Pictured: an experiment on telepathy between a dog and a person led by Dr. Bondeson
The leadership of fascist Germany tried to teach dogs to speak - Adolf Hitler himself believed that this was quite possible, and that dogs were not far behind humans in mental development
Recent research by historians shows that the Nazis hoped to win World War II with a unit of specially trained four-legged friends.
Attempts by the Germans to create "SS Dog Troops" came to light only recently when they were announced by Professor Jan Bondeson of Cardiff University, who had worked in the Berlin archives for several years.
It turned out that by decision of Hitler, a special school for training dogs of human speech was founded, which was called the Tier-Sprechschule ASRA. The school was located in Leuthenburg, near Hanover, and was headed by Margarete Schmitt. It was opened in the 30s and worked throughout the war. The best trained dogs from all over Germany were gathered there. The efforts of the Germans were not unsuccessful.
One dog learned to answer the question who is Adolf Hitler. She managed to bark: "Mein Fuhrer!" ("My leader!"). And the Airedale Terrier Rolf "spoke" by tapping his paws on the board, with each letter designated by a certain number of taps. In addition, Rolf talked about religion and recited poems by heart. Once, when a nobleman came to the dog school, Rolf asked him: "Can you wag your tail?" Rolf also expressed a desire to go to the army - he did not like the French.
The male dachshund Kurvenal was also popular - as many as 28 members of the youth branch of the fascist organization for the protection of animals came to congratulate him on his birthday. Courvenal barked a certain number of times to indicate letters. He told his biographer that if he had the right to participate in the elections, he would vote for Reich President Paul von Hindenburg.
The German Pointer Don learned to depict human speech. For example, he was able to bark, “Hungry! Give me some cakes!"
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But the Germans were engaged in dog training not for entertainment, but for military purposes - they hoped that such dogs could serve in the ranks of the SS and in the protection of concentration camps in order to free them for other tasks.
Professor Bondeson, who published a book about his discovery, explained that in the 1920s there were many enthusiasts in Germany who studied the psychology of animals and seriously believed that dogs are almost as smart as humans, and are capable of abstract thinking and communication. “When the fascists came to power, you would think that they would put these fanatics in concentration camps, but in fact they were interested in these ideas. After all, the strong connection between man and nature was implied by the fascist ideology. For example, when the Germans began to arrest Jews and throw them into concentration camps, the newspapers were filled with indignant letters from readers who were worried about the fate of the pets left after the Jews,”said the professor.
“The fascists thought more about animal rights than about human rights. Goering was considered the main protector of animals,”he explained, adding that the SS Reichsfuehrer Himmler supplied the dogs to the speech school. This is the basis of his assumption that the dogs were intended to be used in the SS and in the protection of concentration camps.
"Hitler was personally interested in the prospects for the use of trained dogs in war and advised representatives of the German army to consider the feasibility of using them in battle," Bondeson said. However, he stated that these ideas have not found practical implementation - there is no historical evidence of SS men with talking dogs.