TCM this month has been showing a lot of war films and
documentaries, and along with them, plenty of Hollywood movies made during that
time. And in these movies, there’s always a German actor in a Nazi uniform whom
we all know fled Germany, hater Hitler and the Nazis, but somehow they find
themselves, once out of their reach, always playing Nazis in movies, and almost
nothing else.
Can you imagine what it must have been like, to flee for
your life, do what you can to help the Allies defeat the Nazis, and then to
arrive in Hollywood and only get to dress and act like Nazis all the time for
your living? That must have been surreal and infuriating at the same time.
Imagine being a German actor who had to escape
the Nazis, through some perilous adventure to come to America, and then to
arrive and just to be told by the casting department: “Oh, you have a German
accent? Here’s your Nazi uniform.” And if they said they hate the Nazis and
moved heaven and earth to escape them, the casting person might say: “Well, you
sound like one to me. Do you want a job or not?” And so they’d have to say:
“Yes,” at which point they really might have been told: “Fine. Here’s your
Swastika armband. And don’t forget to practice your ‘Sieg Heil’.” And they
might well have mumbled under their breath: “Son of a bitch! After all this,
now I have to be a Nazi anyway? Dammit!”
These actors were often real-life heroes, dedicating time
and personal fortunes to help fight the Nazis. And their portrayals of Nazis in
movies like Casablanca really did
help the war effort and helped beat the Nazis: no joke. But can you imagine
having to flee Nazi Germany just to end up having to pretend to be a Nazi all
the time for your job afterwards? Oh, the irony! It like if Ronald Reagan had
to spend his life making movies where he played Karl Marx, Lenin and Stalin all
the time.
