Whatever happened to "Hogan's Heroes"?
"AFTER THE WAR"? …
by Wally Six Hairs
Many folks may recall the excellent documentary about a small portion of World War II titled "Hogan's Heroes". This wonderful documentary concerned the lives of various Allied prisoners of war (PoW's) held at Luftstalag XIII (informally Stalag 13) during their internment as well as many of the Germans whose lives intersected those of the prisoners.
Many, many folks have wondered – "what happened to all of those people?" After considerable research involving a variety of sources which may include court transcripts, newspaper and other media articles, my own vivid imagination and other sources [well mostly MY imagination… well, actually, almost EXCLUSIVELY my imagination] I am able to provide you with THE definitive answer to that vexing question.
We will begin with some of the lesser known personalities, starting with some of the German Staff. Then we will go into the lives of the major players in that drama. As they were together for many years, it is quite natural that some of the individuals maintained contact after the war. Also, we must remember that the world of the 1940's was considerably different than the world in which we live today. This history attempts to portray the actions and lives of the individuals without passing any judgement on their choices.
Herewith, then, without further delay, is a short synopsis of the post war lives of the various individuals:
General der Infanterie Albert Burkhalter
Burkhalter's rank was the German equivalent of a three-star General in the US. After the war, General Burkhalter was arrested by the allies and stood trial for his alleged participation in war crimes. For the serious student of WWII, there is an excellent documentary of the post war criminal trials called "Judgement at Nuremburg". This documentary will be referenced below. At the Nuremberg trials, Burkhalter was convicted of a variety of crimes, none of which occurred at Stalag 13. He was convicted for his actions in Poland – largely consisting of the theft of copious amounts of food and drink – notably cognac. Due to his corpulence and his declining health, he was just about to be sentenced to "time served" when a Polish woman who was to be a witness against the next prisoner entered the courtroom, pointed at him, and exclaimed "It's HIM! That crazy German Sex Maniac!" Further testimony revealed that Albert compelled the witness (and other young females) to be present and observe him having sexual relations with a variety of farm animals. He was sentenced to 5 years for the bestiality, and paroled after serving 18 months. Ironically, he died a short time later at a remote resort in the German alps that caters to those kinds of sexual deviants. He inadvertently mounted a female sheep during the rut and a nearby ram was not inclined to tolerate THAT. The ram, well, rammed Albert, severely injuring him, then mounted Albert (repeatedly and very enthusiastically according to witnesses) as he lay face down. He succumbed to his injuries the next day.
Frauline Hilda
You may recall that Colonel Klink (see bio below) had two secretaries during the duration of the documentary, Hilda being the first. She was renowned for her trading of information to Colonel Hogan (see below) in exchange for nylon stockings.
After the war, Hilda became a very vocal and visible activist in what is now known as the LGBT movement. Her revelation of her gender preference came as a shock to those around her. She explained that she had just been adopting that flirty female persona to survive during the horrid Nazi era. Had her homosexuality become known, she most likely would have been executed. She and her companion lived out their days in a small village in southern Germany where they were both teachers. The community simply assumed that the two spinster women were living together to make ends meet on a meager teachers' salary.
Frauline Helga
After Frauline Hilda was transferred from the prison (conjecture is that there was at least some suspicion about her trading information for stockings or perhaps her gender preferences), Col Klink hired Frauline Helga, another Bavarian Beauty. She, too, was noted for her flirtatious manner and her assistance to the prisoners in opposition to the Nazi rule. She stayed with Klink clear through the end of the war and the liberation of the camp. Her post-war life is best covered in conjunction with those of Colonels Klink and Hogan.
Perhaps, at this point, it is best to consider the few folks whose post War lives were lived primarily independent of the other people of Stalag 13.
US Army Air Corps Sergeant (Tech) Andrew Carter
Before the war Andrew had his sights set on being an Accountant. From Muncie, IN, he had just taken the CPA exam and had a job lined up – he was to start in late December 1941 (to get situated before "tax season"). Pearl Harbor changed that. He immediately enlisted in the US Army Air Corps. He was shot down over Germany during the war, and ended up in Stalag 13.
His post war life was tragic, at best. He suffered tremendously from what we now know to be Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. In those days, there was no such diagnosis. After the war "Sgt. Carter" was simply never able to adjust to any sort of "normal" life. He went from job to job, constantly getting fired due to his frequent violent outbursts. He ended up a "bum" (as the homeless were often termed in those days). Tragedy finally struck when he was out hunting and stumbled onto a Boy Scout camp. In his delusional state, he was sure that they were a bunch of Hitlerjunge (or Hitler Youth). He immediately went on the offensive and attacked – killing 5 boys and injuring 4 more. Fortunately, the Scout Master in charge of the camp out was armed and he shot Carter, ending the rampage. Carter survived, was declared incompetent to stand trial and remanded to a mental hospital, where he spent his remaining days. He slid deeper into his delusional world, eventually coming to believe that he was back in Stalag 13, and referred to the hospital administrator as "Commandant Klink." He finally passed at the relatively young age of 52 when he hanged himself, convinced that the "Nazi's" were going to execute him the next day. (In reality, he was to be transferred to a new facility that was working with veterans who had similar PTSD issues to help rehabilitate them.)
RAF Corporal Peter Newkirk
P eter was captured by the Germans during the French collapse of 1940. He was attached to the 61st Fighter Wing, which was part of Air Group 14 of the Royal Air Force Component of the British Expeditionary Force. As the French debacle happened, his unit was suddenly ordered to pull back to England. Peter, however, was AWOL at that time, having met "a nice bird" in a French Café. Having missed his unit's departure, he was ultimately captured by the Germans, and sent off to a PoW camp. Although his AWOL status could have had dire consequences (such as being considered a deserter) for him after the War, his service while incarcerated at Stalag 13 was so valuable that he was given a post war promotion to Sergeant, retroactive to his date of capture with full back pay. He rambled around England after the war (flush with cash from his back pay), eventually tiring of the life he was living. During the War, he had come to realize that the Post WWII economic future was "across the pond" in the United States, SO … he decided to emigrate to the US. Upon his arrival, he changed his name to Richard "Dick" Dawson and allowed his natural charm to work for him. After a long struggle in "show biz", he finally achieved a modest amount of success as a television game show host – most notably his stint on the "Family Feud". His trademark was the old Newkirk c harm with the ladies: He gained notoriety for his addressing the women contestants as "darling" or "love" with his charming British accent and kissing all the women who appeared on the show. Following his stint on TV, Peter "Dick Dawson" Newkirk eventually returned to the British Isles, retiring to a small village and investing in a local pub. He enjoyed the small-town life and was able to return to the reasonably quiet life that he secretly craved. He passed away in 1997 at age 79.
US Army Air Corps Staff Sergeant James Kinchloe
James was also known as "Kinch" and "Ivan". Kinch's story is one of great sadness, turned into one of triumph.
Young Jimmy "Kinch" Kinchloe had a difficult life. Born in Detroit, he had fallen into a life of crime at a young age: helping a local pimp manage his string of girls. Eventually he acquired his own string and became a notorious local pimp. His legal difficulties were too numerous to mention. In the summer of 1941, he was on trial, THIS time on a felony count of pimping. The judge offered him only two choices – a 5-year prison term, OR he could enlist in the service. He chose the Army Air Corps. He was inducted Monday, December 1st, 1941 expecting an easy two-year hitch. The following Sunday, the attack on Pearl Harbor changed everything. He was the radio man in a B-17 that was shot down over Germany, and was the sole survivor.
After the War, Kinch resumed his criminal life. Things began to change when he was arrested on a pandering charge in Birmingham, AL, and ended up in a cell next to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King penned his famous "Letter from Birmingham Jail", sharing it with Kinch as he wrote it. While it DID impress Kinch, he was soon back to his old ways upon release. But he remembered the Fiery young Baptist preacher. When he heard about the Rally in DC (Where Dr. King delivered his famous "I have a Dream" speech), Kinch figured that would be a great place to work his string of girls. HOWEVER, he was SO Moved by the speech that he immediately left that life he had behind, went back to school, then Seminary and became ordained as a Methodist pastor. He worked his way up, becoming the first African American Bishop in his region. He was much beloved by his parishioners. When he passed away, his funeral as attended by 3 former Presidents and an overwhelming multitude of people. He TRULY turned his life around.
French Air Force Corporal Louis LeBeau
A Chef by trade (aren't ALL Frenchmen?) before the war, Louis was drafted after the German invasion of Poland in 1939. In the Air Force, he retained his status as a chef for the Officers' mess. He was stationed at a divisional HQ behind the famous Maginot Line. Of course, when the Germans made an "end run" around the line, by attacking the Low Countries, the HQ was quickly "behind enemy lines". As was SO common with the French, at the first sight of the Germans, his unit of Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys flew the OTHER French flag – the white surrender flag.
After the war he bummed around Europe, as did SO MANY displaced persons. He eventually re-connected with Sergeant Schultz …
Oberfeldwebel Hans Georg Schultz
Hans, also known affectionately as "Schultzie" held a rank equivalent to the US Army rank of Master Sergeant. He was Colonel Klink's "Sergeant of the Guard", and was in charge of keeping the PoW's in line and was also charged with ensuring that there were no escapes from the camp. He hailed from Heidelberg where his family owned the largest toy manufacturing company in Germany – "Schatzi Toy". He was drafted into the Wehrmacht, and then lost the toy company when the factory was converted to military production.
Schultz was fortunate that Stalag 13 was in the American Sector of the post WWII occupation zones. It prevented him from falling into Soviet hands. In any event, after the War, Schultz tried a number of different occupations. Most notable was a stint as a Customer Service Rep for T WA, where he appeared in several training films for new employees – showing them the proper way to work with Customers, etc. UNFORTUNATELY, in the "real world" employers actually expect you to WORK … this went DEEPLY against his moral view of life, so Schultz and TWA fairly quickly parted ways.
He and Louis LeBeau reconnected after a few years, and with a little "liquid encouragement" they realized that they cared for one another. REALLY cared. However, times being what they were, they had to keep their relationship low key. Like Corporal Newkirk, they ALSO decided that the best economic future was in the United States. With help, quite possibly from Col. Hogan, [Citation needed] they both were admitted to the US and settled in Chicago. Louie opened a cute little French Café, and Schultz landed his dream job – he got on as a clerk with the Post Office. Good pay, no work required. Ahhhh. Life was sweet for the two of them. Louie really loved Schultz. In fact, he loved him to death: WAY too many Éclairs, Strudels and other confections weighed heavily on Hans. Literally. At the relatively young age of just 49 Hans Schultz sustained a massive coronary while at work. However, since he generally did so little at work, nobody noticed. In fact, it wasn't until the end of the day when one of his co-workers nudged him and said "Hey Schultzie, time to wake up and go home!" that his death was revealed. At his desk were a half-eaten Éclair and a full apple strudel.
Louie was, of course, crushed. As there was no such THING as "domestic partners" let alone "same sex marriage", Louie got Zero from any of Hans' death benefits or pension. He tried to go on with life, but his heart was no longer in running his little French Café. When it went broke, he returned to Paris where a cute Italian guy temporarily lifted his spirits. However, that didn't last and he eventually died – essentially of a broken heart. His Will asked that he be returned to Chicago where he is buried with his beloved "Schultzie". They are now reunited for all time.
C olonel Robert E. Hogan, USAAF
Colonel Robert E. Hogan, senior ranking POW officer, is the leader of the group. He was born in Bridgeport, CT, but considers Cleveland, Ohio to be his hometown. He commanded the famous 504th Bombardment Group, which, after Hogan was shot down was eventually rotated back to the States and was then re-assigned to the Manhattan Project with Col. Paul Tibbits of Hiroshima fame taking over command of the group from Hogan.
Hogan was shot down during a raid on Hamburg, managed to land the craft safely, and ended up in Stalag 13, whilst his crewmates ended up being interned in various other prison camps, and all survived the war. Col. Hogan had a flair for intricate operations. (As a side note, that is how he was shot down – one Luftwaffe Colonel Biedenbender, had studied Hogan's complex tactics in order to defeat him and was, in fact, promoted to General after shooting down several bombers in the 504th raid and capturing the notorious Col. Hogan. BUT, Col. Hogan got even by framing Biedenbender for bombing a German refinery, thereby ruining Biedenbender's military career). This flair for the complex will come to fruition when we examine his post war relationships with Col. Klink and Frauline Helga.
Immediately following the war, he was retroactively promoted to Major General (a two-star general) skipping past the Brigadier (one-star) rank, with back pay to the date that he was shot down. This windfall allowed Col. Hogan to enter into a lucrative business relationship with Col. Klink. As noted elsewhere, Hogan most likely worked behind the scenes to assist several of the people he knew from the Stalag – but his assistance to Klink apparently had ulterior motives as we will shortly see.
Kommandant-Oberst Freidrich Wilhelm Klink
Klink's military position was Komandant of the camp and held the rank of Oberst – which is the equivalent of being a full Colonel (or Bird Colonel) in US military ranks. Although his given name is Freidrich, he prefers to use his middle name, "Wilhelm". Wilhelm is an old-line Luftwaffe officer of aristocratic (Junker) Prussian descent, but is inept, a bit dimwitted, cowardly, and often clueless and rather gullible. His favorite expression was "No prisoner has ever escaped from Stalag 13", though prisoners could virtually come and go as they pleased. He was born circa 1895 in Leipzig, though he refers to Düsseldorf, where he attended Gymnasium (high school) (graduating 43rd in his class of 45), as his home town. After failing the entrance exams to study law or medicine [Citation needed] he received an appointment from Kaiser Wilhelm II to a military academy, through the influence of his uncle, the Bürgermeister's (Mayor) barber, and graduated 95th in his class of 100. He was the only one of his class who had not risen to the rank of General by the end of the war. He had been stuck at the rank of Oberst for years with an efficiency rating a few points above "miserable".
A fter the war, he, too, was arrested and put on trial at Nuremberg for alleged atrocities during his service. However, after hearing testimony from Col. Hogan and others, the court realized that, in reality, he had been a great asset to the Allies. Accordingly, he was given the Distinguished Service Award by the US. To the best of this author's "research" no enemy officer has ever received such a distinction. Klink, unaware of the dubious nature of the award, nevertheless treasured it and proudly displayed the award in his office. He was clueless as to WHY his fellow Wehrmacht acquaintances treated him with tremendous disdain. He figured they were just jealous.
Hogan, Klink and Frauline Helga …
The post war lives of these three individuals were intricately linked. Some of what follows is, of necessity, conjecture, as the parties involved are either unable to be found, or are incarcerated and unable or unwilling to discuss the events that transpired.
After Col. Klink's acquittal by the Nuremberg tribunal, he was apparently approached by Col. Hogan with a proposition: With all the rebuilding that was going to surely happen in post-war Germany, there was a wonderful opportunity to make a pile of money.
C ol. Hogan helped form Klink, Inc., an investment powerhouse. At Hogan's suggestion, Klink was the President and sole shareholder. Hogan said that since Germany bore so much of the damage that it was only fitting that this be a German firm. He was content to be a silent partner (and puppet master of Klink, as always). Frauline Helga was the receptionist / corporate secretary. The firm was VERY successful in attracting foreign capital to help fund the rebuilding effort. Although NOT a formal part of the company, Hogan was VERY instrumental in growing the business. Helga was apparently his conduit for information ABOUT Klink, Inc. and also the manner he used to secretly control the company. Klink, as always, was completely oblivious.
There were millions of dollars of dollars flowing through the company. Then it all "hit the fan" one day … ALL the money disappeared! Remember, this was before all the modern electronic tracking of the movement of cash. AND all the evidence pointed to – Col. Klink! This caused a complete scandal for the Bonn (West German) government. Klink, Inc. had been SO successful that there had been talk of Klink being installed as the next Chancellor. He was subsequently arrested, and put on trial. At trial, he had finally figured out that Hogan had played him like a fiddle – too little, too late - AND he had ZERO evidence to back up his allegations. Hogan WAS called to the stand, and in his normal aloof & flippant style rightly claimed that he had ZERO to do with Klink, Inc. – other than lending Klink startup money, and, IN FACT, was actually a victim of Klink's alleged fraud – having lost all of his seed money. While he did NOT formally accuse Klink of fraud, he DID suggest that the evidence was certainly compelling.
K link was convicted and sentenced to 25 to life for the huge fraud. As he was taken from the courtroom, he turned to Hogan (who was in the courtroom) made his characteristic fist and just said one final "Hogan!"
Klink served just 5 years before being paroled. He was a broken man. He lived out his days in Düsseldorf, subsisting on a meager pension from the military. There is no record of any of his former colleagues or former prisoners ever contacting him. When he passed away there was just a very minimal attendance at his service. Mostly just "church ladies" who believed that EVERYONE should have at least SOMEONE there.
Hogan and Helga disappeared from the record shortly after the trial – adding fuel to the idea that Hogan had masterminded the whole deal. (This was probably a factor in Klink's early parole). There have been various sightings of Hogan, primarily in places like the South Pacific, the Caribbean, and at various Mexican playgrounds of the 50's (Acapulco, etc.), however none could be authenticated.
The most CONSISTENT report is from St. Maarten's Island where he was supposed to be behind the SunSet bar – where topless women get free drinks. Who knows? It sure sounds like Col. Hogan!
The End
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