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Information
Gender: Cisgender male
Race/Ethnicity/Nationality: Caucasian; Germanic descent; Austrian
Profession: Leader of the Third Reich
Brief Profile
He was almost certainly a German shepherd.
Woofwoof Hitler was a character from an early version of the Trench Rats storyline, dating roughly to the late 1980s/early 1990s. He briefly appears in the earliest extant written version of the story, so he was still considered canon circa 1990.
At the time of Woofwoof's creation, I knew very little about Nazi Germany, and the series had a rather more slapstick/comedic tone; I had likely heard of the Holocaust yet was largely ignorant of the details (it was not taught about in early school, I remember watching a TV movie about it only later, in a high school history class), and so this did not play a role in the earliest versions of the series. Woofwoof began to be relegated to the background shortly after when the series began to take a more serious tone, and had disappeared completely by the time of the 2002 reboot. By then he no longer fit into the storyline, so I now consider him a "retired" character.
An additional detail corroborates the approximate time period in which Woofwoof--and Inspector Dobermann, as he was then known--was created/existed. I recall roleplaying these characters, and various Trench Rats (possibly also Nightstalker and Deserta), with my then-best friend on the elementary school playground; specifically, I recall this small, rutted, tree-lined trail that intersected the upper playground, and situated near the end was a stack of old tires. I would climb inside this and pretend to be Inspector Dobermann, trapped by the Trench Rats; whenever one of Dobermann's attempts was thwarted, he would be loudly rebuked by Woofwoof. The elementary school playground was unofficially divided into a part for the lower grades (kindergarten through third grade) and a part for the upper grades (fourth through sixth grades); students separated themselves accordingly. As this play took place in the "upper" playground, that means I was roleplaying these characters between fourth and sixth grade (1986-9).
Woofwoof was an odd addition to the series as he was the only one based on a historic figure, and also, I was uncertain as to how much he should be considered a parody versus an actual character in the story. The one scene in which he appears makes it clear he was largely intended as a ridiculous, comedic character--he's written with goofy German/Austrian dialect which, oddly, Dobermann, Nightstalker, and Deserta seem to lack--yet given the story's serious undertone even back then, I figure it would have been impossible to write him off as a legitimate threat so easily. Even Dobermann (then an antagonist) had his dark moments; and given the real Hitler's actions, this makes treatment of the fictional version as nothing but a parody problematic in my opinion. I do know that I took this comedic approach not out of any attempt to downplay or minimize the Nazis' evil, but to make them look foolish and bungling--a big influence on me at the time, and most of my exposure to the subject, was the Indiana Jones series, which takes a similar approach. (I still attempt this in the current version--depicting most of the Nazis as human (so to speak), yet highly ridiculous, inept, corrupt, and falling victim to their own devices much of the time (partly inspired by photo collections of Nazi officials acting silly and "normal" while atrocities are occurring out of camera view)--though I'm constantly wary that this will be misunderstood as me trivializing what they actually did.) Still, the effort falls rather flat now, and aside from one other brief attempt which I've since abandoned, I ultimately decided against including actual historic figures in my story. "Hitler" is never mentioned by name in the current story (there's simply reference to the "Führer"), and Woofwoof himself has been completely eradicated--frankly, the presence of such a character is just too silly with the story's current trajectory.
I never went into detail regarding Woofwoof's appearance, though I believe I've always pictured him as a black-and-tan German shepherd, like Stephen Gerhardt. He of course had the mustache. My characters back then (male ones, at least) didn't have hair, but given the real Hitler's distinctive appearance, it's possible I would have drawn the parody character with it--I can't be certain--so that's how I've depicted him. I believe I was aware at the time that Hitler didn't tend to appear in military-style uniform; I likely would have depicted him in a suit or that tan outfit the Nazis wore. He was to always be frustrated, enraged, and yelling with a thick accent, partly because that was the sole type of exposure I'd had to Hitler in the media (I assumed that he was always like that, I've since heard that he amped it up--including his Austrian accent--for dramatic effect), partly because he was intended to appear over the top and histrionic. He was to constantly be after the Trench Rats--using his pawns Dobermann, Nightstalker, and Deserta--yet to also be constantly thwarted, and his catchphrase was "Zose...dirty...TRENCH RATS!!"
As time went on, his attributes first shifted to concurrent character General Schavitz--then known as Schavich--then Woofwoof vanished from the story, and then Schavitz was gradually modified and developed to become a more serious character, genuinely ominous and threatening as opposed to constantly shrieking and outmaneuvered by the Trench Rats. So in a way, the last possible remnant left of Woofwoof in the story is General Schavitz, even though these were/are distinct characters and Schavitz is not based on or even inspired by anybody, plus he has since lost any comedic aspect he may have once had. The presence of "Hitler" in the story is now only implied in the background, and he never appears or is even referred to by name.
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