Wilhelm Voigt was a 57-year-old ex-convict shoemaker who found himself trapped in bureaucratic limbo in Imperial Germany. Unable to secure a passport or residence permit without employment, and unable to find employment without a residence permit, Voigt decided to take matters into his own hands using a clever social experiment. On October 16, 1906, Voigt purchased pieces of a second-hand Prussian captain's uniform from various second-hand shops.
Dressed in the uniform, he marched toward local army barracks and intercepted two squads of soldiers on their way back to barracks. Citing fictional supreme orders from the Kaiser himself, the fake captain took command of the ten soldiers. The soldiers, conditioned by strict Prussian military discipline never to question a superior officer, followed his orders without hesitation.
Voigt led the detachment on a train to Köpenick, a small town near Berlin. Upon arrival, he ordered his men to occupy the town hall and arrest the mayor and city treasurer on suspicion of fraudulent bookkeeping. Voigt then confiscated 4,000 marks from the municipal treasury, issued an official receipt, and dispatched the arrested officials to Berlin under armed guard for interrogation.
Voigt instructed the remaining soldiers to hold the town hall for half an hour while he slipped away to change into civilian clothes. Though he was captured ten days later and sentenced to four years in prison, the German public viewed Voigt as a folk hero whose stunt exposed the absurdities of blind militarism. Kaiser Wilhelm II himself was so amused by the audacity of the scam that he pardoned Voigt in 1908.