Description :

Konrad Kujau

Konrad Kujau is a German forger and a fraudster infamous for his 'Hitler diaries'. Being a petty theft in his twenties Kujau strived for something more than his earnings and it was fulfilled when he discovered his talent at forging. Kujau began his career as a fraudster and as a forger by selling forged antiques of world wars to the antique collectors. He often forged the things as Hitler's, in order to raise it's value.

In the year 1975, he went to the next level of forging by completely creating a new antique by himself, the Hitler diaries. He created a whole lot of 63 volumes and sold them. He was caught when he sold them to Heidemann, a journalist of Stern magazine. Kujau gave the Hitler diaries he created at a price of 2.5 million DM to Heidemann who later gave them to Stern for 9 million DM which in turn published them widely, leading to expose the fraud. Kujau and Heidemann were convicted for selling forged goods and were sentenced to four and half years in prison.