23. 01. 12. - 13:00

• more Germany in Focus news
• RSS Feed Germany in Focus

23. 01. 12. - 13:00

Auschwitz Faker Confesses

An historian who sparked a world-wide war crimes investigation after claiming to have found a cache of secret SS documents buried at the Nazi death camp Auschwitz has confessed it was just a hoax to plug his new book.

Shamed Mieczyslaw Boyko had claimed he'd found three crates of previously undiscovered official papers buried underneath the German concentration camp and triggered a massive hunt for two Germans he claimed to have been working for.

Virtually no German military staff records were ever found at Auschwitz and were believed to have been destroyed by the Nazis as Allied forces took Poland during the final months of World War II.

Now Boyko has confessed he dreamed up the stunt to promote his latest work.

"It was part of plan to promote a new book," he told local media after police called off the search.

German Herald

Chelsea Thugs Target Champs League Final
Anti-soccer thug police have warned that a hard core of violent fans are heading for Chelsea's Champions League final against Bayern Munich on Saturday - despite British police issuing more than 80 travel bans on suspected hooligans.

Old Banger
A cabbie whose gas-powered car exploded just after he'd fuelled up survived with barely a scratch when he was blown clean through the open window, say police in Schwabing, Germany.

Scared Stiff
A burglar fled an apartment in terror when he came face to face with the mummified corpse of the of a woman who'd died unnoticed five years earlier, say police.

Dirty Politics
A grandstanding politician came down to earth with a bump - when a 40 ton digger he'd insisted on driving overturned on top of him.

Ewe Brutes
Callous art students who planned to behead a helpless sheep are being investigated by prosecutors in the German capital Berlin over animal cruelty allegations.

Wedding Lift
A serial car crook found with stolen wedding presents worth more than 150,000 GBP has confessed to pinching them from cars parked outside churches and hotels.

Hot Cross Huns
Naked sauna-goers were among the two hundred guests that fled when a sauna and thermal spa resort in Fichtelburg, Germany, went up in flames causing 25 million GBP of damage.

Wedding Crasher
Boozed up Stephan Pfeifer, 20, was a real wedding crasher after wandering into a community centre attic space to find somewhere to sleep - and plunging 30 foot through the floor to land in a shower of debris in front of bride Annett Friedman in Unterfranken, Germany.

Off Their Trolley
Staff at a Kaufland supermarket in Duisberg, Germany, had to apologise to customers after thieves made off with their entire stock of 150 shopping trolleys overnight.

Piggy Back
Dad Lucas Bergmann who was burgled and his his kid's money boxes and toys stolen while the family were at a New year's Eve party has had the lot returned - complete with an apology note from the thief at Neufahrn in Bavaria, Germany.