It is the early 1980s, and in a house in West Germany a man called Gerd Heidemann is flicking through a book with mounting excitement. Sentences leap from the page:  

‘The burning of the books was not a good idea of Goebbels’,   

‘I have violent flatulence, and – says Eva – bad breath’,   

‘The measures against the Jews are too strong for me’.  

The book he is reading is one of over sixty volumes of the revelatory personal diaries of Adolf Hitler himself. Through Heidemann they will be purchased for millions of dollars and published in the world’s leading newspapers and magazines. However, on publication day, with the world captivated by the opportunity to read the inner-most thoughts of the most notorious dictator in history, the scoop of the century falls apart. The diaries are total fakes and not even particularly good ones.  

In this episode we explore the story of Gerd Heidemann and how he and many others fell victim to a now notorious conman and forger. Starting with how Heidemann was captivated by a historic find he couldn’t ignore, to how simple forgeries made their way through authentication unscathed, to finally how the historic find of the century was shattered on the day of its publication.  

So how were some of the world’s foremost journalists conned, and who was behind a fraud that has gone down in media history? 

Cast List:  

Guy Walters: A British author, historian, and journalist, he has written several books on WWII. As a journalist for The Times, he writes on historical topics for the national press. 

Dr Linda Papadopoulos: The Reader in Psychology at London Metropolitan University, with a 17-year career working as a research scientist and practicing psychologist.  

Magnus Linklater: A journalist, writer, and former newspaper editor, he was the Executive Editor of Features at the Sunday Times during the Hitler Diaries scandal.  

Gerd Heidemann: A former journalist for Stern Magazine, he was the first to bring the diaries to the attention of the media.

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