Schtonk! (1992)

Comedy History

Schtonk! is a farce of the actual events of 1983, when Germany's Stern magazine published, with great fanfare, 60 volumes of the alleged diaries of Adolf Hitler – which two weeks later turned out to be entirely fake. Fritz Knobel (based on real-life forger Konrad Kujau) supports himself by faking and selling Nazi memorabilia. When Knobel writes and sells a volume of Hitler's (nonexistent) diaries, he thinks it's just another job. When sleazy journalist Hermann Willié learns of the diaries, however, he quickly realizes their potential value... and Knobel is quickly in over his head. As the pressure builds and Knobel is forced to deliver more and more volumes of the fake diaries, he finds himself acting increasingly like the man whose life he is rewriting. The film is a romping and hilarious satire, poking fun not only at the events and characters involved in the hoax (who are only thinly disguised in the film), but at the discomfort Germany has with its difficult past.

Updated May 9 2020

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Keywords:

female nudity nazi background portrait painting hitler's diaries

FACTS

Runtime: 115 mins Rating: 7.2 Tag Line: One of the first funny german look at its past.

Cast

Uwe Ochsenknecht

Ario

Armin Rohde

SS Man

Hark Bohm

Priester

Willy Harlander

bayerischer Grenzbeamter

Rolf Hoppe

Lagerführer

Ulrich Mühe

Dr. Wieland

Dagmar Manzel

Biggi

Martin Feifel

SS Man