State Actors and Bystander Intervention: Denmark During the Holocaust

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Abstract

This paper applies the Darley and Latane model of bystander intervention, a staple of social psychological research into decision-making, to the actions of the state during times of intense crisis. The model sets out a number of critical steps which describe the process by which an actor chooses to engage or not engage in rendering help or aid to an Other during an emergency or crisis. While the model focuses on decision-making at the individual level, this paper demonstrates the utility of the model at the state level. We propose that Darley and Latane’s model can be a valuable tool in examining state action and inaction, one of the central concerns of political science.

Specifically, the paper addresses the Holocaust in Denmark, and the decision-making by Danish state actors to not only shield the Jewish minority from persecution, but actively aid in the evacuation of Jews from the country. Despite Danish society being traditionally homogenous, the era of the rescue can be seen as the culmination of more than a century of active integration of a minority community into society at-large, and the willingness of the majority to protect that minority. Formal institutions including the monarchy and the state church, as well as aspects of informal institutions such as popular culture and literature, coalesced to provide a context in which the Holocaust could not only be avoided but actively resisted.

The Darley and Latane model can be used to highlight critical decision points and how various aspects of a society—both formal and informal institutions—may coalesce in order to lead to rendering aid to a victimized Other. While the rescue of Danish Jews has been well-covered in the literature, this is the first effort to apply this specific psychological model to Danish state action. Our paper argues that the Darley and Latane model is thus a useful framework for making sense of the processes by which state actors may come to render aid where other state actors may fail.

Authors

• Zachary Paul Buchanan Agatstein, Northeastern University

• Fredric Agatstein, Rhode Island College