Konrad Paul Kujau (27 June 1938 – 12 September 2000) was a German illustrator and forger. He became famous in 1983 as the creator of the so-called Hitler Diaries, for which he received DM 2.5 million (€2,421,020 in 2020 terms, adjusted for inflation) from a journalist, Gerd Heidemann, who in turn sold it for DM 9.3 million to the magazine Stern, resulting in a net profit of DM 6.8 million (€6,585,174 in 2020 terms, adjusted for inflation) for Heidemann. The forgery resulted in a four-and-half-year prison sentence for Kujau.

Biography

Early life

"Konny" Kujau was born in Löbau, Nazi Germany, one of six children of Richard Kujau, a cobbler, and his wife, both of whom had joined the Nazi Party in 1933.

Kujau's early life was of unremitting poverty and his mother was obliged to send her children into orphanages for periods of time. The boy grew up believing in the Nazi ideals and idolising Adolf Hitler; the defeat by the Allies in 1945, and Hitler's suicide, did not temper his enthusiasm for the Nazi cause. He held a series of menial jobs until 1957, when he was working as a waiter at the Löbau Youth Club, and a warrant was issued for his arrest in connection with the theft of a microphone. In June he fled to Stuttgart, West Germany, where he soon drifted into temporary menial work and petty crime.

In 1959 he was fined 80 Marks (DM) for stealing tobacco; in 1960 he was sent to prison for nine months after being caught breaking into a storeroom to steal cognac; in 1961 he spent more time in prison after stealing five crates of fruit. Six months later he was arrested after getting into a fight with his employer while working as a cook in a bar.

In 1961, he began a relationship with Edith Lieblang, one of the waitresses at the bar where he was working. The couple moved to Plochingen and opened a dance bar, which was a modest success. Kujau began to create a fictional background for himself, telling people his real name was Peter Fischer, changing his date of birth by two years, and altering the history of his time in East Germany. By 1963, the bar began suffering financial difficulties and the couple moved back to Stuttgart, where Kujau found work as a waiter. He also started his career as a counterfeiter, forging DM 27 worth of luncheon vouchers; he was caught and sentenced to five days in prison. On his release he and his wife formed the Lieblang Cleaning Company, although the company provided little income for them. In March 1968, at a routine check at Kujau's lodgings, the police established he was living under a false identity, after the name, address and date-of-birth details Kujau had provided to the police were different to those on the papers he was carrying at the time. At the police station he offered a third set of details, and a false explanation as to why he was masquerading under an assumed identity, but the subsequent fingerprint check confirmed he was Kujau. He was sent to Stuttgart's Stammheim Prison.

After his release in the late 1960s, the cleaning business became profitable enough for the couple to buy a flat in Schmieden, near Stuttgart. In 1970, Kujau visited his family in East Germany and found out that many of the locals held Nazi memorabilia, contrary to the laws of the Communist government. Kujau saw an opportunity to buy the material cheaply on the black market and make a profit in the West, where there was an increasing demand for such items. Prices among Stuttgart collectors were up to ten times the prices paid by Kujau. The trade was illegal in East Germany, and the export of what were deemed items of cultural heritage was banned. Both the Kujaus were stopped, although only once each, and their penalty was the confiscation of the contraband. Over the next two years Kujau faked a further 61 volumes and sold them to Heidemann for DM 2.5 million. Heidemann in turn received DM 9 million from his employers at Stern.

On his release from prison after three years, Kujau became something of a minor celebrity, appearing on TV as a "forgery expert", and set up a business selling "genuine Kujau fakes" in the style of various major artists. He stood for election as Mayor of Stuttgart in 1996, receiving 901 votes. Kujau died of stomach cancer in 2000.

In 2006, someone claiming to be his grandniece, Petra Kujau, was charged with selling "fake forgeries", cheap Asian-made copies of famous paintings with forged signatures of Konrad Kujau.

Notes and references

Notes

References

Sources

  • Kujau Archive
  • Konrad Kujau as a painter