Talk:Johannes Heesters

Any Verification for this sentence?
Heesters is controversial in his homeland, having performed for the National Socialist regime of Germany and having spoken fondly of Adolf Hitler in recent years.[2]

The article mentioned as source says nothing like that Heesters has "spoken fondly of Adolf Hitler in recent years." I suggest to remove this statement until someone comes up with some kind of proof.

POV Concerns and Just Plain Weirdness
So evidently the person(s) who wrote this article thinks that with respect to being rude to an old friend of Hitlers: "The opinions greatly differ, although the general opinion is that it is no way to treat a 105 year old." HUH??? Whose general opinion? Certainly I don't think it would be true in Canada or the U.S.  Here rudeness to extremely old nazi-symapthisers isn't frowned upon. But in any case maybe this is the general opinion in Holland (although frankly I absolutely doubt it - Netherlanders remember the Occupation), if so please back up this statement of fact with some sort of objective verification. Otherwise I will remove this ridiculous sentence. Canuckistani 17:14, 16 December 2008 (UTC)

When Heesters was asked on the 2008 TV show about Hitler - he assumed - as anyone would with any intelligence - that as a 105 year old man who was old enough to have met him - and under his status of being an entertainer - the interviewer wanted a personal recollection and comment from him about Hitler - i.e. something that anyone and everyone would not necessarily know. Otherwise why ask him ? Why not just ask anyone - as we all know the terrible deeds Hitler committed. The whole point surely of bringing up the subject of Hitler to Heesters who met him in casual entertainment circumstances was the rarity of being able to speak to someone who could give a personal insight or comment. Heesters just said that Hitler had been pleasant to him but in German what he said was that he was a nice guy ( to him )- we know better not said like that - but all he meant was and what he should have said was that inspite of what we all know about Hitler he was pleasant to him when he met him on a personal level. Something like that. How interesting would the show have been if when asked about Hitler Heesters said - well of course he was a monster and do you know he killed so many people in World War Two. We all know that - obviously something individual to Heesters was what was required and at 105 he tried to give it but was persecuted on a renewed basis ever after very unfairly. There is no evidence that he ever had any Nazi sympathies whatsoever. He just made a very successful career PRIOR to the war in Germany which he continued. Due to Holland being occupied they always held it against him. He just got on the best he could with his career as anyone of us would have done. He cannot help it if Hitler liked his singing - atleast it proved he had good taste in something as alot of other people also liked his singing but he is not persecuted constantly because of any other admirer only a supposed Hitler/Nazi connection. Perhaps now the poor guy has passed away these persecutors may give him the respect in death they failed to give him in life. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.65.240.168 (talk) 16:03, 8 January 2012 (UTC)

Dead?
Recent Deaths Page here on wikipedia reports his death, but with lack of citation. Can anyone find anything on this? Weatherman90 01:03, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Alive!
On July 27, 2006, Heesters gave a concert in Bad Ischl. See Antonio Fian's review at http://derstandard.at/?url=/?id=2534855. &lt;KF&gt; 20:25, 11 August 2006 (UTC)


 * Also still newsworthy it seems.--T. Anthony (talk) 11:40, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

Feb. 18, 2008 in his town of birth Amerfoort. Remarcably recovery after fall at Newyear!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.90.239.171 (talk) 23:09, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

IMDB claim
IMDB claims that he was the favourite actor of Adolf Hitler. I cannot find any evidence of that (some pages claim that Clark Gable or Peter Lorre were his favourite). However, there are reports that Heesters was Hitler's favourite actor for the rol of Danilo (in theater, not in the movies). I could not forward this to IMDB but I do not have enough "experience". Is there anyone who has, and is willing to report this to IMDB? 62.163.167.174 21:52, 30 August 2006 (UTC)
 * I have often heard of it and I have also read about it, e.g. in this article released by "Die Welt" (published by Axel Springer AG) in February 2004 So it could be true that he was in fact Hitler's favourite actor...--Martin8721 01:30, 12 September 2006 (CET)

Roger Tréville
Roger Tréville was 103 years old. He is oldest actor http://imdb.com/name/nm0874576/ http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Tr%C3%A9ville http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Tr%C3%A9ville —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 83.30.172.74 (talk) 07:44, 7 December 2006 (UTC).


 * On what planet 103 is oldern than 108? 46.114.106.184 (talk) 03:31, 1 August 2022 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Heesters at 98.jpg
Image:Heesters at 98.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.BetacommandBot 23:14, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

Line removed
I removed this from the very end of the "Career" section:


 * His longevity is not atypical for his family. One of his grandfathers died at age 108.

This has had a fact tag attached for over a year now. Lots of people have looked at the article in the meantime, but nobody has provided a reference for the claim. Thus, I don't think it should be in the article until and unless such evidence is provided. Loganberry (Talk) 16:12, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

How about...
...trying to get this to FA-status? Does it have any chance? Pierlot (talk) 11:20, 5 April 2011 (UTC)


 * The fact that fan pictures of Heesters are currently being spammed around Wikipedia would weigh against it. --CliffC (talk) 12:29, 8 April 2011 (UTC)

Source?
Who added this part:

"Heesters lived in a house he was given by the Nazis – it was taken from a wealthy Jewish family whose possessions had been confiscated by the Nazi Regime. Heesters also corresponded with Goebbels, signing every letter with "Heil Hitler". On top of this he has been known to have funded the German war machine by donating money to the weapon industry. For this, Heesters has become a very controversial figure in the late 1970s. Heesters, however, has always denied these accusations despite the existence of proof."

I'm certain Heesters is some sort of crook and he's definitely not that well loved in the Netherlands (where I come from) but I've never read anything about this 'fact.' And someone who puts this in the lemma and states there is proof, should provide that proof. Because there is no citation whatsoever I think it should be removed very quickly. Guidje (talk) 08:28, 20 July 2011 (UTC)

NPOV
Heesters role under tha Nazis are not really known. The article a t the end sais, he was near to the Nazis. But theres nothing known by him, what's shown Sympathy for the NS-System. In 1938 he made a guest tour in the Netherlands - togesther with jewish musicans: "[... so etwas tut keiner, der von braunem Gedankengut beseelt ist. Und auch niemand, der in jener Zeit ausschließlich an seinen Aufstieg denkt.]" A bit more neutral would be good for the article. Also his Hitler-statment was much more problematic. So "funny" people told an old and at the end "not-so-fit-in-head" man what he should say. And after he had say this, they've played rebellion. Great theatre! Marcus Cyron (talk) 03:07, 26 December 2011 (UTC)

Controversial
The introduction says he was a "controversial figure for his actions during the Second World War and his success in Nazi Germany". Yet there is pretty much nothing in the article to suggest controversy. What is controversial about being a successful actor in the 1930's? Do we describe actors who were active in the Soviet Union as being controversial?Royalcourtier (talk) 06:39, 15 June 2014 (UTC)


 * The section on Nazi Germany was full of contradictions and confusions. At one point it said that he denied "visiting" concentration camps. In a previous sentence it is stated as a fact that he visited Dachau, and later it is said he admitted visiting it, but denied performing there. There was also the bizarre assertion that "he knew about" the existence of concentration camps. Well of course he did. The whole population of Nazi Germany and the world knew about the existence of concentration camps. They weren't a secret. It was death camps that were secret. The section also referred to Mr. "Jopie" (presumably his nickname) with no explanation, and to his role as "Danilo" with no explanation. I've tried to clarify the structure. Paul B (talk) 21:46, 5 May 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
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