History Main / NaziHunter

Someone who dedicates their life to hunting down ex-Nazis, or is dedicated to hunting down one particular Nazi because of what they did in WorldWarTwo (note: this trope doesn't apply just because the antagonist happens to be an ex-Nazi). Often a BadassIsraeli who might be working for Mossad, a result of the high-profile kidnapping of Adolf Eichmann from Argentinia in 1960. In reality, Mossad stopped chasing war criminals not long after this event, as more urgent threats to Israel took priority.

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Expect the former Nazi to be living [[ArgentinaIsNaziland somewhere in South America]] in his well-guarded [[BigFancyHouse mansion]] financed by NaziGold, from which he [[ApocalypseHitler plots the return of the Third Reich]]. Hardly TruthInTelevision, as genuine war criminals go to some trouble to avoid drawing attention to themselves.

Something of a DeadHorseTrope these days, as anyone who served in WorldWarTwo gets too long in the tooth to be anything other than a NaziGrandpa, and the end of the ColdWar dramatically expanded the choice of stock villains.

** The Simon Wiesenthal Center has recently started to realize that Nazi war criminals are soon going to be all dead, so they've redirected toward hate groups, and toward anybody accused of antisemitism, except, oddly, Argentine dictators who openly praise Adolf Hitler.

* In 1990, a 66-year old Italian immigrant called Giuseppe Bonfanti (who had been living in Brazil since World War II) returned to his hometown and used a pickaxe to kill Giuseppe Oppici, a 68-year old former fascist who during the war had helped burn down Bonfanti's farm and slaughter his livestock, in retaliation for his partisan activites.

->'''Kaplan:''' I lost my first wife, my first family. Two beautiful little girls. In the war, in the camps. I thought for a long time the loss would kill me but, I survived.\\
'''Heller:''' How?\\
'''Kaplan:''' By creating a ritual to keep me alive. To survive the death of people close to you, you need a ritual. A ritual for revenge is what I made. I thought about it and planned it every waking moment. When I got out I spent three years tracking down the doctor who sent them to the camps.\\
'''Heller:''' Did you find him?\\
'''Kaplan:''' I found him, yes.\\
'''Heller:''' What did... what did you do?\\
'''Kaplan:''' I created one last ritual. With these hands I strangled him.\\
'''Heller:''' It didn't bring them back from the dead.\\
'''Kaplan:''' No, it brought me back from the dead!
-->--''The Amateur'' (1981)

* ''Kessler'', the sequel to ''SecretArmy'', in which the title character is pursued by a German police officer, and a young Israeli woman seeking revenge for her roommate being killed by neo-Nazi thugs.

-->-- '''Lt. Aldo Raine''', ''Film/IngloriousBasterds''

->We will be doing one thing and one thing only...killin' Nazis!
-->-- '''Lt. Aldo Raine''', ''IngloriousBasterds''

* ''TheBoysFromBrazil'' by Ira Levin. The protagonist is an obvious Wiesenthal {{expy}}.

* ''{{Airwolf}}'' ("Fight Like a Dove"). The daughter of a Nazi hunter murdered by an ex-Nazi ArmsDealer gets their help to attack the BigBad in his fortress in Paraguay.

* Subverted in "Cobra" by AndrewVachss. Burke motivates The Mole (who's Jewish) by saying the people he's chasing are Nazis, when the only Nazis he knows are pathetic wannabies to whom he sells copies of Hitler's final speech (actually Simon Wiesenthal addressing a crowd of Holocaust victims).
* Subverted in "The Statement" by Brian Moore. The VillainProtagonist (a [[LesCollaborateurs former member of the Vichy police]]) is not being hunted down by Jewish assassins as he thinks, but his own colleagues (now high-ranking police officers) who have hired the men ([[FalseFlagOperation common criminals with Jewish backgrounds]]) so he won't be arrested and testify against them.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Avengers_%28group%29 The Avengers]]. No, [[ComicBook/TheAvengers not these ones]].

* In the MarvelUniverse, Silver Sable's father did this, with the Wild Pack originally being established as a Nazi hunting group.

* In the 80's, [[{{X-Men}} Magneto]] joined the ranks of several Marvel villains in the ''Acts of Vengeance'' CrossOver simply so that he could get close to the Red Skull and bury him alive. Magneto was a Holocaust survivor so there was no love lost between him and the Skull.

* Rebeccah's sister in ''RequiemChevalierVampire''. She kills Otto (an old Nazi hiding in Argentina at that point), sending him to Resurection.

Someone who dedicates their life to hunting down ex-Nazis, or is dedicated to hunting down one particular Nazi because of what they did in WorldWarTwo (Note: this trope doesn't apply just because the antagonist happens to be an ex-Nazi). Often a BadassIsraeli who might be working for Mossad, a result of the high-profile kidnapping of Adolf Eichmann from Argentinia in 1960. In reality Mossad stopped chasing war criminals not long after this event, as more urgent threats to Israel took priority.

* There was an extended comic story in ''National Lampoon'' magazine about "Gunnar Von Weissen," [[RefugeInAudacity an ex-Nazi who hunted former concentration camp prisoners]], ''a la'' Wiesenthal.

* ComicBook/{{Hellboy}} tracked down Nazis after the war and even killed AdolfHitler himself. Some of these Nazis are still around and he expresses his digust of Nazis everytime he sees them.

* In 1990 a 66-year old Italian immigrant called Giuseppe Bonfanti (who had been living in Brazil since World War II) returned to his hometown and used a pickaxe to kill Giuseppe Oppici, a 68-year old former fascist who during the war had helped burn down Bonfanti's farm and slaughter his livestock, in retaliation for his partisan activites.

Expect the former Nazi to be living in a BananaRepublic in his well-guarded [[BigFancyHouse mansion]] financed by NaziGold, from which he [[ApocalypseHitler plots the return of the Third Reich]]. Hardly TruthInTelevision, as genuine war criminals go to some trouble to avoid drawing attention to themselves.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Avengers_%28group%29 The Avengers]]. No, [[TheAvengers not these ones]].

* Erik Lensherr (AKA Magneto) is this in the beginning of ''Film/{{X-Men First Class}}''. Based on backstory from the comics (but not the movies), BadassIsraeli is plausible.

* There was an indie comic called ''Manimal'' (no, not [[{{Manimal}} that one]]) about a SuperHero who tracks down and slays the Nazis responsible for turning him into a freak. This comic was reviewed by WebOriginal/TheCinemaSnob and [[WebOriginal/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]].

** In TheMovie, Magneto begins as a Nazi hunter. Expect BadassIsraeli as a part of this as well.

* Erik Lensherr (AKA Magneto) is this in the beginning of ''Film/{{X-Men First Class}}''.

* ''IngloriousBasterds'' features an entire platoon of JEWISH-AMERICAN-SOLDIERS! killin' Nazi officials and soldiers during WW2 as opposed to after it. One of their member also happens to be a HunterOfHisOwnKind, a former Nazi officer that developed a taste for killing Nazis himself.

* There was an indie comic called ''Manimal'' (no, not [[{{Manimal}} that one]]) about a SuperHero who tracks down and slays the Nazis responsible for turning him into a freak. This comic was reviewed by TheCinemaSnob and [[WebOriginal/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]].

* There was an indie comic called ''Manimal'' (no, not [[{{Manimal}} that one]]) about a SuperHero who tracks down and slays the Nazis responsible for turning him into a freak. This comic was reviewed by TheCinemaSnob and {{Linkara}}.

* HellBoy tracked down Nazis after the war and even killed AdolfHitler himself. Some of these Nazis are still around and he expresses his digust of Nazis everytime he sees them.

* ''IngloriousBasterds'' features an entire platoon of JEWISH-AMERICAN-SOLDIERS! killin' Nazi officials and soldiers during WW2 as opposed to after it.

* CaptainAmerica himself continues to do this to this day, thanks to the Red Skull being [[JokerImmunity very hard to kill]].