Does Hans Landa recognize Shoshanna in Inglorious Basterds?
Hans Landa's main goal in life is to gain recognition. At the beginning of the movie, he is very proud of the nickname 'Jews Hunter' that he has been given. However, at the end of the film, 4 years later, while negotiating with Aldo, he says that it was just a nickname that was stuck and given to him by his enemies.
Christoph Waltz in Hans Landa
In the moments before speaking to Shoshanna in the cafe, both Frederick Zoeller and Joseph Goebbels mentioned that his fame was owed to himself, but now he had grown tired of that reputation. He mentions at the beginning of the film during his interrogation with Monsieur Lapeddite that he is "aware of the tremendous feats humans are capable of when they abandon dignity". So when he ordered Shoshanna a glass of milk and a Strudel with ice cream, he didn't do it as a test to see if she was Jewish. He did it to prove he knew she was Jewish and that he wanted to force her to give up her dignity by not eating kosher. He ordered a milkshake because he knew she grew up on a dairy farm. He also knows that if he arrests her it will only increase his notoriety at this stage.
Shoshanna escaped from "Jews Hunter" at the first chapter of Inglourious Basterds
This scene is essentially a turning point for Hans as he continues to want recognition but is no longer the Jews hunter. This is why at the end of the movie when he makes a deal, he wants to be written that he joined the Kino campaign in the first place because he wants to be credited as a hero who ended the war. The film's ending is in 1945 and so he most likely sees the war coming to an end soon and doesn't want to go down in history as the Jewish Hunter.
The suggestion that he doesn't know and that he doesn't recognize her makes his character less intimidating and offends his attention to detail. Throughout the film, he shows his attention to detail in every scene. From deciphering that Monsieur Lapeddite was hiding Jews, to having him find napkins signed by Bridget von Hammersmark, speaking fluent Italian, and then knowing everything about the Basterds, including how they were work for the Secret Service. It doesn't make any sense if he knows all he knows and then doesn't know that Shoshanna is lying in front of him.
