Talk:John Banner

Simpsons

There is an episode of The Simpsons where Banner appears. He is in the nuclear plant and refers to himself as someone the can warm up to, Sgt Shultz from your Hogan's Heros. Obviously, being dead since 1973 his voice was impersonated, but it was good enough to have me believing it was him... being ignorant of his death at the time.

Early Years

"John Banner, being Jewish, spent time in a concentration camp before being released out of Occupied Germany. Lucky for Banner, the time which he spent in the concentration camp, Nazi policies had not yet changed."

What does this mean, that policies had not yet changed? This should be clearer. --—Preceding unsigned comment added by 01:38, 3 July 2005 (talk • contribs)

The entire "early years" section is unclear, and needs work from someone familiar with the man's bio. 68.73.85.6 (talk) 14:01, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

The sentence about concentration camps makes no sense. There was no "Occupied Germany". (Not before 1945, that is.) Austria was occupied/annexed by Germany in 1938 (or "angeschlossen", "connected", as it was called at the time). I guess the remark about policies refers to the fact that in the early days, Nazi policy was directed at kicking the Jews out, whereas later (after the Wannseekonferenz in ) they methodically planned their extermination ("Endlösung").

The article in the German language wikipedia does not mention any concentration camps. It says that he fled to the USA in 1938.

I will delete these two sentence, until we find a source.

--Austrian (talk) 20:50, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

It's noted on NNDB, here. It uses the phrase "prior to the extermination period". Yworo (talk) 20:54, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

NNDB gives neither a date, nor a place nor a source. On their bibliography page they list our wikipedia article -- I am not sure if this is meant to be a source.

imdb says "[Banner] was forced to abandon his homeland after the 1938 Anschluss (union) between Nazi Germany and Austria, which occurred while he was engaged in a tour of Switzerland with an acting company". They don't mention that he was in a concentration camp in Germany before that period.

Our :de: article quotes the book "Rudolf Ulrich: Österreicher in Hollywood" (but I am not sure which part of the article this reference supports). It says that Banner played in Bielitz (Bielsko, Poland) in 1932-33, from 1934-34 in Reichenberg (Liberec, Czechoslovakia). Between 1935 and 1937 he played in Ostrau (Ostrava, Czechoslovakia), and after a 2 year guest performance (perhaps 1937-38?) in Switzerland he emigrated to the US, as he was not able to return to Austria. So when was he in a concentration camp?

I am not saying that de.wikipedia must be right, but this detailed information looks more trustworthy than a mere unreferenced claim by NNDB.

--Austrian (talk) 21:33, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, that's why I asked. But it's also mentioned in IMDb, here (under the "Trivia" section). However the wording is identical to what was in this article, so it's not clear to me who copied from whom. I agree that we need a better source. I tried Google Books but only found info on Robert Clary who did spend time in a concentration camp. This may have just come from somebody trying to read snippets on GB. Yworo (talk) 21:38, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

Categories

Are the categories United States Army Air Forces soldiers and American military personnel of World War II correct? No mention is made of military service in the article. IMDB filmography shows involvement in 13 productions for period 1940–1943. Tomraider (talk) 03:30, 25 January 2011 (UTC)

Interment

"His tombstone no longer stands, as the space has been leased by the cemetery to the Johann Hübner family..." Can anyone provide insight as to what this means? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.27.43.159 (talk) 03:40, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

The comment about the tombstone was removed in June 2015 with the comment "Find a grave fails WP:RS." As the original text on WP was rather detailed I suspect it has some factual basis. Here's the original text:

Less than one year after moving back to Europe, while visiting friends in Vienna, John Banner died from an abdominal hemorrhage on his 63rd birthday. He was buried at the cemetery in the Mauer neighborhood in Vienna. His grave is in Gruppe 57 Reihe 2 Nummer 26. His tombstone no longer stands, as the space has been leased by the cemetery to the Johann Hübner family, but a small marker in German is there, saying (in English translation):

Here is the last resting place of the actor John Banner, known as 'Sergeant Georg Schultz' in the comedy show 'A Cage Full of Heroes' [in English, Hogan's Heroes]. You have provided us with many unforgettable hours; in our hearts you will live forever. We, your fans, will never forget you.

References

The "Find a Grave" link works but I can see why it's not a WP:RS. There is a user provided picture of Johann Hübner's tombstone with a caption that supported what we had in the article. A plastic coated paper plaque is visible in the picture. There's another picture that's a closeup of this plaque which reads:

hier befindet sich die letzte Ruhestätte des Schauspielers

[two photos]

John Banner, 28.1.1910 - 28.1.1973

bekannt als „Feldwebel Georg Schultz“ in der Comedyserie

„Ein Käfig voller Helden“ (engl. Hogan's Heroes)

Du hast uns viele unvergessene Stunden bereitet, in unseren Herzen wirst Du

ewig weiterleben, wir, deine Fans, werden Dich nie vergessen !!!

In English that would be:

Here is the final resting place of the actor

[two photos]

John Banner, 28.1.1910 - 28.1.1973

known as "Sergeant Georg Schulz" in the comedy series

"Hogan's Heroes" (eng. Hogan's Heroes)

You have given us many unforgettable hours, in our hearts you will

live forever, we, your fans will never forget you !!!

I suspect it's something left by a fan. However, assuming that John Banner is or was buried at that cemetery in or near Gruppe 57 Reihe 2 Nummer 26 then we should be able to dig up a WP:RS. One extra clue is that Johann Hübner died in 1988 meaning that if Banner's tombstone was removed it was in 1988 or earlier (assuming Hübner was not buried years after his death). --Marc Kupper|talk 19:42, 6 February 2016 (UTC)

Google and Google news found nothing of interest for '"John Banner" "Schultz" "buried"' and '"Johann Banner" "Schultz" "buried"' for items dated Jan. 1, 1973 to Dec. 31, 1988. I also tried the words "bestatten" and "beisetzen" instead of "buried" to see if there was mention in Austrian/German sources. When I removed "buried" from the search it found a couple of articles but nothing that would help us here as to where he was or is buried. --Marc Kupper|talk 21:08, 6 February 2016 (UTC)