Faking Hitler

STERN magazine's star reporter, Gerd Heidemann, needs a scoop-and dealer in Nazi artifacts Konrad Kujau needs money. The surfacing of "Hitler's diaries" seems like exactly what both men are looking for.

Heidemann and his department head visit East Germany, looking for the remains of a plane said to have crashed with Hitler's personal documents on board. Kujau is ready to do business with STERN's executives. Other reminders of the Nazi past surface.

To secure the personal rights of Hitler's heirs, Heidemann travels to Boston to meet a cousin of Hitler's. A blackmailer targets Elizabeth Stöckel to get more information about the diaries, but the young editor devises a scheme to get ahead at STERN.

With the threat of pre-publication of the diaries in the United States looming, the executives at STERN have to move quickly. Stöckel learns some disturbing news about her leftist, law-professor father.

Stöckel declares the diaries a forgery, and Kujau begins to panic. The press conference to announce the "world sensation" ends up a debacle, and STERN must now do all it can to save its credibility.

Following publication of the diaries, STERN continues to express its belief in their authenticity. Kujau turns himself in to the authorities, Heidemann is forced to take responsibility for his role, and a German court issues a surprising verdict.