Leon Askin who played Burkhalter passed away just last year, at the age of 97!!!
I grew up on Hogan's Heroes, but it hit home more when my job took me to Germany twice or 3 times a year. Then I did research on the show itself. What they tried to do in Hogan's Heroes is what Roberto Benigni did in "Life is Beautiful".
By the way, the German version is completely sanitized and censored - nothing like the original.