Hogan's Heroes

Hogan's Heroes was a television sitcom that ran on the CBS television network from 1965 to 1971. Starring Bob Crane as Colonel Robert Hogan, the show was set at Stalag 13, a German prisoner of war camp for Western Allied prisoners during World War II. In the plot, Stalag 13 was a "Luft Stalag", located near the village of Hammelburg, run by the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) for Allied Air Force personnel. The producers of the show greatly stretched reality, as in allowing a black prisoner to be barracked with Whites, something that the Nazis would never have allowed in real life.

Popularity

Years after its American debut, the show became popular in Germany. In response to both sensitivities over Nazism and German laws which prohibit Nazi symbolism, when German characters raised their arms and said "Heil Hitler" in the original version, the dubbed German version would bowdlerise that line into something ridiculous, such as "The wheat grows this high". The show is currently running in Germany, with a newly dubbed soundtrack without such bowdlerism.

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It also introduced a new character, the cleaning-lady, who is referred to but never seen, as she was not in the English-language original. She was probably invented to fill up space where the characters were still talking but the meaning had already been conveyed due to the differences between the languages.

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Frequent pop culture references to the show are a testament to its popularity. For example, it is referred to in multiple episodes of The Simpsons. In one episode, Col. Klink appears to Homer Simpson in his dreams and is actually voiced by Werner Klemperer.

Related Topics:
Pop culture - The Simpsons

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