When "Hogan's Heroes" became a national television phenomenon in the 1960s, the critics sharpened their knives and went at it as the lowest possible taste. Even "Mad Magazine" did a nasty swipe at it's improbabilities (not noting that those improbabilities were built in for emphasizing the evils that real Allied veterans faced against the real Nazis). I remember that the MAD satire suggested going one step better - do a series about Jewish concentration camp inmates called "Hochman's Heroes". Nobody, certainly not the writers and producers of "Hogan's Heroes", ever suggested the death camps were funny or material for possible humor.
When Werner Klemperer was on a talk show (Mike Douglas or Merv Griffin, I forget which) in the 1970s talking about his Emmy winning role of Col. Wilhelm Klink, Klemperer explained his willingness to play the commandant of a German P.O.W. camp in World War II. After all, like fellow stars John Banner, Leon Askin, and Ron Clary he was a survivor of the period, and a Jew (and so like Banner and Askin he had fled the Nazis, unlike Clary who was in a concentration camp but survived). Klemperer made certain that none of the proposed episodes would ever glorify the Nazis (he termed them, "those fellows" - a rather mild use of language but he was a gentleman) before he agreed to sign up. One has to look at his long career in film and television to see how consistent he was. Klemperer could play villains, and he certainly was very effective playing die-in-the-soul Nazis. He appeared as Adolf Eichman in one film, and was the Nazi fanatic at the Nuremburg trials in "Judgement At Nuremburg" ("Traitor! TRAITOR!!" - his most famous line there at Burt Lancaster). Even in an episode of ONE STEP BEYOND he was a loyal SS man trying to flee Nazi Germany in it's dying days on a submarine to South America. Like the great Conrad Veidt, Klemperer knew his real enemy and did a fine job delineating the particular animal to the world. So curiously did Banner, who played Gregor Strasser in the movie "Hitler", with Richard Basehart.
If one sees the episodes, the more typical Nazi slime are not the comic caricatures. Only one comic caricature, Howard Caine, never has a redeeming feature - but he is a Gestapo officer. The late Leon Askin (he recently died) is always throwing his fat bulk about as General Burkhalter, and does gloat at possible Allied defeats, but he is a family man, always trying to push the possible marriage of his hideous sister (Kathleen Freeman in a typically good performance) with the trapped Klink. John Banner's simple soldier Sgt. Schultz has a long tradition going back to the post World War I novel "The Good Soldier Schweik", about the unconvinced conscript who is there just to survive and go home. The show was based (in part) on the William Holden film of the play "Stalag 17", where Otto Preminger was the conniving camp commandant and Sig Ruman was the jovial, untrustworthy sergeant. In the context of that fine Billy Wilder film both roles were well written and cast. But the variations in Klink and Schultz in the television series are (odd to think of it) rounder and more believable.
The episode that I think reveals the truth about them is one where Hogan (Bob Crane, a talented man who was brutally murdered a few years later) manages to convince the Nazi leadership near the camp that the Allies and the Axis have decided to end the war. Klink, Burkhalter, Schultz, Hogan are in Klink's office toasting with schnapps, and now in a relaxed mood, they discuss future plans. Hogan will return to the states and his former job. Burkhalter will still be in a command position in the post-war Nazi Army. But there will be (naturally) a large number of soldiers and officers on all sides who will be decommissioned. While the human Klink is glad the war will be over, he sadly shakes his head. He doesn't know what he will do in the post-war world. He will have his half-pay pension, and has saved a little money. He will have to find work of some sort. Then he looks at Banner and (somewhat mockingly) says, "And you Schultz, what will you do?" Banner, quietly sipping his schnapps, says, "Oh, that's no problem...I will always have a job waiting for me at the Dinkle Toy corporation." The other three are not surprised, but it does fill in some of Schultz's background. One can see him making or selling little toys. Klink says, "Oh, that company is huge. It's the largest toy firm in Europe. What job do you have there?" Perfectly timed, Banner savoring his schnapps and the impact of his comment says, "I AM THE DINKLE TOY CORPORATION!" Klink's eyes widen and his ever present monocle pops out. That in the post-German world lowly, put upon Schultz would actually be a major industrialist never occurred to the Colonel. And in one's mind, recalling the economic miracle that has made Germany the muscular power it is since 1950, the "Schultz"s of that country did their job pretty well.
That is why I feel the series was better written and thought out than many of it's critics felt. It didn't glorify what was horrible and unjustifiable in German occupied Europe from 1938 - 1945. It slapped that down, and showed the shape of things to come.
When Werner Klemperer was on a talk show (Mike Douglas or Merv Griffin, I forget which) in the 1970s talking about his Emmy winning role of Col. Wilhelm Klink, Klemperer explained his willingness to play the commandant of a German P.O.W. camp in World War II. After all, like fellow stars John Banner, Leon Askin, and Ron Clary he was a survivor of the period, and a Jew (and so like Banner and Askin he had fled the Nazis, unlike Clary who was in a concentration camp but survived). Klemperer made certain that none of the proposed episodes would ever glorify the Nazis (he termed them, "those fellows" - a rather mild use of language but he was a gentleman) before he agreed to sign up. One has to look at his long career in film and television to see how consistent he was. Klemperer could play villains, and he certainly was very effective playing die-in-the-soul Nazis. He appeared as Adolf Eichman in one film, and was the Nazi fanatic at the Nuremburg trials in "Judgement At Nuremburg" ("Traitor! TRAITOR!!" - his most famous line there at Burt Lancaster). Even in an episode of ONE STEP BEYOND he was a loyal SS man trying to flee Nazi Germany in it's dying days on a submarine to South America. Like the great Conrad Veidt, Klemperer knew his real enemy and did a fine job delineating the particular animal to the world. So curiously did Banner, who played Gregor Strasser in the movie "Hitler", with Richard Basehart.
If one sees the episodes, the more typical Nazi slime are not the comic caricatures. Only one comic caricature, Howard Caine, never has a redeeming feature - but he is a Gestapo officer. The late Leon Askin (he recently died) is always throwing his fat bulk about as General Burkhalter, and does gloat at possible Allied defeats, but he is a family man, always trying to push the possible marriage of his hideous sister (Kathleen Freeman in a typically good performance) with the trapped Klink. John Banner's simple soldier Sgt. Schultz has a long tradition going back to the post World War I novel "The Good Soldier Schweik", about the unconvinced conscript who is there just to survive and go home. The show was based (in part) on the William Holden film of the play "Stalag 17", where Otto Preminger was the conniving camp commandant and Sig Ruman was the jovial, untrustworthy sergeant. In the context of that fine Billy Wilder film both roles were well written and cast. But the variations in Klink and Schultz in the television series are (odd to think of it) rounder and more believable.
The episode that I think reveals the truth about them is one where Hogan (Bob Crane, a talented man who was brutally murdered a few years later) manages to convince the Nazi leadership near the camp that the Allies and the Axis have decided to end the war. Klink, Burkhalter, Schultz, Hogan are in Klink's office toasting with schnapps, and now in a relaxed mood, they discuss future plans. Hogan will return to the states and his former job. Burkhalter will still be in a command position in the post-war Nazi Army. But there will be (naturally) a large number of soldiers and officers on all sides who will be decommissioned. While the human Klink is glad the war will be over, he sadly shakes his head. He doesn't know what he will do in the post-war world. He will have his half-pay pension, and has saved a little money. He will have to find work of some sort. Then he looks at Banner and (somewhat mockingly) says, "And you Schultz, what will you do?" Banner, quietly sipping his schnapps, says, "Oh, that's no problem...I will always have a job waiting for me at the Dinkle Toy corporation." The other three are not surprised, but it does fill in some of Schultz's background. One can see him making or selling little toys. Klink says, "Oh, that company is huge. It's the largest toy firm in Europe. What job do you have there?" Perfectly timed, Banner savoring his schnapps and the impact of his comment says, "I AM THE DINKLE TOY CORPORATION!" Klink's eyes widen and his ever present monocle pops out. That in the post-German world lowly, put upon Schultz would actually be a major industrialist never occurred to the Colonel. And in one's mind, recalling the economic miracle that has made Germany the muscular power it is since 1950, the "Schultz"s of that country did their job pretty well.
That is why I feel the series was better written and thought out than many of it's critics felt. It didn't glorify what was horrible and unjustifiable in German occupied Europe from 1938 - 1945. It slapped that down, and showed the shape of things to come.