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On 21 April, 1945, in the hamlet of Börnersdorf, Eastern Germany, a Junkers plane plummets from the sky. It crashes and bursts into flames. A few iron boxes are salvaged from the wreckage. Rumour spreads that Hitler’s personal effects are in those boxes. Could there have been diaries?

In the decades that follow, a trade in Nazi memorabilia springs up where genuine documents and fakes cross hands, making dealers big money in a murky underworld.
Konrad Kujau, in the south of Germany, has carved out a lucrative niche in this world, embellishing objects with forged certificates and documents. In the late 1970s, he decides it’s time to scale up and try for the ultimate prize – Adolf Hitler’s diary. But will anyone believe it?

Writer and broadcaster Andrew Hunter Murray uncovers last century’s biggest ever publishing scandal, a forgery which rocked the world and destroyed reputations.
It’s a tale of greed, obsession and mass delusion. It includes Hermann Göring’s yacht, Nazi-themed honeymoons, Idi Amin’s underpants, and more details almost too unbelievable for words.

Andrew interviews the people who were there as the diaries were announced to the world, and as the story fell apart - the archivist tasked with authenticating the diaries in Germany, the TV producer led around the homes of retired Nazis to film a promotional documentary for the scoop, and the Fleet Street editor given 24 hours to create a world-beating story based on fraudulent material.

In our own time of AI, fake news and disinformation, are there any lessons we can take from the greatest hoax of the last 50 years?

Gerd Heidemann tapes part of the Gerd Heidemann collection, Hoover Institute, copyright Stanford University.

Presenter: Andrew Hunter Murray
Producer: Ruth Abrahams
Story Editor: Andrew Dickson
Sound Design: Joel Cox
Mix Engineer: Nigel Appleton
Executive Producers: David Prest and Robert Nicholson
Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke

A Whistledown production for Â鶹Éç Sounds and Radio 4