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| Angelika/Mike Schilli |
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Michael Recently, an American colleague told me that as a little boy, he used to watch "Hogan's Heroes" on TV, a popular and funny early evening series about a group of US soldiers in a German prisoner-of-war camp during World War II. For research purposes, I programmed it into our TiVo--and what do you know, the 1960s series was repeated on some obscure channel at an ungodly hour and successfully recorded by the TiVo. These episodes are truly hilarious!
The Germans in the series speak English with a terrible accent, are all extremely obedient to authority, and incredibly stupid. The prisoners, on the other hand--English, French, and Americans, led by the American Colonel Hogan--are secretly running the camp. They use hidden tunnels to the outside, radio equipment, steal tanks, and won't escape simply because so they can continue spying and pulling strings behind the scenes.
The German camp commandant Klink (played by a recently deceased German actor named Werner Klemperer) and the good-natured but simple-minded Sergeant Schultz just pretend to care, but ultimately they have given up against the cunning prisoners and grant them unusual freedoms. This way, if a car with swastika flags and a pompous SS officer arrives, they can rely on the camp appearing exemplary.
The typically American historical mix-up is, of course, hilarious: Pickelhaube helmets were no longer around in the Second World War, and there were probably hardly any commanders like Klink who wore a monocle. But, hey, if it's supposed to be German, then go all in; all that's missing is Oktoberfest!
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