Oh yes, he did. Was an EOD guy. Always amazed me he could look back at that time and poke fun of Hitler.
He’s got a great sense of humor, that’s for sure.
I saw an interview with him (I think it was in a documentary about cutting the soundtrack for The Producers when they were getting ready to open on Broadway) where he basically said that he came from a time/school where you fight back at your enemies by ridiculing them. Hitler was the biggest enemy to the Jews certainly in his lifetime, and possibly in history, so it was only natural for him to turn his comedy talents to mocking and belittling him. (As in The Producers and also his remake of Jack Benny's To Be or Not To Be.)