"That was second nature with me—singing, dancing, clowning around. And that helped me tremendously when I was deported

"That was second nature with me—singing, dancing, clowning around. And that helped me tremendously when I was deported."

Before starring in the 1960s TV hit "Hogan’s Heroes," playing a French POW, Robert Clary survived several concentration camps.

In 1942, Robert, born to a Jewish family in France, was deported to the east along with his parents. He was just 16.

In Nazi forced labor camps, Robert’s singing talent became a means of survival. He remembered performing for inmates at one camp he was sent to and having the SS come to watch at another. Robert concluded that maybe “they had such a terrible life hitting us and killing us that they wanted to be entertained too."

Following a days-long death march, Robert was eventually evacuated by train to the Buchenwald concentration camp.

After liberation in April 1945, Robert reunited with some of his siblings. He later learned that his parents had not survived. In 1949, he immigrated to the United States. In 1965, Robert debuted in "Hogan’s Heroes."

Years later, Robert reflected on his survival during the Holocaust.

"Singing, entertaining, and being in kind of good health at my age, that's why I survived." less

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