5. Horizontal Trust Networks in the Nazi Bureaucracy

Conquest (1968) details the destruction of horizontal networks in a communist regime.

About 60,000 Hungarian Jews had, by this time, died either at the front or as victims of various atrocities (Deak 2010).

Many of the remaining one-third perished subsequently (Deak 2010).

Yad Vashem (www.​yadvashem.​org)

Historians believe this particular plan, which seems absurd, may have simply been a game that Eichmann was playing with the RRC, or, given the large quantities of war-related items, an avenue to promote a plan by Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler to offer England and the United States an alliance with Nazi Germany against Bolshevism (Bauer 1994; Braham 1994; Florence 2010).

In the spring of 1944, Becher negotiated the purchase by the SS of most of Hungary’s heavy armaments industry from its Jewish owners. For his part, Becher provided the Jewish industrialists both money and safe passage to Portugal of more than 40 Hungarian Jews (Deak 2010).

Yad Vashem (www.​yadvashem.​org). His selection of family and friends for safe passage to Switzerland became a point of accusation against Kasztner after the war (Deak 2010).

The Becher Deposit was eventually sold for only $55,000, far less than its estimated value, due to hyperinflation in Hungary (Zweig 2002). However, some Jewish organizations believe that Becher hid most of his payment before he was captured, thus accounting for much of the vast difference (Zwieg 2002).

The gold was paid in the form of gold jewelry, gold bullions, and Napoleon gold (Kadar and Vagi 2004).

Other attempts to assassinate Hitler had also been made, including a March 1943 attempt to place a bomb on Hitler’s plane as it took off on a flight from Smolensk (U.S.S.R.) to the Wolfschanze (i.e., Wolf’s Lair), Hitler’s East Prussian headquarters. A second involved a March 1943 attempt to place bombs in the pocket of Hitler’s overcoat (Snyder 1989; Mixon et al. 2004a).

See Mixon et al. (2004a) for partial list of the conspirators representing the diplomatic corps and political sphere.

As Table 5.1 indicates, the actual horizontal network in this case is much larger. Figure 5.2 includes only Fromm and Olbricht for simplification.

A few were allowed to commit suicide (Mixon et al. 2004a).

A number of studies in the economics literature consider “heroic” behavior, such as that exhibited by Olbricht and von Stauffenberg, in an economic context (e.g., see Kirchgässner 2002). Frank (1988) points out that some people do not behave according to the usual assumptions of self-interest even in situations in which their behavior is very costly (Mixon et al. 2004a: 380). Tullock (1987) adds that there are some people who, especially for religious reasons, are willing to take great risk or sacrifice their lives to benefit others (see also Harberger 1993). This particular episode involving a horizontal trust network is consistent with this line of research (Mixon et al. 2004a: 380). It should also be noted, as in Mixon et al. (2004a: 380), that the paucity of attempts to assassinate Hitler before (and after) July 1940 was also partly the result of the public goods aspect of tyrannicide (see Tullock 1974 and 1987).

This portion of Goeth’s SS career provides a good example of how rapid promotion served as an informal payment by those at the top of the Nazi Holocaust bureaucracy to those at lower levels, who provided informal services in advancing the aims of those at the top of the bureaucracy.

Readers may be familiar with these traits of Goeth’s psyche from Hollywood’s portrayal of his SS career through the 1993 movie Schindler’s List.

Schindler was born in Moravia, Austria-Hungary, in 1908. He joined the pro-Nazi Sudeten German Party in 1935, and, four years later, in 1939, he officially joined the German Nazi Party (Pallardy 2019). Using a network of German contacts, he secured, through bribery, the lease of a formerly Jewish-owned enamelware factory, which he renamed Deutsche Emaillewaren-Fabrik Oskar Schindler (Pallardy 2019).

Yad Vashem (www.​yadvashem.​org).

See also Yad Vashem (www.​yadvashem.​org). As Mixon et al. (2004b) report, and as shown in Table 4.​2, Wisliceny held the rank of SS-Sturmbannführer at this point in his career. It is possible, however, that he instead held the rank of SS-Hauptsturmführer (Zentner and Bedürftig, 1997).

See also Yad Vashem (www.​yadvashem.​org). Brand traveled to Turkey, and then to Syria, in order to raise money from Jewish organizations in support of the plan to save Hungarian Jews. He was arrested in Syria by the British, who suspected him of being a Nazi agent (Snyder 1989; Zentner and Bedürftig 1997). He was ultimately released in October 1944 (Snyder 1989).

See also Yad Vashem (www.​yadvashem.​org)

Remer’s promotion to Oberst represented an ascendance of two ranks in the Wehrmacht (Snyder 1989).

As also stated previously, the ongoing practice of analyzing the economic content of movies and television programs was recently pioneered by Mateer (2004).

Cruise and Nighy received best actor and best supporting actor nominations, respectively, from this organization.

Citations to the movie appear hereafter as McQuarrie and Alexander (2008).

The positions fall under the military/intelligence, diplomatic, political, and civil corps of the Nazi (German) bureaucracy, as pointed previously in this chapter.

See also Mixon et al. (2004a).