BERLIN Konrad Kujau, the author of faked diaries of Adolf Hitler, which he sold for press publication, died in Stuttgart late Tuesday aged 62, his niece Petra Kujau said Wednesday.
According to an AFP report, Kujau, who had been ill with cancer since the 1980s, underwent an operation for the disease three months ago.
He made a name for himself in 1983 when he sold what purported to be the personal diaries of the Nazi dictator to the popular illustrated weekly Die Stern, which sold them to the Sunday Times for publication in English.
However the authenticity of the diaries was quickly challenged after the appearance of the first excerpts in stern and the Sunday Times in April 1983.
For swindling stern, which was said to have paid 9.34 million marks for the fake diaries, Kujau was sentenced to four and a half years' prison, of which he served three.
He continued working in the same vein on his release, painting copies of works by artists including Salvador Dali and Marc Chagall.
He also ran an art gallery in Stuttgart.