Hitler's Third Reich and World War II in the News is a daily edited review of WWII news, providing thought- provoking collection of hand-picked WW2 information.

Category: Fake Militaria  -- See latest WWII news here.

Forgeries in the National Archives: Heinrich Himmler murdered on Winston Churchill's orders
The (British) National Archives admitted that it had been the victim of a master forger and its reputation had been endangered after the discovery that 29 documents from 12 separate files were all forgeries inserted into its records. The forged documents all relate to alleged British perfidy in World War II. The archive says the papers had supported stunning allegations by Martin Allen, in 3 recent books. These include claims that the Duke of Windsor was a traitor and that British agents had murdered SS boss Heinrich Himmler, on Winston Churchill's orders.     [ timesonline :: 2008-05-04 :: Fake Militaria ]

'Hitler Diaries' discoverer Gerd Heinemann living on welfare
25 years ago Gerd Heinemann amazed the world by claiming he had discovered Adolf Hitler's diaries. Within two weeks, his career was in ruined after it emerged they had been forged by antique dealer Konrad Kujau. He never recovered from the scandal. It would have been the biggest scoop of 20th century - if only it had been true. In April 1983 Gerd Heidemann, smiling triumphantly, declared that he had found Adolf Hitler's diaries. For a few weeks he lived every reporter's dream. But the 60 volumes he had purchased for $5 million, on behalf of Stern magazine, turned out to be forgeries.     [ spiegel :: 2008-04-23 :: Fake Militaria ]

'Wolf woman' Misha Defonseca admits: Holocaust book was a pack of lies
Misha Defonseca's account of how she lost her parents to the Holocaust and lived with wolves in the forests has been revealed as a fabrication. In a statement she admitted that while her parents, members of Belgium's resistance, were killed by the Nazis most of the events of the book were made up. Her book "Surviving with Wolves" (also turned into a film) became a bestseller after its publication in Italy and France and has made her a millionaire. At the film's premiere she showed up with a little compass, "my most precious talisman", which she said had helped her find her way on her journey.     [ telegraph :: 2008-03-01 :: Fake Militaria ]

Hitler Diaries - A fake set became one of the most costly forgeries
On April 22, 1983 the Stern magazine declared "the most important historical event of the last ten years." It had came upon the personal diary of Adolf Hitler: a multi-volume work covering the years 1932-1945. Agencies bid for the right to serialize the diary. Journalists, historians, and WWII buffs anticipated what disclosures it would contain. Skeptics insisted it had to be a fake - and 2 weeks after Stern's declaration, forensics experts denounced the diaries as a crude forgery, by Konrad Kujau. The debunking of the Hitler diaries turned out just as sensational as their discovery: Careers were ruined, and people went to prison. Stern lost as much as 19M marks.     [ museumofhoaxes :: 2008-01-12 :: Nazi Relics: Personal items of leaders ]

Collectors can find an Iron Cross medal, but watch out for fake relics
The Nazi war medal seemed so authentic it could fool an obedient soldier of the Third Reich. But F. Patt Anthony, a vendor of military relics, rotated the Iron Cross against the light, and declared: "When you see this swiveling pin, always be suspicious. That's just typical of ... what they make today." The traveling flea market has enough uniforms, canteens, compasses, watches, medals, helmets, bayonets and firearms to stock a military museum and outfit a unit to defend it. In the world of antiques, replicas and forgeries abound. Fellow sellers defer to Anthony as the high priest of military memorabilia, and collectors often pass his table to ask if they've been bamboozled.     [ newsobserver :: 2008-01-06 :: Collectors, Memorabilia and Militaria ]

The Führer's Counterfeiters - Operation Bernhard, Lake Toplitz
Of all operations in Third Reich this was the most audacious: forging £135 million and parachuting the notes into UK. What else could explain the arrival of the SS men from a burning Berlin to a village beside Lake Toplitz on May 5, 1945? Locals spoke of Nazi troops sitting on boxes, which were sunk in the water. On August 3, 1959 Wolfgang Löhde's hired frogmen to find them. He reflected on the emblems of the previous convoy that had come here in May 1945: swastikas and SS double-lightning stripes. Everyone knew Toplitz was a keeper of Nazi confidences as its remoteness made it a testing ground for wonder-weapons like V2 gyroscopes, torpedoes, rockets...     [ dailymail :: 2007-09-23 :: Nazi gold & Hidden WWII treasures ]

Czech veterans snipe at growing number of fake WWII veterans
In recent months, there have been more and more frequent reports of Czechs trying to pass themselves off as veterans of World War Two. And real veterans are far from impressed - groups such as the Czech Freedom Fighters' Assocation have spoken out against such behaviour, and raised the question of whether such a practice should be outlawed. Phenomenon is at its worst at commemorative gatherings: it is not at all uncommon to see someone who has never fought in a war donning a uniform and laying a wreath.     [ radio.cz :: 2007-07-11 :: World War II Veterans ]

Phony war hero covered in medals may apologize to avoid jail
The man many veterans call a phony war hero, may avoid jail time if he issues a public apology for what he did. Raymond Gauthier was charged with forging military documents to get a POW license plate. Back in June, NBC2 pulled his Gauthier's military record and discovered he had only earned one military medal. But veterans say he would wear his uniform, which was covered in dozens of medals, to parades. Veterans say they feel like Gauthier is getting off with just a slap on the wrist: "I'll tell you one thing - we'd like to give him the punishment he deserves. We detest anybody like that. We have people in wheelchairs."     [ nbc-2 :: 2007-03-21 :: Fake Militaria ]

Adolf Hitler wine is a £4,000 fake, say historians
The £4,000 bottle of wine that Adolf Hitler allegedly presented to senior officers to mark his 54th birthday may be a fake, say historians. The red "Führerwein" attracted bids from around the world and it was billed as a rare piece of wartime memorabilia, a relic of the Third Reich which reflected an unknown side of Adolf Hitler. And with its portrait of the Nazi leader on the label, the Schwarzer Tafelwein looked authentic. It was allegedly discovered in a garage in France. Few expected it to fetch more than £500 when it went under the hammer, so there was some surprise when it went for £3,995. The purchaser was a collector who did not want to be identified.     [ thisislondon :: 2007-02-25 :: Nazi Memorabilia, collectibles, militaria ]

Diaries by fascist dictator Benito Mussolini are fakes?
Newly discovered diaries written by fascist dictator Benito Mussolini in the run up to World War II are fakes, says magazine L'Espresso. It was offered the diaries in Nov 2004 but turned them down because they were bogus. "Wrong names, grammatical errors, chronological discrepancies, inconsistencies and inaccuracies. There are good reasons to doubt that the author of these five was Benito Mussolini," said historian Emilio Gentile, who verified the diaries. Senator Marcello Dell'Utri stood by his assertion that the books were real. When published they would show the human face of the man who took Italy into an alliance with Adolf Hitler, he said.     [ int :: 2007-02-16 :: Benito Mussolini ]

Nazi counterfeiting forged 12% of all pound-sterlings in existence
Adolf Burger held up one of the British 5-pound notes he helped forge for the Germans. He was recruited by an SS officer Bernhard Kruger to the top-secret Operation Bernhard - one of the biggest attempts at financial sabotage in history. The Nazis forced 140 prisoners to forge so much British currency that by 1945, 12% of all pound-sterling bills were fake. In early 1945, SS switched their attention to dollars. Captain Kruger gave Smolianoff, Burger and two others the job of figuring out how to copy $100 bills. A filmmaker has made a new movie (to be released in March) about the operation called "The Forger," based partly on Burger's memoir.     [ post-gazette :: 2007-01-23 :: Fake Militaria ]

A Bull Market in Phony Naziana: Third Reich memorabilia forgeries
Since the last days of Hitler phony Hitleriana have flooded the market for Nazi memorabilia. Gerd Heidemann's Hitler diaries have proved to be the most audacious of all the Third Reich forgeries so far, but other major scams have often bemused or confounded the experts. The first large-scale forgery surfaced in 1947: a diary allegedly kept by Eva Braun during her affair with Hitler. Common are forged Hitler inscriptions in books, usually Mein Kampf. Careless forgers occasionally fail to research the relationship between Hitler and the alleged recipients of the books, thus committing detectable errors.     [ time :: 2006-11-05 :: Nazi Memorabilia, collectibles, militaria ]

History or hoax -- WWII message of Germany's surrender 1945
Nazi Germany was done. Bombs had devastated its cities, and the revenge-minded Russian infantry was heading into Berlin. It was spring 1945. But how did Harry Truman and other American leaders learn of Germany's surrender? Chuck Loesch summons images to convince skeptics that he is in possession of the first official declaration of Germany's submission. He's selling it on eBay for $100,000. Or trying to. First auction expired without anyone offering his price. He said he planned to try again soon. His first chore is to make believers out of potential bidders, and some historians are making that difficult.     [ twincities :: 2006-09-18 :: Unsolved Mysteries of WWII ]

FBI agent: Medal of Honor impostors outnumber recipients
The Congressional Medal of Honor Society reports there are 113 living recipients of the nation's highest military award, but an F-B-I agent says impostors outnumber the true heroes. Agent Tom Cottone says there are more and more of the impostors, and they are literally stealing the valor and acts of valor of the real guys. Some fakers merely brag about receiving the award - and that's not illegal - but some impostors wear military uniforms and bogus medals.     [ ap :: 2006-04-30 :: Medal of Honor - Stories of the most decorated Heroes ]

The Hoax That refuses to die: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
For more than a century "The Protocols", forged from an 1864 polemic by Maurice Joly and first published in Russia in 1905, has made its way into many languages, selling untold numbers of copies. Said to be the minutes of a secret council of Jews, discussing their plot for world domination, portraying them as demonic schemers. Henry Ford was captivated by the idea of Jewish financiers plotting to undermine the US; he became a proselytizer for "The Protocols" in his newspaper. Hitler, an admirer of Ford, was introduced to "The Protocols" by the Nazi ideologue Alfred Rosenberg, and cited it in "Mein Kampf."     [ nytimes :: 2006-04-22 :: Documents, letters, diaries of World War II ]

Nazi items and relics: repugnant or historic?
Nazi memorabilia are becoming more accessible because World War II veterans and others who lived in the era are dying, leaving the artifacts behind, experts said. The market is so lucrative, counterfeiters are forging copies. From secret police squad helmets to Hitler Youth daggers, the market for such memorabilia is in high demand, experts say. Restrictions on how much of it can be sold overseas and via online auction house eBay mean sellers must rely on traditional swap meets and curio shops.     [ PE :: 2005-11-06 :: Collectors, Memorabilia and Militaria ]

Files on Himmler "murder" exposed as fake
Documents from the National Archives used to substantiate claims that British intelligence agents murdered Heinrich Himmler in 1945 are forgeries. The allegation that the SS leader was murdered, with the knowledge of Churchill and War Cabinet ministers, appeared in Himmler's Secret War, published in May.     [ Telegraph :: 2005-07-02 :: Heinrich Himmler: Reichsfuhrer-SS ]

Nazis' fake British currency found in lake Toplitz
Russian troops were fast approaching Berlin in April 1945 when a Nazi convoy slipped out of the German capital and headed south. The dozen trucks rumbled all day and night with a cargo of gold, counterfeit money and secret government documents. Their destination: this lake in the nearly impenetrable mountains across the border in Austria. The crates were placed aboard rowboats and carried out to the center of this small but deep Alpine lake, where they were dumped overboard. The Nazi secrets were safe. the search recovered provided evidence of a Nazi operation to counterfeit British pounds.     [ usatoday :: 2005-05-13 :: Lake Toplitz - Sunk Nazi Gold ]

A faked passport for Adolf Hitler by British intelligence officers
A faked passport for Adolf Hitler made during the second world war by British intelligence officers was made public for the first time. Forgery was an SOE speciality. It claimed successfully to have compromised Nazi general Franz Halder by attributing anti-Hitler sentiments to him in false papers. Forged postage stamps bearing the likeness of Heinrich Himmler were reportedly dropped on Germany in 1943. The faked Hitler passport was doctored to make him Jewish, carrying an entry visa for Palestine.     [ guardian :: 2002-02-08 :: Fake Militaria ]

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