- Gerd Heidemann
Gerd Heidemann is a German journalist best known for his role in the publication of purported
Hitler Diaries that were subsequently proven to be forgeries.Heidemann came forward with his story of lost diaries written by the former Nazi
dictator Adolf Hitler in1983 . He sold the rights to them to the West Germanmagazine "Stern" for DEM 10,000,000 (then approximately USD $6 million) along with his tale about how they had been hidden in a barn inEast Germany for many years. Several experts, including British Hitler expertHugh Trevor-Roper came forward to pronounce the diaries to be authentic; when this was disproven Heidemann was arrested, tried, and sentenced to forty-two months imprisonment forfraud , as wasKonrad Kujau , who had actually done the forging of the books in Hitler's handwriting, as he had done previously with other fraudlent Hitler documents.In a twist in the tale, it was revealed in 2002 [BBC News, [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2159037.stm Hitler diaries agent was 'communist spy'] , 29 July, 2002] that he had worked for the
Stasi , although claiming to be adouble agent . In the BBC radio 4 programme [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/thereunion/ The Reunion] broadcast on Sunday 7th September 2008, Heidemann vehemently denied that he had ever been a spy for the Stasi.References
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