Despite being an open parody of the Nazis and its international success, the series was unknown on German television for decades. In 1992, episodes were shown on German television for the first time, but the program failed to connect with viewers due to issues with lip syncing. However, after the dialogue was rewritten to make the characters look even more foolish (which ensured that the viewers understood the characters were caricatures), the show became successful. The show was first aired with a title that translates roughly as 'Barbed Wire and Heels'. Soon it was renamed, somewhat more whimsically in German to Ein Käfig voller Helden ("A Cage Full of Heroes").
An unseen original character—"Kalinke"—was introduced as Klink's cleaning lady and a perennial mistress who he described as performing most of her cleaning duties in the nude
The actors who played the four major German roles—Werner Klemperer (Klink) John Banner , (Schultz), Leon Askin (Burkhalter), and Howard Caine (Hochstetter)—were Jewish. Furthermore, Klemperer, Banner, and Askin were Jews who had fled the Nazis during World War II and Robert Clary (LeBeau) is a French Jew who spent three years in concentration camps. Clary says in the recorded commentary on the DVD version of episode "Art for Hogan's Sake" that he spent three years in a concentration camp , that his parents and other family members were killed there, and that he has an identity tattoo from the camp on his arm ("A-5714"). Likewise, John Banner had been held in a (pre-war) concentration camp and his family was killed during the war. Leon Askin was also in pre-war FranceInterment camp and his parents were killed at Treblinka Howard Caine, who was also Jewish (his birth name was Cohen), was American, and Jewish actors Harold Gould and Harold J. Stone made multiple appearances playing German generals.
As a teenager, Klemperer, the son of conductor Otto Klemperer, fled Hitler's Germany with his family in 1933. During the show's production, he insisted that Hogan always win against his Nazi captors, or else he would not take the part of Klink. He defended his playing a Luftwaffe officer by claiming, "I am an actor. If I can play Richard III, I can play a Nazi." Banner attempted to sum up the paradox of his role by saying, "Who can play Nazis better than us Jews?" Klemperer, Banner, Caine, Gould, and Askin play stereotypical World War II Germans, and all had served in the U.S. Armed Forces during World War II—Banner and Askin in the U.S. Army Air Corps, Caine in the U.S. Navy, Gould with the U.S. Army, and Klemperer in aUS Army Entertainment Unit
Hogan's Heroes centers on Colonel Hogan and his staff of experts who are prisoners of war (POW) in 1942. The plot occurs in the fictional Stalag 13, located in an unspecified place in Nazi Germany, where the winter season is permanent. The group secretly uses the camp to conduct Allied espionage and sabotage and to help escaped Allied POWs from other prison camps via a secret network of tunnels that operate under the ineptitude of commandant Colonel Klink and his sergeant-at-arms, Schultz. The prisoners cooperate with resistance groups (collectively called "the Underground"), defectors, spies, counterspies, and disloyal officers to accomplish this. They devise schemes such as having Sergeant Andrew Carter visit the camp disguised as Adolf Hitler as a distraction, or rescuing a French Underground agent from Gestapo headquarters in Paris.
Colonel Robert Hogan, (Bob Crane) the senior ranking POW officer and the leader of the men in the POW camp.
Colonel Wilhelm Klink, (Werner Klemperer) the commandant of the POW camp. Klemperer remarked, "I had one qualification when I took the job: if they ever wrote a segment whereby Colonel Klink would come out the hero, I would leave the show.
Sergeant Hans Schultz, (John Banner) the camp's first sergeant. He is a clumsy and inept, but extremely affable man who often gives out information to the prisoners for bribes, often LeBeau's gourmet cooking.
Corporal Louis LeBeau, (Robert Clary) a gourmet chef, and patriotic Frenchman. He has trained the guard dogs to be friendly towards the prisoners and uses the dogs' kennels as entrances for the prisoners' allies arriving at the camp.
Corporal Peter Newkirk, the group's conman, magician, pick pocket, card shark, forger, bookie, tailor, lock picker and safe cracker.
Staff Sergeant James Kinchloe, (Ivan Dixon) responsible for communications. Kinchloe usually uses Morse code, telephones, and a coffee pot radio to receive and transmit messages. Casting Dixon, or any African-American actor as a positively-shown supporting character, was a major step for a television show in the mid-1960s.
Sgt. Richard Baker,(Kenneth Washington) replaced Sergeant Kinchloe
Technical Sergeant Andrew Carter, (Larry Hovis) a bombardier who is an expert in chemistry, explosives, and demolitions. He is in charge of making and producing chemicals, and explosive devices
Major Wolfgang Hochstetter (Howard Cain) Caine played two other similar German officers, Gestapo Kriminaldirektor (Colonel) Feldkamp and Major Keitel.
Colonel Rodney Crittendon/ Sir Charles Chitterly (Bernard Fox) Crittendon is aRoyal Air Force group captai, His date of rank is earlier than Hogan's. He attempts to assume command of the POW's. He believes that a POW's only duty is to escape
Marya (Nita Talbot) Marya is a Russian spy who occasionally works with Hogan.
Fräulein Helga (Cynthia Lynn) Colonel Klink's secretary/ Fräulein Hilda (Sigrid Valdis) Both were portrayed as neutral or pro-Allied. Hilda. and Bob Crane were married on the show's set in 1970. Most of the cast and crew were present, and Richard Dawson serving as Crane's best man.
The writers of the 1951 play Stalag 17 a World War II prisoner-of-war story turned into a 1953 film sued, the show’s producer, for infringement. Their lawsuit was unsuccessful.
Colonel Hogan speaks about having been assigned to the Pentagon in 1942. Thing is, the construction of the building only ended in 1943.He must have worked as a construction worker for the monumental site
The show is set in the 1940s (the World War II era). Still, the characters discuss Speedy GonZales and on more than one occasion. The Fastest Mouse of Mexico" first appeared in the cartoon in 1953.
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