Schtonk!

The story

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.

Cast

G Götz GeorgeHermann Willié U Uwe OchsenknechtFritz Knobel C Christiane HörbigerFreya von Hepp H Harald JuhnkePit Kummer U Ulrich MüheDr. Wieland R Rolf HoppeKarl Lentz D Dagmar ManzelBiggi V Veronica FerresMartha H Hermann LauseKurt Glück M Martin BenrathUwe Esser G Georg MarischkaVon Klantz K Karl SchönböckAugust Strasser

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R Rosemarie FendelKarl Lentz's Wife W Wolfgang MengeGerman Graphologist H Hark BohmPriest W Willy HarlanderBavarian Border Official T Thomas HoltzmannCornelius H Hans-Joachim HegewaldSchuback P Peter RoggischObersturmbandführer G Günter JunghansEast German Police Officer A Armin RohdeSS Man M Michael KesslerSS Man M Martin FeifelSS Man