Schtonk

Schtonk! is a farcical retelling of the 1983 episode in which Germany’s Stern magazine released, amid great publicity, sixty volumes purported to be Adolf Hitler’s diaries—volumes that were revealed as complete forgeries two weeks later. The film follows Fritz Knobel, modeled on real‑life forger Konrad Kujau, who makes a living by producing and selling counterfeit Nazi memorabilia. After Knobel writes and sells a volume of the nonexistent diaries, he regards it as another routine job. When opportunistic journalist Hermann Willié learns of the diaries, he quickly perceives their commercial potential, drawing Knobel into a situation beyond his control. As pressure mounts and Knobel is compelled to produce additional volumes of the fake diaries, he increasingly mirrors the very figure whose life he is fabricating. The movie presents a broad, comedic satire that lampoons both the participants in the hoax—thinly disguised in the narrative—and Germany’s uneasy relationship with its troubled past.