Sell ​​Hitler

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Television series
German title Sell ​​Hitler
Original title Selling Hitler
Country of production UK
original language English
year 1991
Production
company		 Euston Films
length 60 minutes
Episodes 5
genre Drama , comedy , political thriller
Director Alastair Reid
idea Unknown
script Howard Schuman
music John E. Keane , Tim Souster
camera Clive Tickner
First broadcast June 11, 1991
German-language
first broadcast		 April 20, 1993 on WDR
occupation

Selling Hitler ( English Selling Hitler ) is a British five-part television series . It is based on the eponymous non-fiction book by Robert Harris and addressed the media scandal about the Hitler diaries 1983. from WDR dubbed German version is reduced by one third, and was broadcast in two parts in 1993 for the tenth anniversary of the discovery of the falsification of the record books.

content

Hamburg 1973. The Star - reporter Gerd Heidemann acquires Goring luxury yacht Carin II and plans to restore it and as a social meeting place for research on the Nazi use -time.

The enormous maintenance costs for the yacht gradually devour Heidemann's resources. Through a dealer with Nazi devotional items in Stuttgart, he met Dr. Know "Conny" Fischer. Fischer claims that he has access to Adolf Hitler's diaries through contacts in the GDR - his brother is allegedly a general of the NVA . These were rescued from the burning wreckage in the spring of 1945 in Börnersdorf by village residents in a plane crash . Heidemann travels to the GDR and is convinced that the crash actually took place.

With the consent of his superiors and funds from Stern , Heidemann gradually purchases copies of the diaries. Its authenticity has been confirmed for the time being by several script experts as well as the British historian Hugh Trevor-Roper and the US historian Gerhard Weinberg . However, warn several former SS - officers with whom Heidemann is friends, including Karl Wolff , the reporter expressly diaries. These contained passages that were demonstrably incorrect.

Nevertheless, the star decided to publish the diaries exclusively and to market them internationally, without waiting for an important report from the Federal Criminal Police Office in Wiesbaden . In London the media tycoon Rupert Murdoch senses a global business and is ready to acquire the rights to the books for the English-speaking market. He doesn't care whether the diaries are genuine or not, since selling them will definitely be a business. If they turn out to be forgeries, he also wants to sue the star for damages .

The dramaturgical highlight of the series is the presentation of the diaries on April 25, 1983 in the Stern publishing house in Hamburg. There was a scandal when the British author David Irving, who was present at the press conference , declared them to be forgeries on the basis of various inconsistencies in the diaries.

After the report from the BKA arrives, which clearly shows that the diaries were made after 1945, Heidemann and Fischer are arrested and imprisoned for fraud. It turns out that Dr. Fischer is actually about Konrad Kujau , who has had several criminal records, but is artistically quite gifted . Kujau admits to having made the counterfeits for purely commercial reasons. While Heidemann is mentally broken and continues to believe in the authenticity of the diaries, Kujau makes a deal out of the scandal while in custody: For 50 DM each, he sells "real" Hitler's to journalists who visit him in the prison cell. Signatures.

Production backgrounds

The series is based on the non-fiction book by Robert Harris, but in contrast to the original contains satirical and comedic elements. Harris felt it, as in his 1982 non-fiction book Gotcha! , which explored the role of the British media in the Falklands War and their influence in politics and society. The literary role model was like Gotcha! Evelyn Waugh's novel Scoop (dt .: The big hit ) of the 1938th

The film contains surrealistic dream scenes by Heidemann, which are also not included in the book. Passages and quotes from the diaries are underlined by contemporary documentary film recordings.

Gordon Brown was responsible for the tone. Nigel Shaw was responsible for the editing. The German version of the series is shortened by a third of the length.

See also

literature

  • Robert Harris: Selling Hitler. 1986. Also published in the anthology The Media Trilogy. faber and faber, London, Boston 1994, ISBN 0-571-17231-8 .

Web links