The Real Jews of Hogan’s Heroes with Walter J. Podrazik and Harry Castleman

Who knew they were Jewish? Following the recent death of Robert Clary, the last surviving original cast member of the mid-1960s sitcom Hogan’s Heroes, television historians Walter Podrazik and Harry Castleman discuss the often-overlooked Jewish backgrounds of several of the show’s actors. Aside from Clary, who survived three years in Nazi concentration camps, all of the show’s leading German characters were played by Jews who managed to escape Nazi-controlled Europe. For the actors, was this just another Hollywood acting job, or was there more to it? And how did a sitcom featuring Nazis even come about?

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