Hitler-Mocking Dog Makes Nazis Angry
The Forward recently reported on the heroic exploits of Wojtek, the Nazi-fighting Polish bear. Now comes belated news of another animal who antagonized the Germans in World War II.
Jackie, a mutt belonging to Finnish pharmaceutical tycoon Tor Burg, was trained to imitate Hitler by his Nazi-hating owners, according to newly released documents cited by the Associated Press. The Nazi regime was so angry about Jackie “that it started an obsessive campaign” against Burg and his German born-wife, AP reports. In the middle of the war, the Foreign Office in Berlin commanded its diplomats in the Nazi-friendly Finland to gather evidence on the dog, and even devised plans to destroy Burg’s pharmaceutical wholesale company, the article explains.
Researchers at the German Foreign Office uncovered a cache of documents and diplomatic cables concerning Jackie, according to the BBC. In one exchange, dated January 29, 1941, German Vice Consul 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,” the BBC reports. Borg was interrogated by the Germans on suspicion of insulting Hitler; he denied ever calling the dog by the German dictator’s name, says the AP, but admitted that his wife called the dog Hitler. The Finnish merchant ensured the Nazi diplomats that he never did anything “that could be seen as an insult against the German Reich,” according to AP. The diplomats in Helsinki wrote back to Berlin that “Borg, even though he claims otherwise, is not telling the truth.” L’affaire Jackie took on epic proportions, according to the BBC, with documents flying between the Foreign Office, the Economy Ministry, the Chancellory of the Nazi government and German diplomats in then Nazi-friendly Finland.
In March 1941, says the BBC, the German Chancellory decided that “considering that the circumstances could not be solved completely, it is not necessary to press charges” against the Borgs. It was unclear whether Adolf Hitler had been involved in the saga himself.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
