‘HEIL ROVER’?

                          Tor Borg and his dog Jackie, who was dubbed Hitler by Borg's wife as it raised its paw for the Nazi salute. The Nazis started an investigation against the dog's owner, a 41-year-old wholesale merchant in Finland.

Recently discovered WWII documents have revealed Nazi’s obsession focused on a Finnish mutt, Janice, who saluted Germany's Fuehrer.

The totalitarian state that dominated most of Europe was unable to do much about the canine's paw-raising parody.   

In the months preceding Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union, Berlin's Foreign Office commanded its diplomats in the Nazi-friendly country to gather evidence on the dog and its owner — and even plotted to destroy the owner's pharmaceutical business.

Historians were unaware of the scheme until some 30 files containing correspondence and diplomatic cables were found by a researcher in the Foreign Office archives.

Klaus Hillenbrand, an expert on the Nazi period who examined the documents, called the episode "completely bizarre."

"Just months before the Nazis launched their attack on the Soviet Union, they had nothing better to do than to obsess about this dog," he told The Associated Press.

Jackie, the Dalmatian mix, was dubbed Hitler by her owners – Tor Borg and wife, Josephine, a German citizen known for her anti-Nazi sentiments - because of the way Jackie raised a paw high in the air, much like Germans greeting the Fuehrer with a cry of "Heil Hitler!"

Borg was ordered to the German Embassy and, when questioned, tried to play down the accusations, saying the paw-raising only happened a few times in 1933 — shortly after Hitler came to power.

Borg assured the Nazi diplomats that he never did anything "that could be seen as an insult against the German Reich," according to the documents.

After a seemingly intense and meticulous investigation involving such ministries as the Foreign Office, the Economy Ministry and even Hitler's Chancellory — the ministries announced that the German chemical conglomerate IG Farben, which supplied Borg's wholesale trade with pharmaceuticals, agreed to cut all ties, which would have destroyed his business.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Office was looking for ways to bring Borg to trial for insulting Hitler. But in the end, none of the witnesses were willing to repeat their accusations in front of a judge, thus no charges were brought against Borg or his wife.