Hermann Fegelein

SS-Obergruppenführer Hans Georg Otto Hermann Fegelein (30 October 1906 – 28 April or 29 April 1945) was a General of the Waffen-SS in Nazi Germany, member of Adolf Hitler's entourage, brother-in-law to Eva Braun through his marriage to her sister Gretl Braun, and brother-in-law to Adolf Hitler through Hitler's marriage to Eva Braun.

Role In Downfall
Although the parodies portray Fegelein as Hitler's major adversary, Hitler never had anything against Fegelein in the actual movie (until he committed his "Fahnenflucht", desertion). Fegelein's primary role and motive in the movie is to persuade others to flee Berlin and Hitler, and eventually does so himself. His loyalty to Hitler is questionable, preferring to act on his own principles than blindly follow Hitler; he also tries to influence others to do the same, but to no avail.

List of appearances
Fegelein has quite a few lines in the film:


 * Fegelein and Himmler at Hitler's Birthday Scene and at the garage: Fegelein and Himmler discuss about Himmler's plans to surrender Germany to the Allies via General Eisenhower.


 * Hitler walks around the model of Berlin: Fegelein first makes a suggestion that Hitler leave Berlin.


 * Hitler's Generals Discussing Scene: Fegelein questions the General's loyalty to Hitler overshadowing their common sense, but is rebuked.


 * Party Scene: Fegelein tells Eva about Hitler's false hope for a successful outcome of the war, and to leave Berlin as soon as possible.
 * Fegelein Talking to Traudl and Gerda Scene: Fegelein disapproves of Traudl's belief that Steiner's forces will come to Berlin's help and describing it as Hitler's "fantasy".
 * Original Bunker Scene (cameo)


 * Fegelein and Friends Scene: Fegelein further casts doubt over the Generals' loyalty and suggest that they act on their own accord, without and sometimes against the Führer's orders. (It is between this scene and the next that Fegelein deserted the bunker.)


 * Eva Talking on the Phone with Fegelein: Fegelein again tells Eva bluntly to leave Hitler and Berlin before its too late.


 * Fegelein's Arrest Scene: Fegelein yelled "You can't put your hands on me" when he is forced from bed by Peter Hogl's men.


 * Fegelein is Executed Scene: Fegelein heils "Heil Hitler" before Peter Högl shoots him, although that was probably but a blind gesture because of his disloyalty to Hitler, and he was also drunk.

In some other scenes, such as the Original Bunker Scene, Fegelein is shown but has no lines.

Downfall Parody Universe
In the Hitler parody universe, Fegelein commits insane and hilarious antics against Hitler as well as others who get in his way. His antics range from mundane acts to the surreal. His ability to commit surreal antics, such as by manipulating space-time, as well as creating his own tools for antics, makes it evident that Fegelein has highly advanced knowledge in chemistry, all forms of engineering, Newtonian physics, and quantum mechanics. Unlike most committers of antics, who acquire their tools from antic dealers, Fegelein prefers to make his tools himself. Tools created by Fegelein are given a name that acquire the prefix of "Fegel-". For example, when Fegelein created a bomb to destroy Hitler's bunker, it was called a "Fegel-bomb." MHXDownfall's parodies suggested that Fegelein created "anticological weapons" - which were modified (and enhanced) German weapons of WWII. For example, he has a Fegel-AT; which is an AT gun, derived from a PaK 43, capable of destroying tanks in one shot, no matter how thick their armor. This means that even a main battle tank won't stand a chance! In addition, he has the Fegel-Panzer. Both weapons are mentioned in "Fegelein in Stalingrad".

Fegelein, when not occupied pulling antics on Dolfy, works part-time as a video-game console designer; he designs the FegelStation series and introduces them to Hitler... as a token of apology for the antics and without pulling one on Hitler. He's also a surprisingly good (and kind-hearted) gamer. At one point, he, as seen in "Hitler Plays Left 4 Dead 2", offers to heal Hitler, only for the latter to smack him with a cricket bat. Despite this apparent peace offering, numerous oddities happen to Hitler whenever he uses the system, making it debatable whether Fegelein threw in antics in the video games, or Hitler just sucks at playing video games.

It was also known that Fegelein had a few other relatives besides Hitler as well as his immediate family; KakashiBallZ's Democracy Comes to Egypt establishes that Hermann had an Egyptian cousin named Abdul, who conspired with him in his attempt to drive Hosni Mubarak and Gaddafi out of office. Fegelein also had a younger cousin named Sally Gregory, better known throughout Hollywood as Sally Shine. She appeared in The Bunker of Terror along with a few of her friends, as she helped her older cousin in sabotaging Hitler's vacation in Los Angeles.

In Godfrey Raphael's parodies, Fegelein forms a band with the other antics masters to form The Antic Masters, a band spreading good music to the Bunker and the world.

Whilst being one of the best Antic Masters around, his skills in close combat seem somewhat less impressive. This has been seen several times in parodies, such as in Vzorkic's Untergang Wars (in which Hitler defeats him in a lightsaber duel) and Benad361's Fegelein vs Hitler: The Ultimate Showdown (in which he is beaten repeatedly in a sword fight with Hitler). But he tends to triumph in all duels in the end, rendering any lack of skill as not overly important (Hitler ultimately ends up defeated and falling to his death in the former and latter).

Antics
Fegelein was noted for being a class-clown during his early tenure in the SS, much to the chagrin of his superior officers. This was fueled by his disdain for the socially macabre atmosphere of the SS. As a result, Fegelein decided to "lighten up the place." He began to commit antics on his superior officers, normally to comply with a dare posed by his friends, but often to impress and entertain them. One of Fegelein's commanding officers became so tormented by his antics that it drove him to commit suicide. While many would consider this to be a tragedy, Fegelein considered this to be a badge of honor. However, news of the officers suicide caught the attention of the division commander, who then demanded that Fegelein be arrested and jailed. This was considered by Fegelein to be the lowest point of his antics career. Fegelein was sentenced to 10 years of hard labour in the local concentration camp. Incredibly, the sentence was commuted to one month probation. The order was issued by the head of the SS, Heinrich Himmler, who summoned Fegelein to SS headquarters.

Rather than berate Fegelein for what he did, Himmler expressed his admiration for Fegelein's ability to commit antics. At the time, Himmler himself was in a war of antics with none other than the Führer of the Reich, Adolf Hitler. Hitler originally believed that Fegelein would stop Himmler from committing his antics once and for all. He was sadly mistaken. Himmler taught Fegelein all the tricks-of-the-trade on committing antics. While Fegelein himself had talent for antics, Himmler taught him how to do it with finesse.

However, he once said in a parody that he was "just a pawn in the great antic system" and that an antic he was accused of was the "will of the antic force". This implies that Fegelein is guided by a higher force. What this "antic force" is has not been disclosed, but it has been referred to several times in Benad361 parodies in which Fegelein is involved.

Other Portrayals
Fegelein has been portrayed by many other people beside Thomas Kretschmann in Downfall, which include:
 * Shakti Kumar in Dear Friend Hitler (Gandhi to Hitler).
 * Jay Lance in National Geographic's 42 Ways to Kill Hitler.
 * Volker Spengler in 100 Years of Adolph Hitler.
 * Terrence Hardiman in The Bunker.
 * Julian Glover in Hitler: The Last Ten Days.
 * Inigo Jackson in 1973's ITV Saturday Night Theatre.
 * Jean Topart in Le Bunker.
 * Julius Jonak in The Last Ten Days (The Last Act).

Trivia

 * He is the only Downfall character whom Hitler mentions more than once in succession (Fegelein! Fegelein Fegelein!).
 * Fegelein! is often replaced as "Dammit" in the "Hitler is Informed by Günsche Scene".
 * Fegelein is a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. He also assumed command of the SS Cavalry Brigade and the 8th SS Cavalry Division Florian Geyer.
 * He oversaw the killing of around 20.000 Jews in the Prypiat Swamps in July 1941.
 * Fegelein has a vice for being promiscuous. Once he fled the bunker, the place he took refuge was a brothel. When he phoned Eva Braun, he was also supposedly having sex with a prostitute.
 * Fegelein was executed even though Adolf Hitler did not order it and even before he is to see Fegelein.
 * Although he was an Obergruppenführer, he is wearing a Brigadeführer uniform throughout the film.
 * He was also refered to as Gruppenführer.
 * Along with Gaddafi, he is one of the only characters with objects with his name as a prefix (e.g. Fegel-vuvuzela, Fegel-polly, Fegel-bees, Fegel-balm, Fegel-Teleporting Device, Fegel-fist).
 * His counterpart in the Mirror Parody Universe, Nielegef Nnamreh, is the victim of Reltih's antics instead of the doer.
 * Although he is wanted by Hitler in the Parody Universe because of his antics, in Downfall, he is only summoned in liason to Himmler who had betrayed Hitler.
 * In real life, those who were close to Fegelein actually nicknamed him Flegelein. In German, one refers to someone as a Flegel (lout or brat) for lack of manners and appropriate behaviour. Flegelein is the hypocoristic form of a Flegel.
 * Fegelein shares the same Zodiac sign as Joseph Goebbels, something Goebbels isn't too happy about.