CONTENTS About the Book About the Author Also by Robert Harris Title Page Acknowledgements List of illustrations Dramatis Personae Prologue Part One Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Part Two Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Part Three Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen 1 Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-One Chapter Twenty-Two Chapter Twenty-Three Chapter Twenty-Four Part Four Chapter Twenty-Five Chapter Twenty-Six Chapter Twenty-Seven Chapter Twenty-Eight Chapter Twenty-Nine Chapter Thirty Epilogue Picture Section Index Copyright 2 About the Book APRIL 1945: From the ruins of Berlin, a Luftwaffe transport plane takes off carrying secret papers belonging to Adolf Hitler. Half an hour later, it crashes in flames . APRIL 1983: In a bank vault in Switzerland, a German magazine offers to sell more than 50 volumes of Hitler’s secret diaries. The asking price is $4 million . Written with the pace and verve of a thriller and hailed on publication as a classic, Selling Hitler tells the story of the biggest fraud in publishing history. 3 About the Author Robert Harris is the author of Fatherland, Enigma, Archangel, Pompeii, Imperium and The Ghost, all of which were international bestsellers. His latest novel, Lustrum, has just been published. His work has been translated into thirty-seven languages. After graduating with a degree in English from Cambridge University, he worked as a reporter for the BBC’s Panorama and Newsnight programmes, before becoming political editor of the Observer and subsequently a columnist on the Sunday Times and the Daily Telegraph. The film of The Ghost – for which he co- wrote the screenplay – directed by Roman Polanski and starring Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan, is due to be released at the beginning of 2010. He is married to Gill Hornby and they live with their four children in a village near Hungerford. 4 Also by Robert Harris FICTION Fatherland Enigma Archangel Pompeii Imperium The Ghost Lustrum NON-FICTION A Higher Form of Killing (with Jeremy Paxman) Gotcha! The Making of Neil Kinnock Good and Faithful Servant 5 Selling Hitler Robert Harris 6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This account is based upon interviews with the main participants in the Hitler diaries affair; upon the many hundreds of pages of prosecution evidence generated by the subsequent trial; and upon the so-called Stern Report – the findings of the internal commission set up by Stern to examine how the fiasco occurred. Almost all of this information came to me on the understanding that its various sources would not be identified publicly. It would be invidious to try to single out the few who did speak freely; I hope I shall be forgiven if I thank them here collectively rather than individually. My editor at the BBC, David Dickinson, was once again extremely understanding. My colleague Jane Ellison collaborated on the research, from the first interview to the last document: without her help, this book could not have been written. ROBERT HARRIS September 1985 Note Most of the financial transactions concerning the Hitler diaries were conducted in Deutschmarks. In April 1983, when the diaries were published, the rates of exchange were: £1 = 3.76 marks $1 = 2.44 marks 7 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1. A Junkers 352 transport aircraft 2. Gerd Heidemann 3. Konrad Kujau, forger of Hitler’s diaries 4. A page from one of the forged diaries 5, 6, 7. Three sketches of early Nazi posters, forged by Kujau 8. Fritz Stiefel 9. August Priesack 10. SS General Karl Wolff 11. Gerd Heidemann with Billy F. Price, Christa Schroeder and Gerda Christian at the launching of a book of Hitler’s paintings 12. Gina Heidemann, wife of Gerd Heidemann 13. Edith Lieblang, common-law wife of Konrad Kujau 14. Manfred Fischer, managing director of Gruner and Jahr 15. Gerd Schulte-Hillen, successor to Manfred Fischer at Gruner and Jahr 16. Henri Nannen, founder and publisher of Stern 17. Dr Thomas Walde, head of Stern’s history department 18. Peter Koch, chief editor of Stern 19. Eberhard Jaeckel, Professor of History at the University of Stuttgart 20. Hugh Trevor-Roper (Lord Dacre) 21. Gerhard Weinberg, Professor of History at the University of North Carolina 22. David Irving at Stern press conference to launch the Hitler diaries. 23. Gerd Heidemann stands trial, accused of fraud 8 DRAMATIS PERSONAE Wilhelm Arndt: Adolf Hitler’s personal servant, entrusted with escorting the Führer’s ‘testament to posterity’ out of Berlin in April 1945 The Marquess of Bath: Owner of the world’s largest collection of Hitler’s paintings Hans Baur: Hitler’s personal pilot Randolph Braumann: ‘Congo Randy’, a close friend of Gerd Heidemann William Broyles: Editor-in-chief of Newsweek Gerda Christian: One of Hitler’s secretaries Barbara Dickmann: Television journalist hired by Stern to help launch the Hitler diaries Charles Douglas-Home: Editor of The Times Manfred Fischer: Managing director of Gruner and Jahr, owners of Stern Dr Max Frei-Sulzer: Swiss ‘handwriting expert’ Francois Genoud: Swiss lawyer representing the families of Hitler, Goebbels and Bormann Frank Giles: Editor of the Sunday Times Rolf Gillhausen: Stern editor Otto Guensche: SS adjutant who burned Hitler’s body 9 Major Friedrich Gundlfinger: Luftwaffe pilot who flew Wilhelm Arndt out of Berlin in April 1945 Gerd Heidemann: Stern journalist responsible for obtaining the Hitler diaries Gina Heidemann: Wife of Gerd Heidemann Dr Josef Henke: Senior official of the West German Federal Archives Dr Jan Hensmann: Deputy managing director of Gruner and Jahr Peter Hess: Publishing director of Gruner and Jahr Wolf Hess: Son of Rudolf Hess Ordway Hilton: American ‘handwriting expert’ David Irving: British historian Eberhard Jaeckel: Professor of History, University of Stuttgart Medard Klapper: Arms dealer and confidence trickster who alleged he was in touch with Martin Bormann Peter Koch: Stern editor Peter Kuehsel: Financial director of Gruner and Jahr Konrad Kujau: Forger of the Hitler diaries Edith Lieblang: Konrad Kujau’s common law wife Heinz Linge: Hitler’s valet Brian MacArthur: Deputy editor, the Sunday Times Werner Maser: West German historian Rochus Misch: Führerbunker switchboard operator 10 Maria Modritsch: Konrad Kujau’s girlfriend Reinhard Mohn: Chief executive, Bertelsmann AG SS General Wilhelm Mohnke: Commander of the Führerbunker Rupert Murdoch: Chairman, News International; owner, The Times, Sunday Times and New York Post Henri Nannen: Founder and publisher of Stern Lynn Nesbit: Senior Vice-President, International Creative Management James O’Donnell: Author, The Berlin Bunker Dr Klaus Oldenhage: Official of the West German Federal Archives Maynard Parker: Editor of Newsweek Leo Pesch: Journalist employed in Stern’s history department Billy F. Price: Collector of Hitler paintings from Houston, Texas; author, Adolf Hitler: The Unknown Artist August Priesack: Self-styled ‘professor’ and expert on Hitler’s art, consulted by Fritz Stiefel and Billy Price Kenneth Rendell: American ‘handwriting expert’ Arnold Rentz: West German forensic chemist Felix Schmidt: Stern editor Christa Schroeder: One of Hitler’s secretaries Gerd Schulte-Hillen: Manfred Fischer’s successor as managing director of Gruner and Jahr Richard Schulze-Kossens: One of Hitler’s SS adjutants 11 Wilfried Sorge: Member of the management of Gruner and Jahr, responsible for selling the Hitler diaries to foreign news organizations Franz Spoegler: Former SS officer, who offered Heidemann forged correspondence between Churchill and Mussolini Fritz Stiefel: Stuttgart businessman, collector of Nazi memorabilia Jakob Tiefenthaeler: Collector of Nazi memorabilia who acted as agent for Gerd Heidemann when he tried to sell Goering’s yacht Hugh Trevor-Roper (Lord Dacre of Glanton): Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge; Independent National Director, Times Newspapers Thomas Walde: Head of Stern’s history department Gerhard Weinberg: Professor of Modern History, University of North Carolina Peter Wickman: Stern correspondent based in London Louis Wolfe: President, Bantam Books SS General Karl Wolff: Heinrich Himmler’s Chief of Staff; Military Governor of northern Italy, 1943–45 12 Prologue ON APRIL FOOL’S Day 1983 the distinguished British historian Hugh Redwald Trevor-Roper, first Baron Dacre of Glanton, was telephoned at his country home in Scotland by the Assistant Editor of The Times, Mr Colin Webb. Among his many honours, Trevor-Roper had, in 1974, accepted an invitation to become an Independent National Director of Times Newspapers. For nine years his telephone had rung periodically with news of strikes, sackings and closures. But this call had nothing to do with routine Times business. It concerned a discovery of great historical significance. It was strictly confidential. The German magazine Stern, said Mr Webb, had discovered the private diaries of Adolf Hitler. Trevor-Roper, a former Regius Professor of History at Oxford, was startled and immediately sceptical. ‘I said to myself, there are so many forgeries circulating in the “grey market”: forged documents about Bormann, forged diaries of Eva Braun, falsified accounts of interviews with Hitler . .’ Besides, it was well known that Hitler disliked putting pen to paper and had virtually given up writing in his own hand altogether after 1933. As far as he was aware there was no evidence, either in the German archives or in the recollections of Hitler’s subordinates, to suggest that the German dictator had kept a diary. If he had, and if it had now been discovered, it would certainly rank as one of the greatest historical finds of modern times: Hitler, as Trevor-Roper himself had written, was the twentieth century’s Genghis Khan, the ‘political genius’ whose murderous influence upon mankind was still being felt four decades after his death. If this diabolical figure, contrary to all accepted beliefs, turned out to have kept a diary, it would provoke a sensation. Webb explained that Stern was offering to sell the foreign serial rights in the diaries.