Federico Varese

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING ASKED THE RESCUE OF JEWS IN NAZI EUROPE

A common phenomenon in social life is that some individuals help others and a few even risk their lives to benefit others, as in the case of those who helped Jews escape persecution in Nazi Europe. A few scholars single out motivations as the prime explanation of these rescue activities, yet concede that material opportunities, information, and other situational factors might have played a role. Their work, however, stops short of offering an account of the nature and importance of these factors. In this article, we focus on the importance of opportunities and situational factors, with specific reference to the rescue of Jews from persecution during World War II. Following a secondary analysis of data on those who did and did not rescue Jews during the Nazi occupation of Europe, we show that a direct request for help substantially increased the likelihood of being rescued. We also explore the other side of the situation, namely whom were the Jews likely to ask for help? Jews were likely to ask people they knew and people they trusted to act as mediators. Finally, we show that few of those who were asked to help did not help. This finding suggests the existence of a selection mechanism: rescuers signalled their disposition to help and were subsequently asked. We conclude that opportunities and situational factors are crucial in accounting for the observed acts of helping.

Cooperation in criminal organizations: Kinship and violence as credible commitments

The paper argues that kinship ties and sharing information on violent acts can be interpreted as forms of ‘hostage-taking’ likely to increase cooperation among co-offenders. The paper tests this hypothesis among members of two criminal groups, a Camorra clan based just outside Naples, and a Russian Mafia group that moved to Rome in the mid-1990s. The data consist of the transcripts of phone intercepts conducted on both groups by the Italian police over several months. After turning the data into a series of network matrices, we use Multivariate Quadratic Assignment Procedure to test the hypothesis. We conclude that the likelihood of cooperation is higher among members who have shared information about violent acts. Violence has a stronger effect than kinship in predicting tie formation and thus cooperation. When non-kinship-based mechanisms fostering cooperation exist, criminal groups are likely to resort to them.

Mafia movements: a framework for understanding the mobility of mafia groups

This article starts by offering comments on the framework proposed by Carlo Morselli, Mathilde Turcotte and Valentina Tenti for understanding the factors underlying the mobility of organised crime groups. It then presents a modified framework, consisting of three elements: ‘supply’, ‘local conditions’ and ‘demand for mafia protection’. The article continues by applying the new framework to several cases and concludes with recommendation for future research and for policy makers.

resolute heroes: the rescue of jews during the nazi occupation of europe

in 1927, at the age of eighteen, jean kowalyk moved to the ukrainian village of czortowiec, where she worked as a seamstress. when the germans invaded in 1941, they brought to the village forced laborers to build a work camp. jean “watched the cruelty [done to the workers] day after day […] when i saw people being molested, my religious heart whispered to me, ‘do not kill. love others as you love yourself’”. some time later, she heard a knock on her door. when she opened it, solomon berger, a jewish doctor the family knew, was “on his knees”, put his arms around her legs, and “begged for help”. jean let him in and hid him – along with several others – behind a false wall until the end of the war (1).

State-Building, Informal Governance and Organised Crime: The Case of Somali Piracy

This article argues that gangs, clans, mafias and insurgencies are, like states, forms of governance. This insight is applied to the case of Somali piracy and the article explores whether protectors of piracy were clearly distinct from pirates; and to what extent protectors coordinated their activities across the Somali coastland. It is shown that clan elders and Islamist militias facilitated piracy by protecting hijacked ships in their anchorages and resolving conflicts within and between pirate groups. Protection arrangements operated across clans, as illustrated by the free movement of hijacked ships along the coastline and the absence of re-hijacking after ransoms were paid. Piracy protection can be thought of as part of a continuum of protection arrangements that goes from mafias to legitimate states. The article concludes by highlighting the implications of the findings for the debate on state-building and organised crime.

Resurgent Triads? Democratic mobilization and organized crime in Hong Kong:

On 3 October 2014, peaceful pro-democracy protestors were attacked by thugs in Mong Kok, a working-class neighbourhood of Hong Kong. Using this event, we explore whether the attackers came from the same neighbourhood and mobilized to protect their illegal business activities, and whether the attackers were affiliated to the Triads. We conclude that the attackers were low-level Triads affiliates from outside Mong Kok and were paid to attack the protesters. While several scholars have suggested that Triads are in inexorable decline in post-1997 Hong Kong, we suggest that they might have found a new role as enforcer of unpopular policies and repression of democratic protests in the context of a drift towards authoritarianism in Hong Kong. The paper is based on field interviews with Triad members, businesspeople and activists, and on press reports and official documents.

The Economics of the Camorra

For a day, Naples and its local brand of organised crime took centre stage at the 2006 Venice Film Festival, where the book Gomorra by Roberto Saviano and L’udienza è aperta, a documentary by Vincenzo Marra, were presented. The two works offer a complementary look at the inner working of the camorra and the justice system in the Neapolitan heartland. Together they are a chilling reminder of the reach of organised crime. They are required reading and viewing for anybody who wants to understand the economic mechanisms and cultural constructs that underpin a perverse social equilibrium in a vast and significant part of Italy. Gomorra is the product of several years of investigative journalism in Naples and the Caserta area by a young journalist (born in 1979). Its greatest merit is to show in meticulous detail how the camorra has been able to forge relationships of mutual cooperation with a sizable section of the local and national economies and how legal and illegal production intersect and support each other. It also reports on the structure of the camorra, the role of women within the clans, how religion and popular culture impact on the behaviour of camorristi, and the courageous, although often ineffectual, attempts emanating from civil society to fight organised crime. The book aspires, and fully succeeds, to be a work of literature: it is written in the first person, in a raw, unadorned yet highly elaborate style.