Posted on 11/17/2022 2:46:28 PM PST by gitmo
But, all along — and long after the series had gone into syndication, and years of reruns — there was a hidden joke in “Hogan’s Heroes.”
It was simply this. Many of its characters were played by Jewish refugees from the Nazis.
Consider:
Colonel Wilhelm Klink, the commandant of the stalag. His chief characteristics: vanity, insecurity, paranoia, and basically inept, in constant fear of being sent to the Russian front. He was played by Werner Klemperer, a veteran German entertainer. He was born into a family that was part of German-Jewish cultural aristocracy. His father was the renowned conductor Otto Klemperer, who had converted to Catholicism, but later returned to Judaism. Werner’s first cousin was the famous diarist, Victor Klemperer, who chronicled the final, tragic days of Germany Jewry.
Sergeant Hanz Schultz, the camp’s first sergeant. He was clumsy, cowardly, and easily bribed. His catchphrase: “I know notting.” He was played by John Banner, a Jewish refugee from Austro-Hungary. He lost many family members in the Holocaust. Nevertheless, he was often type cast as a Nazi. He played Nazi official Rudolph Hoss in the 1961 film “Operation Eichmann,” in which Werner Klemperer played Eichmann.
General Albert Hans Burkhalter, Klink’s superior officer. He was played by Leon Askin, nee Aschkenazy — a Viennese Jew whose parents perished in Treblinka.
Finally, Corporal LeBeau, played by Robert Clary. Clary was born in France, the youngest of fourteen children — ten of whom perished in the Holocaust. At the age of sixteen, he was deported to the concentration camp at Ottmuth, and then to Buchenwald, from where he was liberated in 1945. His other family members died in Auschwitz. He told his life story in his autobiography, “From the Holocaust to Hogan’s Heroes: The Autobiography of Robert Clary.”
(Excerpt) Read more at religionnews.com ...
But there was a secret behind the show.
The article doesn't mention it, but Howard Caine also fought in WWII in the Pacific Theater.
In 1995 I was in Northern Germany, and watched Hogan’s Heroes with a German voice track. It was broadcast during the after-school time period.
That is astonishing. I had NO idea. That makes the show a lot more poignant.
I read the abbreviated bio of Robert Clary here on FR a couple days ago. His life story was incredible.
My 8th grade science teacher was in the U.S. Army and served time in a German prison camp during WW2. He wasn’t amused by the show. Don’t know if he was Jewish or not.
I found the story fascinating.
I remember watching Robert Clery on a talk show back when I was in high school. He said that, after the war, when he went back to the multi-story apartment building in which his family had lived, he was one of only 6 survivors. It made a big impression on me. He told the story in response to the talk show host asking about whether it was okay to make a comedy about such a serious subject.
I thought the problem with the show was that it portrayed the Germans of the time as buffoons, and they were anything but.
I'm not surprised at the involvement of Jewish actors in the show, because I think Jewish actors may have been the only ones who could get away with putting up a show that could depict the Germans in this manner; anyone else might risk the accusation of downplaying them.
Werner Klemperer, John Banner, and Leon Askin served in the US Army during WW2.
In another side note John Banner had an uncredited role as a surrendering German officer in the movie “Go for Broke!”.
German Officer: What kind of troops are these, Chinese?
Lt. Michael Grayson: Japanese. Didn’t Hitler tell you? Japan surrendered. They’re fighting on our side now.
My father’s regiment oversaw administration of liberated concentration camps at the end of the war (he never discusses it). He also attended the Nuremberg trials.
Robert Clary (lebeau) died yesterday.. was in his 90’s. HH’s was one of my favorites growing up.
It was one of his ways to get back at the Germans.
That was a horror. It would give me nightmares. Just seeing the camps liberation brings one to tears. Some died as they were being rescued in the arms of the rescuers. War is hell. But that would haunt someone to their grave.
Actually, I thought this was pretty widely known. They insisted the Nazis be portrayed in this manner as a condition of accepting the role.
Over the years, many Jewish comedians have told Holocaust jokes. They are the only ones that can or should.
John Banner, Shultz, also played a nazi in 36 hours, a kick-ass movie starring James Garner. 1965.
My fathers best friend caught a German trooper taking a piss on a tree all by himself in France shortly after D Day. He never tired of telling the story of going “Hey you!” - just as the fellow looked over his shoulder, his face vanished in a cloud of red mist from a 30.06 round at relatively close range LOL - great story
In 1962 I was a 7th grader at Altus AFB. Some of the SAC crewmembers at the time, B-52s and KC-135s, were former POWs. There was NO appreciation for that show.
I visited Dachau IN THE EIGHTIES--forty years after liberation.
That visit still haunts me. I had an opportunity to go back later and I refused.
However I knew an old guy who just had a different view of the program, which he had every right to. Personally I thought it was a good thing to ridicule the nazis.
Anyway this is all in the news with the recent passing of Robert Clary. RIP.
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