Wolfgang Hochstetter

Major Wolfgang Hochstetter was a recurring antagonist on the 1960's sitcom Hogan's Heroes. An officer of the dreaded Nazi SS, Hochstetter was somewhat of an exception to the other Nazi officers on the show, like Colonel Klink and Sergeant Schultz. While he could be fooled or tricked, he was not blazingly incompetent or cowardly, and would not have hesitated to kill every POW in the camp, if he saw the need or simply had the desire. Fortunately, Colonel Hogan and his men simply upped their game to keep on accomplishing their missions.

Despite his intelligence, Hochstetter repeatedly uses Stalag 13 as the staging ground for some action or other, enabling Hogan and his men to intercept and usually stop what he's up to cold. General Burkhalter, Klink's superior, also despises Hochstetter, and while he may not fear him, the SS is another story. He is the closest thing to a real Nazi that the comedy, often criticized for the way it depicted World War Two and the Nazis, would ever see. He had a sort-of catchphrase in 'Who Is This Man?' whenever Hogan would barge into Klink's office unannounced.

Hochstetter, while harder to dupe, was perhaps even more vulnerable than Klink and Burkhalter to a suggestion that investigating this or that matter would offend or upset his higher-ups. He was not so devoted to his evil cause that he would stick his neck out too far.

Howard Caine, born Cohen, who played Hochstetter, was, like many of the actors on the show portraying Nazi officers, Jewish. They regarded the sitcom as the ultimate revenge on the Nazis, demystifying them and making them look like fools.