old-age care insurance.[8]
References[edit]
- ^ Jefferson Adams. Historical Dictionary of German Intelligence (2009), p. 193
- ^ a b Harris, Robert (1991) [1986]. Selling Hitler: The Story of the Hitler Diaries. London: Faber. pp. 159–61. ISBN 9780571147267.
- ^ Roy Pateman. The Man Nobody Knows: The Life and Legacy of B. Traven (2005), p. 12
- ^ Wyden, Peter (2001). The Hitler Virus: The Insidious Legacy of Adolf Hitler. p. 173. ISBN 9781559705325.
- ^ "BBC ON THIS DAY | 25 | 1983: 'Hitler diaries' published". BBC News. 25 April 1983. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
- ^ "Was Hitler diary a plot?". The Week. 8 January 2015. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
- ^ The Reunion, BBC Radio, 7 September 2008
- ^ Hall, Allan (24 April 2008). "Living in poverty, the man who 'found' Hitler's diaries". The Independent. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
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