About Konrad Kujau
Konrad Paul Kujau was a German illustrator and forger. He became famous in 1983 as the creator of the so-called Hitler Diaries, for which he received DM 2.5 million from a journalist, Gerd Heidemann, who in turn sold it for DM 9.3 million to the magazine Stern, resulting in a net profit of DM 6.8 million for Heidemann. The forgery resulted in a four-and-half-year prison sentence for Kujau. Although the handwriting was a passable imitation of the owners, the rest of the work was crude: Kujau used modern stationery, which he aged with tea, and created letterheads by using Letraset. To explain his access to the memorabilia, he invented several sources in East Germany, including a former Nazi general, the director of a museum whom he had bribed, and his brother, a general in the East German army. The outlet also became the venue for late-night drinking sessions with friends and fellow collectors, including Wolfgang Schulze, a resident of the US, who became Kujau's American agent. 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.
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