Adolph Hitler was known for doing a lot of unusual things during World War II to try to beat his opponents. At one point, he went to the extreme measure of trying to teach dogs how to talk, read, and spell so that he could get ahead of his enemies in the war.
The Germans at that time viewed dogs to be almost as intelligent as humans. Therefore, the Nazi party decided to build an army of frightening, talking dogs. Hitler had hoped that the dogs would eventually learn how to communicate with their SS masters. He even had a special dog school set up in order to teach these army dogs tricks.
New research suggests that the Nazi officials recruited suitable dogs from all over Germany in order to train them how to speak and tap out signals by using their paws. It is even rumored that one of those dogs whispered “Mein Fuhrer” when it was asked who Hitler was. Another service dog learned how to “speak” by tapping the letters of the alphabet with its paws. It was even believed the dog speculated about religion and learned poetry.
Hitler’s ultimate plan was to use those dogs alongside the SS and the guards at concentration camps. Eventually the dogs would have completely taken over the camps, and then no need for human officers anymore. A researcher named Dr. Jan Bondeson has been looking into this rumor. After years of extensive research, Bondeson has finally brought to light some new facts about the “Wooffan SS” experiment.
Bondeson, visited Cardiff University in Berlin to collect as many periodicals and stories as possible to debunk this Wooffan SS experiment. While it sounds bizarre and completely untrue, the researcher was proved wrong.
Hitler was known throughout the war for having loved dogs. He personally owned two German Shepherds named Blondi and Bella. It is known worldwide that he killed Blondi moments before he committed suicide in his bunker in 1945.
He also was quite keen to use dogs in his war efforts, having supported the dog school named Tier-Sprechschule ASRA. The school was based in Leutenburg near Hannover. It was run by the headmistress Margarethe Schmitt. It was set up in the 1930s and continued to be used throughout the war years.
It apparently was somewhat successful. Some of the dogs did tap out words with their paws, and reports suggest that some of the dogs were actually able to imitate the human voice. Then, as stated above, there was apparently one dog that uttered the words “Mein Fuhrer.” However, that seems to be a bit far-fetched.
One of the most successful dogs working in the school was an Airedale terrier named Rolf, who apparently spoke by tapping his paw against a board. Each letter of the alphabet was represented by a certain number of taps.
Rolf was also known to have speculated about religion, learned foreign languages, wrote poetry, and asked a visiting noblewoman if she could wag her tail. The dog supposedly expressed a wish to join the army since he disliked the French.
Another dog, a Dachshund named Kurwenal, received a visit from a troop of 28 uniformed youths from the Nazi animal protection organization on his birthday. It is believed that he spoke by using a different number of barks for each letter. He even told his biographer that he would be voting for Hindenburg.
A German pointer named Don apparently imitated a human voice and used to bark, “Hungry! Give me cakes” in German.
Bondeson has recently published a book on his research about these officer dogs. He had said in an interview that it was absolutely extraordinary what he found. He added that during the 1920s, Germany had actually had animal psychologists who believed that dogs were nearly as smart as humans; the dogs were capable of abstract thinking and communication.
Many people believed that when the Nazi party took over, they would have locked up all the psychologists. However, they were very interested in the psychologists’ new ideas regarding the dogs. Bondeson, has stated that part of the Nazi philosophy was that there was actually a strong bond between humans and nature. They believed that a good Nazi should be animal friendly.
As newspapers were sent out regarding the Jews in the concentration camps, people began demanding to know what had happened to the Jewish people’s pets. They were obviously left behind as their owners were taken away. Hitler praised himself as an animal lover and Goering had been a supporter of animal protection. However, they didn’t care whatsoever about the lives of millions of people. It is mind-boggling.
There were many weird experiments conducted with the dogs and psychologists during the war. They worked with the trained dogs in the school Hitler had organized. Bondeson guessed that the dogs were trained in order to become guards at the concentration camps. This is all shocking new information regarding World War II and Nazi Germany.