BERLIN – Newly discovered documents have revealed a bizarre footnote to World War II: the Nazis’ dogged obsession with a Finnish mutt who gave not a howl, but a heil.

And, just as absurdly, the totalitarian state that dominated most of Europe was unable to do much about the dog’s paw-raising parody of Germany’s Fuehrer.

Additional Photos

Photo shows Finnish businessman Tor Borg and his dog Jackie, wearing a pair of sunglasses. The dog was dubbed “Hitler” by Borg’s wife as it raised its paw in a Nazi salute, prompting a German investigation of the owner. The Associated Press

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.”

The Dalmatian mix named Jackie was owned by Tor Borg, a businessman from the Finnish city of Tampere. Borg’s wife Josefine, a German citizen known for her anti-Nazi sentiments, dubbed the dog “Hitler” because of the way it raised a paw high in the air, much like Germans greeting the Fuehrer with a cry of “Heil Hitler!”

On Jan. 29, 1941, the German vice consul in Helsinki, Willy Erkelenz, wrote that “a witness, who does not want to be named, said … he saw and heard how Borg’s dog reacted to the command ‘Hitler’ by raising its paw.”

Borg was ordered to the German Embassy in Helsinki and questioned about his dog’s unusual greeting habits.

The Economy Ministry 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.

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