| “ | Heil Hitler. | „ |
| ~ Captain Herman Deertz |
Herman Deertz is the secondary antagonist of the 2019 satirical comedy film Jojo Rabbit.
A Gestapo agent, Deertz ransacks the Betzler home, which leads to a tense encounter between himself and Jojo Betzler as he tries to keep Elsa, a teenage Jewish girl, hidden from the Gestapo's clutches.
He was portrayed by Stephen Merchant, who also played Wheatley in Portal 2, Darren Lamb in Extras, Stuart Pritchard in Hello Ladies, and Paris in Gnomeo and Juliet and Sherlock Gnomes.
History[]
Captain Deertz is the leader in a group of five Gestapo agents who introduce themselves to Jojo Betzler before entering his home and raiding it for information. When Captain Klenzendorf and Finkel arrive to visit Jojo, they are greeted by the Gestapo officers before Deertz questions the three of them as part of his "routine inspection". As they inspect Jojo's room, Deertz is impressed with the many posters of Adolf Hitler, stating that it's the exact kind of room he would like more German children to have.
When Deertz moves upstairs to investigate, Elsa (knowing she would be found) does not hide and instead disguises herself as Jojo's recently deceased older sister, Inge. Deertz is immediately suspicious and requests that Klenzendorf check her papers to verify the picture and date of birth. Despite getting the date of birth wrong, Klenzendorf protects Elsa, and Deertz does not notice because he is distracted by Jojo and Elsa's sketchbook, "Yoo Hoo Jew". After laughing at the sketches, Deertz thanks Elsa (as Inge) for the amusing drawings before he and the other agents depart.
When the Allies later win the war and Falkenheim is taken by Russian and American troops, Deertz and the other Gestapo agents are arrested and presumably executed for their crimes.
Personality[]
When Deertz introduces himself, he is very polite in his manner of speaking, never raising his voice and reassuring Jojo and Klenzendorf that he has come for nothing more than a "routine inspection". Despite this, Deertz is very quick to try and intimidate others, using his height to tower uncomfortably over Klenzendorf as he questions him. He is shown to have a distaste for communists, but also a gullible side as he genuinely believes that Hitler has 4 testicles. This side of Deertz is easily manipulated by Elsa, who outsmarts Deertz with the help of Klenzendorf when she successfully disguises herself as Inge.
Trivia[]
- In the scene in which Deertz is introduced, Klenzendorf arrives at the Betzler house returning Rosie's bicycle, which suggests that Deertz was sent to investigate Rosie's house immediately after her arrest and execution.
- A running gag has Deertz and his fellow Gestapo officers greeting every individual they meet with "Heil Hitler", totaling to 31 "Heil Hitlers" in one minute.
- Taika Waititi states that this was to portray the Nazis as inefficient and ridiculous as a result of the rules they created to glorify their regime.
- In a Vanity Fair scene breakdown, Stephen Merchant states that he believes the core of Deertz's character is that he's nothing more than a petty bureaucrat, but the power he was given as a Gestapo agent makes him all the more creepy and despicable.