Name: The mixed feelings on Hogan's Heroes
Item: Hogan's Heroes
Author: @enforcer48

_{Promo poster for the show as seen on [IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058812/mediaviewer/rm3188146944/?ref_=tt_ov_i)}

One of the shows I used to come across when I worked in broadcasting was Hogan's Heroes. It took a long time for me to find the desire to sit through an entire episode. It was because of the setting of the show. In short, Hogan's Heroes was the comedic portrayal of the POW experience in a German prison camp during World War 2.

Don't get me wrong, the skits in each episode are funny as standalone comedy. The constant reminder of the war always sent a jarring feeling to my stomach. I don't know about everyone else, but I've always found most characters forgettable. I didn't even like Colonel Hogan (Bob Crane) as a character. In contrast, I remember more about Colonel Klink (Werner Klemperer) and Sergeant Schultz (John Banner).

_{John Banner as Sergeant Schultz as seen on [IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0052308/mediaviewer/rm2770905856/?ref_=nm_ov_ph)}

Speaking of the sergeant, he was the most endearing character in the entire show. Despite serving the Third Reich, he was too pure for the world he lived in. He was like a light in a dark world through comedy. He was too bubbly for his good. Maybe even out of place. Perhaps his character was meant to bring out the individualities within the regime of that time.

Here are some of Schultz's better moments in the show:

Would I ever go back and watch this series? Most likely not. For those of you who can look past the dark times when the show took place, you might find it enjoyable as another classic.

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Comments · 10

@master-lamps(69)· 1296d

As German, I loved that show. I didn't like Colonel Hogan either that much. He is oppressively charismatic. But on the other hand, Sergeant Schulz is really a great character in the show and those characters were real.

But I wonder why the show was translated into German.

@djbravo(75)· 1298d

I haven't seen it at all but the way you say it's a very interesting drama I'll try to watch it in the coming days when I'm done and then I'll let you know what it is. How do I feel.

@itwithsm(72)· 1299d

AS you said this series involved stand up commedy, Every one should watch it with family to spend some good time.

@thunderjack(62)· 1299d

Werner Klemperer, as a German Jew, only agreed to do the show if Klink's plots always failed. John Banner was an Austrian Jew, his entire family was wiped out; he escaped because he was on a theatrical tour at the time the Nazi's took over Austria; Leon Askin (Burkhalter) was also an Austrian Jew; Robert Clary survived the concentration camps. It's a sitcom, so making fun of Nazis was, in part, what this show was about. And of course, the Allies winning the war.

Klink was always lacksidaisical when it came to Nazism, generally his repsonses could be consider a "yeah, whatever", unless the Gestapo (Hochstetter - played by Howard Cain - a Jewish American) or other ranking types were around.

Klemperer won two Emmy Awards for his role as Klink; the series was nominated for a total of 12 awards, with Klemperer receving the only wins.

Quite frankly, one of the best characters on the allied side was Kinchloe, played by Ivan Dixon, who is the serious member of the group, providing a bit of stability to Hogan's team.

And yes, I grew up this series during its original run; my daughter also loves the show, and we have watched the entire series together a couple of times through. It's silly, funny, and yet serious at the same time.

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@stortebeker🏆#107 🎵57 🎬9 📺38 📚10(75)· 1300d

I remember seeing a few episodes of this show on German TV, and what struck me was how well it was dubbed. I don't mean the sync of the lip movement, that's the least you could expect and generally every dubbed show would make sure it got its timing right. But in Hogan's Heroes they also used the characters' accents to underline the regional stereotypes of their personality. Thus, Feldwebel Schulz was a Bavarian, feeding into the German image of a country bumpkin, while Oberst Klink spoke with a Saxon accent, a region typically associated with pedantic and fussy people. This humorous twist is obviously something that could not have been intended by the creators of the series, and sure enough, when I watched it in the original English, I felt lots of the jokes were lost.

The other curious thing is that there was no way on earth Germans would have made a comedy show about Nazis or WWII on their own! Even today it would be hard to imagine, let alone when Hogan's Heroes came out. However, by merely dubbing it, they took the artistic liberty to simply run with it. And it seems like the result was also appreciated by the masses, since they kept airing the show up into the nineties, when I first saw it on TV. By the way, the German title of the series, which typically tends to differ quite a bit from the original, was Ein Käfig voller Helden meaning A Cage full of Heroes.

@nathen007(73)· 1300d

The first time I've seen this show even mentioned since I was a kid! I might watch a few clips just for old times sake. The only thing I remember clearly is the theme tune. No idea where or why you dragged this up from the bank of your memory but how great to read something a bit different!

You and yours have an amazing weekend!

@silverd510(79)· 1300d

I’ve seen a bunch of them as a teenager on reruns. Schultz definitely makes the show.

@pizzabot(60)· 1300d

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@dkid14(74)· 1300d

My uncle used to pay me $1 a episode to record on VHS so he could watch them. He didn’t have cable. Ha

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