Konrad kujau biography of michael

The transfer of the relic took place according to the laws of a spy action movie. The officer's car pulled up alongside Heidemann's Mercedes at full speed, the windows rolled down, Heidemann threw a bag of money, and the notebooks flew back at him. For several years, the magazine bought diaries from Kuyau. In total, Stern spent 9. Almost half of this sum ended up in Heidemann's pockets.

Curiously, Heidemann used the money Heidemann undercharged Kujau to buy Nazi relics made by Kujau in addition to cars and jewelry. Kujau was terribly lucky, because historians undertook to check the diaries against the collection of Hitler's documents and speeches, from which Kujau had compiled the diaries. The editorial board was finally convinced of the authenticity of the documents by the conclusions of a prominent British historian and American specialists.

Konrad kujau biography of michael: The diaries were produced by Konrad

Kuiau's forgeries penetrated so deeply into the archives that some of the American conclusions were confirmed by forgeries previously purchased from Conrad. Smelling big money, Kuyau and Heidemann went wild. All this ended inwhen the magazine, having received dozens of volumes of diaries, decided to publish them. According to Kuyau's forgery, the Fuhrer did not even know about the death camps for some time.

The loud scandal caused by the publication of the diaries was followed by an even bigger scandal when a couple of weeks later it was officially proven that the diaries were a forgery from beginning to end. Heidemann and Kouyau were sentenced to 4. Media organizations competed to buy the rights to Hitler's diaries, which turned out to be one of the most outrageous fakes in the history of journalism.

Front cover of Stern 's special issue, announcing the discovery of Hitler's diaries. Heidemann poses with the diaries. Image from Stern magazine - Apr 22, Gerd Heidemann in East Germany, posing beside the graves of the victims of the plane crash from which the diary was supposedly recovered. November, Dedicated to the exploration of hoaxes, mischief, and misinformation throughout history.

More ». Toggle navigation. This ruling allowed Kujau to continue copying paintings by other artists, which he did for the remaining years of his life.

Konrad kujau biography of michael: Kujau, born and raised

After Kujau's death from throat cancer inhis grandniece Petra decided to open a museum in his memory in Pfullendorf. However, it was later discovered that Petra had been purchasing copies of famous paintings from Asia and passing them off as her grandfather's genius forgeries. As a result, the museum had to be closed. Despite inheriting Kujau's inclination for scams, Petra did not inherit his talent as a forger, as her schemes were quickly exposed.

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Konrad kujau biography of michael: Kujau was born in Löbau, near

Violetta Livshen. He used one of a pile of notebooks he had bought cheaply in East Berlin, and mistakenly put the letters FH instead of AH in gold on the front; these letters were purchased in a department store and made of plastic in Hong Kong. To add a further look of authentication, he took the black ribbon from a real SS document, and attached it to the cover using a German army wax seal.

For the ink he purchased two bottles of Pelikan ink, one black and one blue, and mixed the two together with water so it flowed more easily from the cheap modern pen he used.

Konrad kujau biography of michael: Kujau was well known on the

Kujau had spent a month practising to write in the old German gothic script in which Hitler used to write. Kujau showed it to Stiefel who was impressed by the work, and wanted to buy it, but when the forger refused to sell it, he asked to borrow it instead, which was agreed upon. In Kujau sold his first "Hitler Diary" to a collector. In he was contacted by the journalist Gerd Heidemann who had learned of the diary.

Kujau told Heidemann that the diaries were in the possession of his brother, who was a general in the East German Army. Heidemann made a deal with Kujau for "the rest" of the diaries. Heidemann in turn received DM 9 million from his employers at Stern. Heidemann was convicted of fraud and also received a four-and-half year prison sentence the following year.

On his release from prison after three years, Kujau became something of a minor celebrity, appearing on TV as a "forgery expert", and set up a business selling "genuine Kujau fakes" in the style of various major artists. Insomeone claiming to be his grandniece, Petra Kujau, was charged with selling "fake forgeries", cheap Asian-made copies of famous paintings with forged signatures of Konrad Kujau.

Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikidata item. German illustrator and forger — StuttgartGermany.