Talk:Hitler Diaries

'Forgeries'

In April 1983, the West German news magazine Stern published excerpts from what purported to be the diaries of Adolf Hitler ...which were subsequently revealed to be forgeries.

My understanding of forgery always has been an attempt to recreate exactly an existing document, signature, banknote, etc. The so-called Hitler diaries were not this sort of replication of the real thing, they were a complete invention, a fabrication. Suggest forgeries be replaced by "a hoax" – which if memory serves was the operative term at the time. Sca (talk) 12:43, 22 April 2015 (UTC)

Or, as you yourself have said "Webster: The crime of falsely making or copying a document in order to deceive people; something that is falsely made or copied in order to deceive people; something that is forged.", i.e. making a document to deceive people. Which is what this was. The Rambling Man (talk) 20:47, 22 April 2015 (UTC)

Maybe "hoax" would meet it better. --Maxl (talk) 20:41, 16 August 2015 (UTC)

script

...writing in the old German gothic script Hitler had used.

Would that be Kurrent? —Tamfang (talk) 08:59, 13 March 2016 (UTC)

The sources do not clarify the point. – SchroCat (talk) 09:02, 13 March 2016 (UTC)

I just added that link before looking here - and removed the bit about Hochdeutsch, which isn't supported by the cited source and would in any case be weird: the most that would have been changed is spellings, and Hitler's dialect was in any case very much Hochdeutsch (= Southern German) as opposed to Plattdeutsch (= North German). What would be meant is gebildetes Deutsch, educated German, but the source says nothing about changing the syntax. Yngvadottir (talk) 02:43, 25 June 2016 (UTC)

Priesack

"In June 1979 Stiefel asked an expert in Hitler memorabilia, August Priesack, to verify the authenticity of the diary, which he subsequently did."

I'm not sure that should pass without comment or qualification. Sources on Priesack are lacking, but Harris was critical of Priesack's ability and qualifications. There's a memorable incident in which Priesack, while working with the American collector Billy F. Price, "authenticated" a painting that Kujau had completed about a week beforehand. The story of Price isn't central to the Hitler Diaries, but we should inform the reader that Priesack isn't an "expert" in the normal sense of the word. Mackensen (talk) 15:30, 25 June 2016 (UTC)

The balance of the sources used state that Priesack was an expert. I'm not sure his mis-authentification of one painting is particularly telling: Dacre—a widely acknowledged expert on Hitler—verified the diaries, so there you go. Either way, I've tweaked it to "former Nazi Party archivist", which is a truthful description, free from any judgments or biases. Does that work for you? - SchroCat (talk) 15:53, 25 June 2016 (UTC)

Priesack was recommended to Stiefel by Kleenau, an auctioneering firm in Munich, so Priesack certainly had a reputation as an expert on Hitler art and writing, but that reputation was undeserved. The watercolour incident occurred in 1978 when Stiefel asked Priesack to verify his archive, much of which had been purchased from Kujau. Priesack did so; much of this "archive" turned out to be forgeries. There are several other examples in Harris of Priesack failing to properly evaluate and identify alleged original documents. Price and Priesack's subsequent book on Hitler's painting contained a number of Kujau's forgeries, not just the one from 1978. My problem with your proposed wording is that it actually makes Priesack sound even more like an expert, which he wasn't. The clear implication from Harris is that Priesack "authenticated" the Stiefel diary because he was a gullible Nazi. I'm thinking on better wording, but this article shouldn't introduce Priesack uncritically as an expert. For all that, the fact that Dacre wasn't fluent in German and couldn't read Kurrent is relevant and should be mentioned, but one thing at a time. Mackensen (talk) 16:28, 25 June 2016 (UTC)

As I said, the balance of the sources say he was, but it's something of a moot point as I've changed the wording already to something that is entirely correct and verifiable: not even his largest detractors will deny that he was a "former Nazi Party archivist" (every single source (including Harris) acknowledges this). This does not necessarily make him an expert, but it does show he had a degree of knowledge in the topic: again every single source (including Harris) acknowledges this. - SchroCat (talk) 16:47, 25 June 2016 (UTC)

I haven't read Hamilton, but I assume Priesack's incompetence (for the task at hand at any rate) didn't escape him. I've added a note about Priesack's prior involvement with Stiefel. Mackensen (talk) 16:55, 25 June 2016 (UTC)

The purchase price adjusted for inflation

The inflation template should be included to show how much the 1983 cost is after adjusting for inflation (its about $8,806,000). Also, how accurate is the Marks to dollars conversion? I know that the dollar was weak in the early 80's, but that seems a little low. Food for thought. __209.179.54.133 (talk) 03:40, 27 June 2016 (UTC)

It's a fairly meaningless conversion as,it would be a double sum (DM to $ the on to current levels), which is why your figure looks low. DM to current levels would have given something more tangible to work on, but there is no DM anymore. – SchroCat (talk) 06:07, 27 June 2016 (UTC)

Thanks for replying but I really don't understand your point as you seem to be comparing apples to oranges. The way I understand you, you're saying that we can't adjust for inflation because the Deutsche Mark no longer exists and therefore there is no way to compare it to today's dollars. It's irrelevant whether or not the Mark still exists. The item cost X amount of dollars in 1983 and all we have to do is calculate for the rate of inflation.

Unless I've misunderstood what you meant, or there is some fact I don't get, I don't see that you've given a valid point for not including the inflation adjusted amount. This would be important to readers, so that they have a better understanding of it's true cost - right? __209.179.36.56 (talk) 03:53, 1 July 2016 (UTC)

No, not right: that's not the way to get an accurate figure. Let me put it another way: the figures we would be able to provide would be so inaccurate as to be meaningless and unencyclopaedic. Comparative amounts for inflation are often dubious, and that would be the case here. – SchroCat (talk) 04:00, 1 July 2016 (UTC)

Believe me, I have no desire to beat a dead horse so let me just say this, that I still don't think your point holds water. You first say that, "the figures we would be able to provide would be so inaccurate as to be meaningless...," but the figures we use are the ones provided by the U.S. Govt. and the Federal Reserve. Are you saying that their figures are inaccurate? Why? If they say $1.00 in 1983 is equal to $2.40 in 2016, who are we to second guess them? And you also say that it would be un-encyclopedic, but this is commonly done in other articles, and Wikipedia itself provides inflation templates to do this very thing. So I'm still confused by your objections. Thanks for responding. __209.179.36.56 (talk) 03:19, 2 July 2016 (UTC)

Protection

I've protected this article for a day. Please talk it out here. Thanks, Mackensen (talk) 12:41, 7 July 2017 (UTC)

Please don't protect on my account. I have no intention of challenging the status quo here. I've learned my lesson. Readers interested in the Hitler diaries definitely need to know that name of Kujau's girlfriend, the name of the cleaning company they formed, the name of the youth club from which he many have stolen a microphone, and so on. Stuff like that really brings the subject to life and does not in the slightest bog the reader down in a slog of minutiae. EEng 13:11, 7 July 2017 (UTC)