In your opinion, of course. Anyone who points out that canonically both Krauts were in the dark will be attacked by enraged butterflies.
Poll in a moment, but don’t let that slow you down.
They knew nothing! NO-THING! storms out of the barracks
Come on, now. Everyone knows there’s never been a successful escape from Stalag 13!
Klink was the handler(although Hogan never found out until after the war), and Schultz was just sympathetic.
Klink and Schultz knew something was up, but they weren’t in on it. Their only major concern was surviving to the end of the war.
Given the stuff they did before Klink found out, doing something about it later would make him wish he was sent to the Russian front. Plus, superficially the prisoners were behaving themselves - no escapes, no riots, no problems, so to his superiors Klink was running a tight ship.
Schultz knew everything, but reporting it was going to do him no good, so he shut up too.
Think if an officer on a Star Destroyer found a bunch of rebel sympathizers on the ship who had been spying for years. You think reporting it to Vader would be good for his health?
Didn’t Schultz once actively and deliberately assist them in a scheme outside the camp, requiring him to pretend to be a general?
Most of what Klink does can be explained by the rule of funny, of course, but a lot of Klink’s conversations with Hogan’s make much more sense if Klink is knowingly and surreptitiously passing information to Hogan–even if that information is only “You need to get down to the tunnel and turn on your listening device, because I am about to have an important conversation in my office.”
And of course, Klink being an Allied agent explains how he was able to emigrate to the US after the war and visit Gotham City.
I suspect the stalag was built on land Schultz had owned before the Nazis took over, and he knew all about the tunnels. He was such a tyrant in the episode in which Hogan had manipulated circumstances to make him commandant because he was pissed at the Heroes for (unknowingly) endangering mission security; the setup worked best with Klink and Schultz in their customary positions.
Klink was honestly trying to do his job as camp commandant, but he was a buffoon and knew nothing of what was going on in his camp.
Schultz just wanted to get through the war without getting himself killed (either in combat or by execution), and while being on the ground he couldn’t help but notice Hogan & co were doing something, but carefully avoided finding out anything about it to keep himself out of trouble.
Schultz changed throughout the seasons. There were times he was very sympathetic and knew people were leaving camp. He would do a prisoner count and tell Hogan the count must be correct. Almost pleading that people be there for roll call. Other times Schultz was shown searching the barracks and acting much more like a guard.
Klink was entirely interested in surviving the war. He knew any escapes would get him transferred to the Russian front. He avoided recognizing any of Hogan’s activities. There were times he seemed sympathetic but I don’t think he was a collaborator.
Which also makes sense if he’s knowingly working for the underground. Hogan & his crew were doing important work, but the whole deal only works if Schultz is in position, covering for them. In turn, they had to cover for him–never being absent in any way that would mandate a search of the barracks that Schultz was not in charge of. When it came down to it, Schultz had to be willing to turn in or kill any one of them to prevent a rigorous barracks search
Which of course explains what happened to Kinch.
nm.
Both of them knew and just hoped to live through Nazis. Gen. Burkhalter new something was up too, but he too wanted to live. Heck, Maj. Hofstedder (related to Leonard?) was convinced something was going on and wanted to catch them, but he had zero cooperation from the Luftwaffe personnel.
The Luftwaffe had orders at the end of the war to kill all the prisoners. It didn’t happen anywhere on the Western Front.
I read the thread title as “How much did Schultz and Klink actually know about Heinrich Himmler’s activities?” …which of course is a darker question entirely.
They really stretched credibility a few times. Klink and Schultz had episodes where they found themselves on airplanes piloted by the prisoners.
Klink even returned to England with Hogan in one episode. Klink was “undercover” trying to steal some secret plans. Hilarious episode. Klink trying to act American and failing miserably.
Werner Kempler was brilliant playing that bumbling character.
A FEW times? The entire concept is a huge stretch allowable only in comedy. How do you figure the prisoners dug the tunnels? Why didn’t Major what’s-his-face simply shoot Hogan et al the first time he got suspicious and put it down as “shot trying to escape”?
That’s not a criticism, by the way. I like HH, and the few episodes done without laugh-tracks are hilarious. (The LT is terribly distracting and actually diminishes the comedy, but that’s another thread.)
Although I like to “believe” that Klink was directly involved with the Allies (the Nimrod episode, as the primary example) I must admit that “it’s only a show” and Klink was mostly as stupid as he was portrayed. The rule of funny trumps logic.
I don’t think anyone could be that stupid in real life, though. If Klink were a loyal German, but stupid, at some point even he could figure out what’s going on. There’s no getting around that Klink knows Hogan is up to something - seeing “Maj Hogan Hoople” at the Hoffbrau is kind of an unmistakeable giveaway! Even an total incompetent would see that turning over covert Allied agents would still be a coup, but whether it would be good for Klink remains to be seen. I give 50/50 whether Klink would have been commended or executed.
Shultz knows they Heroes are running some sort of operation, but I think he actively avoids finding out the extent. “I know nussing!” is his survival mantra. Because of Klink’s incompetence, Shultz reporting Hogan’s activities would not have a good outcome.
Even though Shultz owns the Shotze Toy Company, we really don’t have any evidence that he was actually a competent boss. One could speculate that, if he were, he’d still be running the company, making war materiel.
An interesting movie related to this is *36 Hours *starring James Garner and Eva Marie Saint. It features John Banner as a corrupt sergeant in the German border guard. This was a year before HH but you can see some of Schultz in him even as he cold-bloodedly murders a man. A funny coincidence is that at the end of the film, Banner meets and talks with another border guard played by the actor who played Sgt Shultz in Stalag 17.
I was going to mention that as well. I wouldn’t say he was corrupt so much as just not a Nazi. He doesn’t support the war, so the sooner it ends, the sooner they can get back to how things were.
I love his character: “They told me to drive the enemy from our borders, so here I am, driving you out.”
There were any number of episodes where Schulz knew that the POWs were outside of the camp. An example that pretty much sums up the situation: there was an episode that took place at a cannon manufacturing plant, and Schulz saw the POWs (dressed as civilians) there, but when he confronted Hogan about it, Hogan replied, “You were a guard at the camp we broke out of, and you’re the guard at the plant we broke into.” Schulz said nothing to cover his own ass.
There was also at least one episode where Klink knew that Hogan could leave the camp pretty much at will (an episode where Klink had inadvertently pledged 5000 marks to a couple of officers raising money; in the end, Hogan, dressed as an officer, paid off Klink’s pledge for him).
One of my favorites! Almost every line in the episode is perfect.
That’s Major “Hoople”. Hogan Hoople.
The episode mentioned where Klink and Hogan go undercover to England to steal a Mustang, while being pretty funny, leaves a bit unfinished - what happens when the Germans study the plane and find the Messerschmidt engine in there? They’ll know something is up, and go straight to Klink.