Resignations by Civil Servants a Prelude to Anything?
February 12, 2020 2:53 AM   Subscribe

I'm wondering about the incidence of resignations by civil servants that are tasked to uphold laws in the legislature, the judiciary or the executive branch, but changed regimes have made it impossible for them to perform ethically.

First, I wonder how often this is a symptom of repressive regimes in advance of them becoming repressive. IOW, is this assuredly one of the canaries in the coal mine. And second, if this happens, is it clear to the public that these people that resigned (who may be considered dedicated to their jobs in the spirit of public service), are/were replaced by hacks or supplicants to the new leader?
posted by CollectiveMind to Law & Government (2 answers total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
I don't have it in front of me, but you may want to check out Erik Lawson's In the Garden of Beasts which is about the US Diplomat to Germany as the Weimar slid into Nazi rule. Since he's a diplomat, it talks a lot about the government and what was happening in it.

Here's an article from the Holocaust Museum on German civil servants. Many people were purged politically. In the Garden of Beasts talks about that.

Was it clear to the public? Yes, I suppose, but it was a slow burn until the Night of Long Knives when: "Part 7, “When Everything Changed,” describes the sudden horrors of the July 1934 “Night of the Long Knives” when Hitler’s men arrest and execute hundreds of people that Hitler believes are plotting against him. Part 7 also provides a glimpse into the final years of Dodd’s ambassadorship, how Hitler’s maneuvers give Germany control of Austria and Czechoslovakia, and how Europe inches closer to war."
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 7:46 AM on February 12, 2020 [1 favorite]


Just as a heads up, it's Erik Larson, I believe. :)
posted by Alensin at 10:35 AM on February 12, 2020


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