Kujau's Hitler and the Wannsee Conference

It has been 40 years since Stern magazine announced the sensational discovery of Hitler’s diaries. In truth, however, it had fallen for a hoax orchestrated by Konrad Kujau. A few days later, after it had become clear the magazine had been duped, the sixty volumes engraved with the FH monogram disappeared deep into the Stern’s archives. In 2013, the publisher Gruner + Jahr announced that it would be giving the diaries to the Federal Archives, but it failed to do this. Only after NDR published them online this year did the magazine hand them over. Now anyone can read the fake diaries online and see for themselves what kind of Hitler Kujau and his assistants wanted to present to the German public. 

NDR asked the political scientist Hajo Funke and the historian Heike Görtemaker to examine the texts, which had become publicly accessible for the first time. The experts immediately recognized both the falsification and trivialization of history, as well as the Holocaust denial that Kujau had embedded into the fake diaries and hoped to present to the world. In the 40 years since they were written, however, there has been no discussion of the political motivation behind this act. At the time, the media had presented Kujau as a shrewd swindler who was driven—above all—by money and who had cleverly exploited the greed of Stern editor Heidemann. Kujau, who continued producing and selling Heidemann more and more volumes, was later sentenced to four years and six months in prison for fraud and document forgery. After his release three years later, Kujau became a welcome and entertaining guest on various television shows. He lived off the sale of his forgeries and died in 2000. 

The most recent research now claims that Kujau had repeatedly described himself as a neo-Nazi: “In the pub that he regularly frequented, he is said to have often given the Hitler salute and occasionally have appeared in SS garb. When he was arrested in 1983, Kujau was wearing an SS ring engraved with an imitation of Himmler’s signature.” (https://www.ndr.de/geschichte/tagebuecher/Holocaust-Leugnung-Die-Wahrheit-hinter-den-Hitler-Tagebuechern,hitlertagebuecher114.html) Lothar Zaulich, press spokesman for the national socialist party ANS/NA and a right-wing extremist, helped him write the diaries. Other party members may have also been involved. 

The manner in which the Wannsee Conference of 20 January 1942 is presented in the fake diaries is cited by Funke and Görtemaker as an example of historical trivialization. Kujau pretends that Hitler was eagerly awaiting the outcome of this conference; this is an absurd notion given that the state secretaries met only to address organizational issues. Kujau also suggests that “his” Hitler was unaware that the murder operations were already underway because “he” was still hoping to find a “place in the East” where the Jews of Europe could “feed themselves.” The wording of the entry of 20 January 1942 reads as follows: 

20. Morning Report 

Field Marshal v. Bock with me. Need him. Awaiting reports from conference on Jewish question. We absolutely must find a place in the East where these Jews can feed themselves. I have demanded a quick solution from the participants of the croference [sic]. Surely there must be a place in the East where these Jews can be housed. The Jewish Council calls on the Jews to fight against us and to commit acts of sabotage in the Reich, but no one wants to have them or help them. 

The next entry is dated 28 January 1942 and contains phrases that are almost identical to ones found in the Wannsee protocol. But in Kujau’s version, they are placed in a very different context. First, “his” Hitler expresses displeasure over the fact that, as a result of the conference, Heydrich has become “solely responsible for the Jewish question.” According to the protocol, Heydrich opened the meeting with this claim. But “his” Hitler wants the responsibility to remain with Himmler and describes his idea as follows: “The Jews shall be put to work in the East in a suitable manner.” A similar sentence appears in the protocol: “In the course of the final solution, and under appropriate supervision, the Jews are to be utilized for work in the East in a suitable manner.”  

On page six of the protocol, Eichmann listed the number of Jews approximated to be living in each European country. The estimates were prepared especially for the meeting and totaled over 11 million. Kujau wrote, “Himmler must be aware that there are over 10 million Jews in the European area who must be taken into account.” It seems that by making minor changes, Kujau hoped to disguise the original source.  

In his protocol of the meeting at Wannsee, Eichmann did not relay verbatim what was spoken at the meeting but instead summarized the comments made by the participants. On page 14/15 it reads: 

“State Secretary Dr B ü h l e r declared that the General Government would welcome it if the final solution of this question were to begin in the General Government […] Jews should be removed from the territory of the General Government as rapidly as possible because it is precisely there that the Jew constitutes an eminent danger as a carrier of epidemics and also constantly disrupts the economic structure of the region through his continuous illicit trading.” 

Kujau wrote, “Dr. Bühler wants the Jews removed from the General Government as soon as possible. He says they are becoming an eminent danger there as carriers of epidemics. It must be examined immediately whether this is trrue [sic], and if so, the transport of Jews must begin there immediately. If epidemics have already broken out, every means available must be used to combat this. Illicit trading in Jew-territories also must be very bad. Dr. Bühler thinks that this illicit trading is disrupting the entire economic situation.” 

Here is another sentence from the protocol that is also attributed to Bühler: “Moreover, the majority of the around 2 ½ million Jews in question are unfit for work.” Kujau suggests that this thought came from Hitler: “According to my calculations, a little over 2 million Jews are unable to work, but these can easily be fed along with the Jews who are able to work.” 

The paragraph on page 7/8 which is frequently discussed in our guided tours and seminars and clearly reveals the intention to murder the Jews also finds its way into “Hitler’s” diary. In the original, it reads: 

“In the course of the final solution, and under appropriate supervision, the Jews are to be utilized for work in the East in a suitable manner. In large labor columns, separated by sex, the Jews capable of working will be dispatched to these regions to build roads. In the process, a large portion will undoubtedly drop out through natural reduction.  

Those who ultimately get by will have to be given suitable treatment because they unquestionably represent the most resistant part and therefore constitute a natural selection that, if released, becomes the germ cell of renewed Jewish revival. (Witness the experience of history.)” 

Kujau changed only a few words – but enough to make it no longer about murder:  

“The labor columns must be kept large since the Jew is dangerous in small groups. It is very important that the sexes be separated over kilometers and that they remain separated. Wen [sic] the natural reduction takes effect, we will succeed in making Europe free of Jews. Now this will take a while because there are also resistent [sic] Jews who shall be considered part of a natural selection. I believe that we will have managed it in Europe by 1965. 

If, however, some of the Jews who have been preserved by natural selection are released, they will become, as history has already shown several time [sic], the germ cell of renewed Jewish survival. It must therefore be an area that we can control very well and from where no Jew can leave.”  

What we have here is a dramatic falsification of history: a Hitler who not only knew nothing about the murder of the European Jews but who also did not want it.  

Dr. Ruth Preusse