Gerd Heidemann (born 4 December 1931 in Altona, Hamburg) is a German journalist best known for his role in the publication of purported Hitler Diaries that were subsequently proved to be forgeries.
Heidemann came forward with his story of lost diaries written by the former Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler in 1983. He sold the rights to them to the West German magazine Stern for DEM 10,000,000 (then approximately USD $6 million) along with his tale about how they had been hidden in a barn in East Germany for many years. Several experts, including British Hitler expert Hugh Trevor-Roper came forward to pronounce the diaries to be authentic; when this was disproven Heidemann was arrested, tried, and sentenced to four and a half years in prison in 1985 for fraud, as was Konrad Kujau, who had actually done the forging of the books in Hitler's handwriting, as he had done previously with other fraudlent Hitler documents.[1]
In a twist in the tale, it was revealed in 2002 [2] that he had worked for the Stasi, although claiming to be a double agent. [3] In the BBC radio 4 programme The Reunion broadcast on Sunday 7 September 2008, Heidemann vehemently denied that he had ever been a spy for the Stasi.
As of 2008 Heidemann was living in poverty.
"I am healthy," he pronounces. "I am a pensioner and get €350 [£280] a month from the social security office. They also pay the rent, my health insurance and my old-age care insurance." [4]
Heidemann was portrayed in the 1991 television miniseries Selling Hitler, by Welsh actor Jonathan Pryce. There were also portrayals by Alexei Sayle as Kujau, Tom Baker as Stern executive Manfred Fischer, and Alan Bennett as Hugh Trevor-Roper.