The Hitler Diaries Scandal podcast review: The art of the con
Andrew Hunter Murray unravels the outrageous story of Hitler’s forged diaries in a podcast that finds uncomfortable parallels with today’s misinformation age
Long before influencers, the manosphere, conspiracy pundits and the madness of social media, there was one hoodwink to beat them all. In 1983, West German magazine Stern announced it had discovered Adolf Hitler’s long-lost diaries. Authenticated by a leading historian and set to be serialised in both Stern and The Sunday Times, this was lined up as the scoop of the century. Not born at the time, podcaster, comedian and author Andrew Hunter Murray arrives at this irresistible tale of greed, Nazis, forgery and frenzy with wide eyes and a slack jaw.
He assembles a bizarre cast: first up is ‘The Bloodhound’, journalist Gerd Heidemann, a Nazi memorabilia collector embedded so deeply with wealthy resettled fascists that it would be difficult to imagine a less reliable messenger. We also meet bon viveur, conman, master forger and negotiator Konrad Kujau who pocketed a cool £2.3 million from the 62 volumes he created. Then there are the tragic heroes, hoisted by their own petards, such as historian Hugh Trevor-Roper who authenticated the diaries for mass publication while Sunday Times editor Frank Giles and his deputy Brian MacArthur are hung out to dry by Rupert Murdoch’s lust for an exclusive.
This is a dizzying, curious tale of deception told over 11 deliciously short episodes, easily digestible in half a morning. Murray is a funny and intriguing guide into this analogue world of tape recordings and printing presses. He finds parallels with our current battle for media truth and the less-than-trustworthy figureheads of any number of social platforms. Also becoming evident among the comedy and the chaos is just what Kujau tapped into: what philosopher Hannah Arendt termed the ‘banality of evil’ while covering the trial of Adolf Eichmann, a man more obsessed with organisational structures and paperwork than the atrocities in his name. The Hitler Diaries are dull, petty and bureaucratic, hardly riveting. This podcast is the exact opposite.
All episodes of The Hitler Diaries Scandal are available now on BBC Sounds.