In a fascinating bit of brazen deceit, an early twentieth-century homeless German drifter looted a town treasury simply by dressing up as an officer. He got his hands on an army captain’s uniform, put it on, then ordered some enlisted soldiers he encountered in the street to follow him. The “captain” took the soldiers to a small town’s municipal hall, arrested the mayor, looted the treasury, and left behind a fake receipt for the money seized. Below are thirty things about that deception and other fascinating but lesser-known bits of deceit from history.
30. Germans Were Often Mocked for This Perceived Cultural Trait
For centuries, Germans have been ribbed and mocked – not least by fellow Germans – for a perceived national trait and cultural tendency to blindly obey the orders of authority figures. For generations, an often repeated cliché had it that otherwise intelligent and rational Germans could simply turn off the independent thinking part of their brains in the presence of authority figures. As a consequence, they are said to turn into automatons who obey otherwise questionable commands simply because they are orders issued by higher ups.
The results can sometimes be horrific. Clearest example of that is the defense raised by many Germans prosecuted for war crimes after World War II. They sought to evade responsibility with variations of “I was only obeying orders“. Many or perhaps most genuinely believed that acting in accordance with the commands of superiors absolved them of legal and moral responsibility. Other times, as seen below, the consequences are merely absurd. Like that time when a homeless drifter walked into a mayor’s office, and in a hilarious bit of deceit, managed to order everybody around and loot the place simply because he was dressed in an officer’s uniform.