Schtonk

Schtonk! is a 1992 satirical German film, retelling the hoax of the Hitler Diaries. Subtitled Der Film zum Buch vom Führer ("The film accompanying the Führer's book"), the film is a farce about the events when, in 1983, German Stern magazine began to publish, with great fanfare, the 60 volumes of the alleged diaries of Adolf Hitler – which two weeks later turned out to be entirely fake. The film is co-written and directed by Helmut Dietl. Dietl researched the scandal for two years and has been quoted as having to leave out several real events from the film because they were too outrageous. The title is a bow to Charlie Chaplin's classic The Great Dictator, in which the Führer repeatedly uses "Schtonk!" as an expression of disgust – the word has no meaning in German but resembles the Bavarian Gschtonk! (Gestank, meaning stench), and Stunk (pronounced as shtoonk), a colloquial expression for a scuffle or altercation.