- He plays pet of cabaret artiste in story about the Hindenburg air disaster
Goldie the German Shepherd is nothing if not versatile.
But perhaps the professional acting dog’s latest trick has pushed the boundaries of taste too far.
He’s learned how to give the Hitler salute for his performance in a German TV production – simultaneously upsetting both animal lovers and those who fear that their nation’s Nazi past is not the subject for such humour.
The Alsatian called Goldie (pictured) was taught the controversial gesture for a two-part dramatisation about the disastrous flight of the airship Hindenburg
Hitler raises his arm to salute the crowd at a rally in Nuremberg in 1934
The dog has been trained to raise his right paw for a TV drama about the Hindenburg airship disaster in 1937, four years after Hitler came to power.
Thirty-five passengers and crew died when the huge airship exploded into flames as it came in to land in New Jersey in the U.S., bringing the age of airship travel to a dramatic and tragic end.
Goldie plays the devoted pet of a cabaret artist played by Hannes Jaenicke who is opposed to the Nazis in the two-part dramatization, which is due to be screened next week.
The dog was trained to do the salute by being given a biscuit every time he raised his paw.
‘Goldie is a professional film dog and has learned many things in his time,’ said Mr Jaenicke.
‘It was my idea to get him to raise his paw in the Hitler salute. He got a biscuit each time he did it and an animal welfare specialist was on hand throughout.
Mr Jaenicke added: ‘Animals are strictly regulated when they work for German TV.’
But some some animal lovers described the training as a ‘form of cruelty’.
Jens Mueller from Berlin said: ‘At the very least it is politically incorrect. Why make a poor dumb animal pay reverence to history‘s greatest killer?’
Goldie is the same breed as Hitler’s beloved Blondie.
That dog was killed in Hitler’s Berlin bunker as the Fuhrer tested the effectiveness of the cyanide capsules he gave to his inner circle before he shot himself.
The mutt named Jackie, seen here with Finnish businessman owner Tor Borg, was dubbed Hitler by Borg's wife as it raised its paw for the Nazi salute. The Nazis were so outraged they started an investigation
Despite the anger in Germany, Goldie is not the first dog to have been taught how to do the Nazi salute.
Several years ago a Berlin pensioner was given a suspended jail sentence for teaching his German Shepherd Adolf to give the Nazi salute.
But dogs raising their paw to give a Hitler salute have even provoked the ire of the Nazis when they were in power.
Earlier this month it was revealed that two years after the start of World War II they were preoccupied with a Finnish dog called Jackie.
This came to light when papers were released by the German Foreign Office showing how officials had become increasingly angry that the animal, which had been taught to raise its paw mimicking the Nazi salute, was mocking the Fuhrer.
They even started a campaign against the dog’s owner, with the Foreign Office in Berlin commanding its diplomats in Nazi-friendly Finland to gather evidence on Jackie and even coming up with plans to destroy its owner’s pharmaceutical wholesale company.
Historians had not been aware of the strange footnote to the Nazi era before a researcher recently found 30 files containing correspondence and diplomatic cables in archives.
Author Klaus Hillenbrand, who examined the files for a German newpaper article, branded it ‘completely bizarre’, adding: ‘Just months before the Nazis launched their attack on the Soviet Union, they had nothing better to do than to obsess about this dog.’
Jackie’s owner was Tor Borg, a businessman from the Finnish city of Tampere. Mr Borg’s wife Josefine, a German citizen known for her anti-Nazi sentiments, dubbed the dog Hitler because of the strange way it raised its paw high in the air, like German soldiers saluting their Fuhrer.
On January 29, 1941, German viceconsul Willy Erkelenz in Helsinki wrote that ‘a witness, who does not want to be named, said ... he saw and heard how Borg’s dog reacted to the command “Hitler” by raising its paw.’
Mr Borg was ordered to the German embassy in Helsinki for questioning. He denied ever calling the dog Hitler, but admitted that his wife did. He tried to play down the accusations, saying the paw-raising had happened only a few times in 1933 – shortly after Hitler came to power.
The Finnish merchant ensured the Nazi diplomats that he never did anything ‘that could be seen as an insult against the German Reich’.
However they wrote back to Berlin that ‘Borg, even though he claims otherwise, is not telling the truth’.
German ministries, including Hitler’s chancellory, meticulously reported all their findings about the dog.
The economy ministry announced that the German chemical conglomerate IG Farben, which had supplied Mr Borg’s firm with pharmaceuticals, offered to eliminate it by ending their co-operation with him.
The foreign office wanted to bring Mr Borg to trial for insulting Hitler, but in the end, none of the potential witnesses was willing to repeat their accusations in front of a judge.
There’s no evidence that Hitler was ever told of the case, Mr Hillenbrand said.
Mr Borg died in 1959 aged 60. His company, Tampereen Rohdoskauppayhtiö, eventually became Tamro Group, the leading wholesale company for pharmaceuticals in the Nordic countries.