On October 16, 1906, Wilhelm Voigt, a 57-year-old ex-convict and unemployed shoemaker, staged one of the most audacious hoaxes in military history. Dressed in a second-hand Prussian captain's uniform bought from a ragman, Voigt marched toward military barracks in Berlin. Exploiting the unquestioning obedience of the Prussian military culture, he stopped two squads of soldiers, presented a fake authority order, and commanded them to follow him to the nearby town of Köpenick.
Upon arrival, Captain Voigt occupied the local town hall with his troops, arrested the mayor and the town treasurer for alleged financial irregularities, and seized 4,000 marks from the municipal treasury. He sent the arrested officials to Berlin under armed military guard while he changed into civilian clothes at the train station and escaped with the cash. The stunt made international headlines and embarrassed the German military, exposing how blind obedience to authority could be manipulated with a simple uniform.
Voigt was caught ten days later and sentenced to four years in prison, but Kaiser Wilhelm II, amused by the sheer audacity and efficiency of the heist, pardoned him after two years. Voigt became a folk hero, toured Europe as a celebrity, and was immortalized in wax at Madame Tussauds.