Word: sterne
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Henri Nannen, Stern's publisher since its founding in 1948, first reacted with scorn, declaring on German television: "The Federal Archives is not God Almighty." But he soon calmed down and admitted, "We have some reason to be ashamed." He announced that "there won't be a single word about these diaries in the next issue." He promised, however, to "make an attempt to uncover the history of this forgery for our readers," adding, somewhat needlessly, "We have no reason to protect the swindler...
...Stern's editorial workers, now even more distressed, met once again to discuss the fiasco. They presented a list of demands to their editors, but would not make them public. One employee reported: "Everyone is panicking. No one can believe that this is happening to us." Editor Koch's head was the first to roll. He submitted his resignation, as did another top editor, Felix Schmidt...
Other publications abruptly canceled their plans to print the Hitler diaries. Arthur Brittenden, a spokesman for Times Newspapers, said it had paid only half of its $400,000 to Stern. "We'll be asking Stern for our money back," he said. "We won't be paying...
...Fleet Street, other editors pounced on Stern and the rival Sunday Times with a vengeance that in this instance seemed justified. "It was the day the thunder of the Times turned into a whimper and the Sunday Times was forced to sniff the stench of self-deceit," crowed the Daily Express. Its story accused "the executives" of Stern and the Sunday Times of having committed "the biggest journalistic blunder for years...
...Still, Stern's penalty, beyond its ruined reputation, was also financial: rumors in Bonn's press circles had the magazine paying $4 million for its "discovery." Other insiders considered that figure too low. The discrediting of the diaries enhanced the reputations of some historians and forgery experts who had quickly concluded that the diaries were fraudulent. New York Autograph Dealer Charles Hamilton had taken one long look at photocopies of a few of the diary excerpts and pronounced them too consistent and too smooth to be credible. "Hitler's handwriting was full of power and force," he said...