The Hitler Diaries: Fakes that Fooled the World

Now for the first time, the complete expose of the most daring and successful forgery of all time. For seven days in April 1983, the sensational discovery of Hitler's sixty-two volumes of secret diaries dominated the news headlines of the world. Scholars hailed the diaries as the greatest find of the century, a historical bonanza that would entirely alter our views of Hitler and the Third Reich. Shocked readers followed daily installments showing that Hitler knew nothing about the Holocaust. Then, in an abrupt reversal, the diaries were proved to be bogus!

 

Editorial Reviews

 

From Library Journal

One of the postwar period's most flamboyant historical scandals was the forgery of the so-called "Hitler Diaries." The acceptance of these fakes as genuine by prominent journalists and historians, the publicity surrounding their publication in news magazines in West Germany and the United States, and the unraveling of the fraud perpetrated by their author, a sleazy dealer in pseudo-Nazi relics, rocked West Germany in the mid-1980s and resounded in journalistic and historical establishments elsewhere. Unfortunately, this book is for the most part awkwardly written, self-opinionated, and superficial. Hamilton, a handwriting expert, barely touches on such fascinating subjects as the market in Nazi relics and its seamy underside and his own involvement as a critic of the manuscripts' authenticity. Instead, he makes sweeping and mostly undocumented generalizations about the personalities involved. This book may appeal to World War II buffs, but for most libraries Robert Harris's Selling Hitler ( LJ 5/15/86), a more detailed and interesting account, is a better buy.
- Barbara Walden, Univ. of Minnesota Libs., Minneapolis
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"One of the postwar period's most flamboyant historical scandals was the forgery of the so-called "Hitler Diaries." The acceptance of these fakes as genuine by prominent journalists and historians, the publicity surrounding their publication in news magazines in West Germany and the United States, and the unraveling of the fraud perpetrated by their author, a sleazy dealer in pseudo-Nazi relics, rocked West Germany in the mid-1980s and resounded in journalistic and historical establishments elsewhere." -- Library Journal



"A lively chronicle of the 1983 sensation in which historians and the media, and their credulous public, were tricked by a petty German thief into temporarily rewriting the history of the Third Reich. Handwriting expert Hamilton details his role in exposing the hoax, and recounts the circus-like trial." -- Book News