# German you learned from "Hogan's Heroes" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 15, 2017, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-you-learned-from-hogans-heroes/786614 "2017-05-15T00:25:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2017, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-you-learned-from-hogans-heroes/786614/41 "2017-05-16T14:48:51Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > “Mein Herr” is a formal way of saying sir. However, it would have been more realistic to use the military title: “Jawohl, Herr Oberst” when speaking to Col. Klink, for example. … In which case, \*Herr \*is used as an honorific. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2017, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-you-learned-from-hogans-heroes/786614/42 "2017-05-16T17:13:59Z")
> [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](#): > > “eins”, “zwei”, “drei”, “vier”, “fünf”, “sechs”, etc… > Counting 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, etc… > When Schulz would count the prisoners to report to Klink. Hogan: _Elf i_s next, Schultz - eleven. Schultz: urr I know how to count! > [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > Why wouldn’t Hitler call and drop by for a visit when he was in the neighborhood? There never was a successful escape from Stalag 13 and Klink was named Kommandant of the month and won a free trip to Paris (a plot to get Kinchloe to Paris because a former high school classmate is a spiritual medium to the commander of the German garrison there). Well, when you put it that way, it’s totally believable!🙂 “Never trust a fat man, Klink!” “Love your Stalag!” ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2017, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-you-learned-from-hogans-heroes/786614/43 "2017-05-16T17:30:44Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > From the pilot: _Herr Oberst, Sie mussen mir glauben!_ (“Colonel, you have to believe me!”) > > Here’s a fun idea: Name the most improbable actors ever to play Nazis on _ **Hogan’s Heroes** _. > > I nominate Gavin “Murray Slaughter” MacLeod and Harold “Martin Morgenstern” Gould. > > John “Dr Phillip ‘Bones’ Boyce” Hoyt comes in a close third. Jack Riley, “Mr. Carlin” from _The Bob Newhart Show_, was in the same episode as Mr. Whipple: _Operation Hannibal_ ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2017, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-you-learned-from-hogans-heroes/786614/44 "2017-05-16T17:48:06Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > You know for all the craziness that gets debated about Hogan’s Heroes…I never hear anything about the brave casting of Ivan Dixon. It might be related to the fact that the show was produced by Bing Crosby. Interestingly the fact that kinch was such a central character made it impossible for them to release a “southern cut” of the show with the black characters censored out which was common practice at the time. Also almost all of the Germans were played by jews. Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2017, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-you-learned-from-hogans-heroes/786614/45 "2017-05-16T18:12:15Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > From the pilot: _Herr Oberst, Sie mussen mir glauben!_ (“Colonel, you have to believe me!”) The guy who delivered this line (Wagner, “The Informer”) was Noam Pitlik, who played the son of the Jewish grandmother that “adopted” Jim Nabors in an episode of _ **Gomer Pyle, USMC** _. Looking at IMDB, I see that the \*\*\*Hogan \*\*\*pilot was directed by Robert Butler, who also directed the first _ **Star Trek** _ pilot. I see too that the great Hans Conried played an Italian (“Major Bonacelli”). I had completely forgotten that; I only remember Vito Scotti in the same role. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2017, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-you-learned-from-hogans-heroes/786614/46 "2017-05-16T18:19:19Z")
Until this thread, I’d never realized that all of the prisoners were Air Force/Air Corp etc. I would have sworn that Kinch and Carter were army and that Newkirk was navy. ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2017, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-you-learned-from-hogans-heroes/786614/47 "2017-05-16T18:25:17Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > Until this thread, I’d never realized that all of the prisoners were Air Force/Air Corp etc. I would have sworn that Kinch and Carter were army and that Newkirk was navy. It’s because they’re all there pre-D-day prisoners so they’re all shot down bomber pilots and crew. Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2017, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-you-learned-from-hogans-heroes/786614/48 "2017-05-16T18:28:52Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > Until this thread, I’d never realized that all of the prisoners were Air Force/Air Corp etc. I would have sworn that Kinch and Carter were army and that Newkirk was navy. The air force _was_ part of the U.S. Army in W. W. II. (U.S. Army Air Corp.) It didn’t become a separate branch of the armed forces until 1947. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2017, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-you-learned-from-hogans-heroes/786614/49 "2017-05-16T18:36:08Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > Until this thread, I’d never realized that all of the prisoners were Air Force/Air Corp etc. I would have sworn that Kinch and Carter were army and that Newkirk was navy. Newkirk wore a very distinctive RAF uniform. Carter had the USAAF-issue sheepskin jacket and ball cap. Of the Americans, only Kinch was never seen in an air force uniform. I’ve never been able to pin down LeBeau: If Louis was at a _Luftstalag_, he must have served in _l’armée de l’air_, but his uniform hardly looked like that of an aviator. All captured airmen were under the protection of Hermann Goering, who still harbored some chivalric “Knights of the Air” feelings from the First World War. (Of course, this didn’t help you much if angry civilians got to you first and lynched you; or if the Gestapo got you after Hitler and Himmler’s “Bullet Order” was issued. This was the fate that befell “The Fifty” from The Great Escape: their names were pretty much selected at random for execution.) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2017, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-you-learned-from-hogans-heroes/786614/50 "2017-05-16T18:38:41Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > The air force _was_ part of the U.S. Army in W. W. II. (U.S. Army Air Corp.) It didn’t become a separate branch of the armed forces until 1947. The USAAC was superseded by the USAAF in 1942, but continued to exist as a separate entity for some time. What purpose this served, I’ve never been able to find out. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2017, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-you-learned-from-hogans-heroes/786614/51 "2017-05-16T18:52:54Z")
It’s also worth noting that in American ETO aircrews, the pilot, co-pilot, bombardier, and navigator were all officers. The flight engineer, radio operator, and remaining gunners were all at least buck (three-striper) sergeants. This was done to ensure they got better treatment if captured by the Germans or their European allies. I’m not sure what AAF policy was in the Pacific, or if the Japanese even gave a shit who was what rank. My impression is that they didn’t. The British system was somewhat different from the Americans’; f’rinstance, you didn’t need to be an officer to pilot a plane. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2017, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-you-learned-from-hogans-heroes/786614/52 "2017-05-16T18:58:41Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > The USAAC was superseded by the USAAF in 1942, but continued to exist as a separate entity for some time. What purpose this served, I’ve never been able to find out. 😕 Correction noted. Ignorance successfully fought. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2017, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-you-learned-from-hogans-heroes/786614/53 "2017-05-16T19:27:26Z")
With regard to black American POWs, I’ve read that the Germans often treated them better than their white compatriots did. In the segregated American forces of the time, Kinch definitely would not have been serving on as a radioman on a bomber. I wonder about Baker, though—if he wasn’t “white” enough to have been an exception. He did wear a late-WWII issue nylon flight jacket, so I suppose it’s possible he “snuck in under the wire” sometime after D-Day. I’m curious too as how Jewish AAF prisoners were treated. Fred Freiberger, the producer of \*\*\*Star \*\*\*_ **Trek** _’s third season, once said he was scared to death when he, as a Jew from the Bronx, had to bail out of a B-17 over Nazi Germany, but he evidently made it through all right. Hitler, BTW, was incensed when he heard about the escape from Sagan. His initial reaction was to order all 76 of the POWs shot once they were rounded up, but Goering managed to convince him this might be “counterproductive.” “Very well,” he replied. “Then more than half of them are to be shot!” ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2017, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-you-learned-from-hogans-heroes/786614/54 "2017-05-16T20:03:17Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Ior if the Japanese even gave a shit who was what rank. My impression is that they didn’t. I think they summarily executed the enlisted men in the Doolittle Raid, and let the officers live. ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2017, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-you-learned-from-hogans-heroes/786614/55 "2017-05-16T22:05:50Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I think they summarily executed the enlisted men in the Doolittle Raid, and let the officers live. Of the three executed 2 were officers and 1 was a corporal. 1 LT died in captivity and the 4 others who were captured survived the war, 3 LTs and one corporal. All the others avoided capture or drowned in the ocean, 2, when they tried to ditch their plane. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2017, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-you-learned-from-hogans-heroes/786614/56 "2017-05-16T23:27:09Z")
> [@drewder](#): > > Of the three executed 2 were officers and 1 was a corporal. 1 LT died in captivity and the 4 others who were captured survived the war, 3 LTs and one corporal. All the others avoided capture or drowned in the ocean, 2, when they tried to ditch their plane. Perhaps beheading the crewman was an arbitrary decision by who ever captured them. ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2017, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-you-learned-from-hogans-heroes/786614/57 "2017-05-16T23:32:55Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Perhaps beheading the crewman was an arbitrary decision by who ever captured them. They were put on trail by the Japanese government for supposed war crimes by firing squad. [Doolittle Raid - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doolittle_Raid#Fate_of_the_missing_crewmen) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-you-learned-from-hogans-heroes/786614/58 "2017-05-17T00:43:09Z")
I remember that in _ **Thirty Seconds over Tokyo** _, Robert Walker’s character was a corporal. That was in early 1942. I wish TMC would sometime show _ **Destination: Tokyo** _, _ **Thirty Seconds over Tokyo** _, and _ **The Purple Heart** _ in order. That would pretty much cover the entire history of the Doolittle Raid, including its aftermath. I especially love _ **The Purple Heart** _, though I haven’t seen it in years. The last time must have been when I was in junior high. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-you-learned-from-hogans-heroes/786614/59 "2017-05-17T01:21:57Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > … In which case, \*Herr \*is used as an honorific. It’s also used the same way as we use “Mister”: \*Herr von Ribbentrop’s whole demeanour during an unpleasant interview was aping Herr Hitler at his worst. \* —Sir Nevile Henderson, British Ambassador to Berlin, August 1939 When _ **Hogan’s Heroes** _ was shown in Germany, Nazi phrases like _Heil Hitler!_ had to be edited out under BRD law. They were replaced with things like “My dog can jump this high!” when accompanied by the Nazi salute. Quite a lot of the dialogue was changed in the dubbed version just to appeal to the German sense of humor. F’rinstance, they talked a lot about Klink’s cleaning woman (who was, of course, never seen), with whom he was supposedly having an affair. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-you-learned-from-hogans-heroes/786614/60 "2017-05-17T01:23:31Z")
_Schultz_ means “Schultz.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-you-learned-from-hogans-heroes/786614.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-you-learned-from-hogans-heroes/786614.md?page=4)