Dennis Young
A-List Customer
- Messages
- 439
- Location
- Alabama
Hogan’s Heroes is a favorite show of mine. Many of the Germans on that show had suffered through the Nazi years and were very anti-Nazi…and often Jewish.
Werner Klemperer (Col Klink) was born in Cologne, Germany and demanded that he always portray Col Klink as a buffoon. And he really was a skilled violinist. He joined the US Army during WW2 and served in the Special Services entertaining the troops.
John Banner, (Sgt Shultz) was born in Austria. He was in Switzerland with an acting troup in ‘38 when Hitler annexed Austria. He emigrated to America soon after and actually enlisted in the US Army Air Corps in ‘42. The Jewish Banner defended his character, telling TV Guide in 1967, "Schultz is not a Nazi. I see Schultz as the representative of some kind of goodness in any generation."
Leon Askin (General Burkhalter) was Jewish and born in Vienna. He emigrated to the US in 1940 and served in WW2 as a staff sgt in the Army Air Corp.
I’ve always like these actors and they could be seen in many other tv series of the 60s especially. Daniel Boone, The Partridge Family, Mr. Ed. The Man from U.N.C.L.E., etc. Klemperer even played on an episode of the Simpsons. J
Oh, and btw…the drums you hear in the opening credits? That’s actually Bob Crane (Col Hogan) who was an excellent percussionist.
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