Man who duped Murdoch over Hitler diaries was a Stasi agent

Sydney Morning Herald ^ | July 31, 2002 | John Hooper in Berlin

[aculeus]

The journalist jailed for his part in one of the 20th century's great hoaxes - the publication of the "Hitler diaries" - was an agent of east Germany's intelligence service, the Stasi, newly-published evidence reveals.

Gerd Heidemann, the intermediary between the forger of the diaries and his employers at Stern magazine, was quoted as saying he had been a double agent.

The news weekly Der Spiegel, which published an extract from Mr Heidemann's Stasi file on Sunday, said he claimed to have handed his payments from the East Germans to West Germany's counter-intelligence service.

The revelation of his Stasi links will breathe new life into the theory that the 1983 Hitler diaries affair was not just a vintage bungle, but a communist plot. It did lasting damage not only to Stern, but also to Rupert Murdoch's media empire and the reputation of the conservative historian, Lord Dacre.

The Sunday Times in London, owned by Mr Murdoch, was about to begin serialising the diaries and its sister paper, The Times, had already carried an article by Lord Dacre, endorsing the diaries' authenticity.

The diaries, supposedly covering the entire history of the Third Reich from 1933 to 1945, were the invention of a Stuttgart-based forger, Konrad Kujau.

Heidemann claimed to have been duped by him, but the forger insisted he had told Heidemann they were fakes.

The document, reproduced on Sunday, states Heidemann was recruited by the East German intelligence service in 1953 when he was a young photo-journalist. He was given the code-name Gerhard.

His mission was to provide information mainly on "military targets and secret service premises, in particular those of the English secret service".

Der Spiegel said other papers in his file showed that he photographed secret sites. He was well paid, but constantly demanded more. On one occasion, his case officer noted drily that "the money issue for him always plays the leading role".

Der Spiegel said Heidemann wrote to the Stasi in 1955, withdrawing his services. However, the files also revealed that in 1978, agent Gerhard was handed over by the department that had recruited him to the Stasi's foreign espionage department. His file was archived, a sign that he was no longer considered useful, only in 1986.

[Dakmar]

LarryLied,

I am pinging you because of the wierd historical stuff in the article. I am well aware that the content may set off certain 'sensitivities', but that can be fun, too, unless you're dealing with people with no sense of humor, then it gets ugly!

[aristeides]

This report suggests to me that it was the Stasi, and not Kujau, that forged the fake diaries. A secret police or intelligence agency has far better facilities for forging things than a mere private individual does. I'm reading a book now about the spy "Cicero" who turned documents over to the Germans from the British embassy in Turkey during WWII. Cicero was paid in British pounds that were counterfeited by an arm of the SS, the Reichssicherheitshauptamt, which circulated the forged notes wherever it could.

[aristeides]

I also wonder whether the true intent of the Stasi was to discredit anybody. It seems much more likely to me that the Stasi was just out for the money it hoped would be paid for the diaries. By the 1980's, East Germany and the Stasi were desperate for hard currency wherever they could get it.

[LarryLied]

Has anyone read them? The left always brings up Nazism to hide their own crimes but did these diaries go further than that? Was there disinformation with intent to harm indiviudals or groups in them?

Thanks for the ping Dakmar. Be decades before we find out even a fraction of what really went on during the Cold War. Afraid those Americans who supported Soviet tyranny are going to have to die of old age first.

[aristeides]

I read the excerpts in Stern at the time. I can't say I remember a single thing about their contents. I suppose that should be been the giveaway that they were a forgery, that they contained no new historical information. I have to admit, however, that I was taken in by them at the time, probably by a desire to have a new historical source. I suspect that that was also the motivation of Trevor-Roper (Lord Dacre).

[Boyd]

Putin was part of the Stasi, too.

According to published reports, He was actually part of the monetary dissolution effort. Let's 'axe' him.