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The Hitler Diaries (German: Hitler-Tagebücher) were a series of sixty volumes of journals purportedly written by Adolf Hitler, but forged by Konrad Kujau between 1981 and 1983. The diaries were purchased in 1983 for 9.3 million Deutsche Marks (£2.3 million or $3.7 million) by the West German news magazine Stern, which sold serialisation rights to several news organisations. One of the publications involved was The Sunday Times, who asked their independent director, the historian Hugh Trevor-Roper, to authenticate the diaries; he did so, pronouncing them genuine. At the press conference to announce the publication, Trevor-Roper announced that on reflection he had changed his mind, and other historians also raised questions concerning their validity. Rigorous forensic analysis, which had not been performed previously, quickly confirmed that the diaries were fakes.

Kujau, born and raised in East Germany, had a history of petty crime and deception. In the mid-1970s he began selling Nazi memorabilia which he had smuggled from the East, but found he could raise the prices by forging additional authentication details to associate ordinary souvenirs to the Nazi leaders. He began forging paintings by Hitler and an increasing number of notes, poems and letters, until he produced his first diary in the mid-to-late 1970s. The West German journalist with Stern who "discovered" the diaries and was involved in their purchase was Gerd Heidemann, who had an obsession with the Nazis. When Stern started buying the diaries, Heidemann stole a significant proportion of the money.

Kujau and Heidemann spent time in prison for their parts in the fraud, and several newspaper editors lost their jobs. The story of the scandal was the basis for the films Selling Hitler (1991) for the British channel ITV, the German film Schtonk! (1992), and the television series Faking Hitler (2021). (Full article...)

• 1164 – The remains of the Three Kings arrive at Cologne Cathedral
• 1777 – Birth of painter Philipp Otto Runge
• 1793 – The French retreat after the Siege of Mainz ends the Mainz Republic
• 1886 – Birth of physicist Walter H. Schottky
• 1899 – Birth of Gustav Heinemann, President of Germany 1969-1974

• ... that in Ludwig Krug's rendition of Adam and Eve (pictured), an ape mimics Adam eating the apple?
• ... that Albert Einstein wrote to Joseph Petzoldt in 1914 that he had "long shared his convictions", after reading one of his philosophical books?
• ... that the first public performance of the two songs of Arnold Schoenberg's Zwei Gesänge, Op. 1, was met with hostile audience reactions?
• ... that Margaret Carroux's German translation of The Lord of the Rings contains errors introduced by her editor?
• ... that Samuel Kummer chose for his first recital as the organist of the restored Frauenkirche in Dresden music by Bach, Brahms, Max Reger, Louis Vierne, and himself?
• ... that the Nazis killed more than fifty Dutch nationals in retaliation for the assassinations of Hendrik Seyffardt and Hermannus Reydon by the Dutch resistance?
• ... that over the course of several decades, the missionaries of New Zealand's German Mission House failed to convert a single person?
• ... that Peter Demetz, who taught German literature at Yale University from 1956 to 1991, was born in Prague where he was persecuted under the Nazis and escaped the Communist regime in 1949?
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Beer (German: Bier pronounced [biːɐ̯] ^ⓘ) is a major part of German culture, with only water, hops, and malt permitted as ingredients in its production, though most breweries nowadays also use yeast. Beers not exclusively using barley-malt, such as wheat beer, must be top-fermented.