By Eric Vandenbroeck and co-workers

Introduction

A militant group of Germany's far-right extremist Reichsbürger movement planned to overthrow the government. Deutsche Welle asks whether such a coup could succeed.

Members of the Reichsbürger movement deny the existence of the post-WW2 Federal Republic of Germany. They believe the current state is no more than an administrative construct still occupied by the Western powers — the US, the UK, and France. For them, the 1937 borders of the German Empire still exist.

But what does the group mean by "eliminate the free democratic basic order"? It can mean attacking politicians, storming parliamentary buildings, overthrowing the federal government, dissolving the judiciary, and usurping the military.

 

The Details Of The Coup

Today Germany and the rest of the world woke up with the news about an ongoing operation involving 3,000 police officers in raids, with initially 25 arrests, which took place in 11 of Germany’s 16 states and locations in Austria and Italy because of a plot to overthrow the German State and replace it with a new Emperor at the helm. Or as The Washington Post reported, Germany Just Averted Its Own Jan. 6, and Maybe the Fourth Reich. Some suspects were heavily armed, and a few even had training in the German army’s special-operations units.

At 6 am on Wednesday, 7 December, German special forces stormed a house in the Berlin lakeside villa quarter of Wannsee. They arrested a former MP of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), Birgit Malsack-Winkemann. They entered the Waidmannsheil hunting lodge in Bad Lobenstein in Thuringia three minutes later. Simultaneous raids took place in 30 other locations, including a car repair shop and a carpenters’ studio, as well as in the Austrian ski resort of Kitzbühel and the Italian city of Perugia.

The right-wing extremism expert Split says that the plans to overthrow the so-called Reich citizens are serious and well-advanced. What is particularly shocking is which groups of people are involved. "They know how to carry out attacks."

Federal prosecutors said some arrested had concrete plans to enter the German parliament with weapons. And one of the alleged plotters, Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, was a former lawmaker for the Alternative for Germany party with intimate knowledge of the Bundestag building.

Even before the raid, a list of enemies was discovered among the Reich citizens who were planning a violent overthrow in Germany. Among others, Annalena Baerbock, Friedrich Merz, and Saskia Esken are on the list of Reich citizens. The alleged right-wing terrorists said to have planned a coup, apparently operated with enemy lists that included 18 celebrities.

The people listed are politicians and journalists. Among them are seven members of the Bundestag who were informed of the facts by the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) on Wednesday morning. According to "taz.de" research, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens), SPD Chairwoman Saskia Esken, SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert, and CDU politician Armin Laschet are on the list. Reichsbürger: Enemy list with 18 celebrities discovered. The SPD leader Saskia Esken told the Taz about the list of names: “We must not underestimate the danger posed by violent Reich citizens. These people don't just fantasize about conspiracy theories. They had concrete plans that they were willing to implement," said Esken. According to "taz.de" information from security circles, CDU party and parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz is also on the list. He did not want to comment on the request. According to the investigations of the Attorney General, some of the terror suspects are said to have planned to force their way into the German Bundestag with a small armed group to arrest members of the Federal Government and MPs present there.

Pictured below in Austria, Police forces moved into the Waidmannsheil hunting lodge in Saaldorf, which included two arrests.

The plans of the Reich Citizens' Group to depose the federal government and appoint its prince as chancellor may be seen as far-right pipe dreams. But at least the first step of their plan could have worked: through a member of the group, the former AfD MP and judge Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, they had an ID card from the Bundestag. And they had guns.

The former AfD member of the Bundestag, Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, was to be designated Minister of Justice for the alleged subversives. After her missed re-election in 2021, the 58-year-old works as a judge at the Berlin district court and is also an assessor in the Federal Arbitration Court of the AfD. According to Zeit, hooded and armed special forces surrounded her house in Berlin-Wannsee on Wednesday morning and arrested her.

Many MPs are concerned. What the previous Federal Public Prosecutor General investigations have revealed is also outrageous. Some of the terror suspects are said to have planned to force their way into the German Bundestag with a small armed group to arrest members of the federal government and members of parliament present there. Bundestag Vice President Katrin Göring-Eckardt (Greens) announced that she would check Parliament's security measures.

Malsack-Winkemann may also be engaging concerning how the putschists wanted to gain access to the Bundestag: According to the Bundestag press office, the former AfD MP has a former ID card. According to the house rules, she can enter the Bundestag building after a security check. The press office said: "Ms. Malsack-Winkemann will not be granted access to the properties of the German Bundestag until there are further findings from the investigation by the Federal Public Prosecutor."

The Berlin Senate Department for Justice had tried to remove the judge from the service this year but had failed in the service court. The court had seen no reason to retire her - despite her AfD membership, documented contacts with the officially dissolved, far-right wing of the AfD, and her participation in the lateral thinking demo in August 2020, which ultimately led to the storming of the Reichstag stairs would have.

 

Reich Citizen Ideology And Esotericism

Rightly so, as is now evident: At the same time, a terror investigation was being conducted against Malsack-Winkemann for a planned overthrow of the state. The Berlin judiciary confirmed to the taz on Wednesday that the appeal against the verdict should be sent out on the same day. However, this was already planned before the raid, and the deadline for appeals is December 11th. The appeal should now be much easier to justify.

During her time in the Bundestag, Malsack-Winkemann attracted attention with sharp and racist speeches in which she insinuated, among other things, connections between diseases and refugees. According to Zeit, she has been monitored for months. She is considered by party friends, acquaintances, and parliamentarians to be a supporter of conspiracy theories with a tendency to QAnon ideology. There is also a proximity to Reich citizen ideology and esotericism. She is said to have recently urged the circle of conspirators to become active as quickly as possible.

 

The Proposed New Emperor

The Reichsbürger believe that the modern German state, the Federal Republic of Germany, is a fake. They think it is not a state but a private company (GmbH, German for Ltd.)

In August, Heinrich was Prince Reuss, who also had the aristocratic title Prince Heinrich XIII. the company was invited to the mayor's reception in his hometown of Bad Lobenstein. Even then, the performance caused unrest. A local journalist asked Mayor Thomas Weigelt why a citizen of the Reich had been invited - later, a scuffle ensued between the independent and the reporter, which made headlines nationwide.

Now Heinrich Prinz Reuss is making headlines again – but on a completely different level. On Wednesday morning, around 6 a.m., police officers appeared at his Thuringian hunting lodge and in front of an old building in Frankfurt, where the 71-year-old runs a financial consultancy - and arrested him. Photos show him being led away in a checked jacket, blue shirt, and protective mask. The federal prosecutor had sent the officials. And the accusation against Prince Reuss weighs heavily: he is said to be the leader of a terrorist organization.

The right-wing extremism expert Split says that the plans to overthrow the so-called Reich citizens are serious and well-advanced. What is particularly shocking is which groups of people are involved. "They know how to carry out attacks."

In addition to Prince Reuss, the officials also struck in ten other federal states and Kitzbühel in Austria and Perugia in Italy. A suitable 130 objects were searched by around 3,000 officers, including the particular unit of the GSG 9. It was the most prominent German terrorist raid in years. 52 accused were targeted, and 25 of them were arrested. These include former members of the Bundeswehr, a suspended police officer, a doctor, a lawyer, and AfD politician Birgit Malsack-Winkemann. Everyone moved into the Reich citizen and corona trivializing milieu. And all of them are now accused of forming or supporting a terrorist organization - and plans to overthrow it. The group's aim was a "forcible elimination" of the federal government and establishing a "new state order," said the federal prosecutor.

In addition to Prince Heinrich Reuss, who had been active in the Reich citizen scene for a long time and was intended to be the new "head of state," the former paratrooper commander Rüdiger von P. was considered the second leader. He is said to have headed the military arm of the association.

By the end of November 2021 at the latest, the men are said to have gathered like-minded people around them. Active or former members of the Bundeswehr and police were specifically addressed, who should organize themselves in "homeland security companies." Instead of reporting the coup plans to the security authorities, the accused agreed.

Several secret meetings are said to have taken place for this purpose. As recently as October, the "military arm" is said to have scouted out Bundeswehr barracks in Hesse, Baden-Württemberg, and Bavaria to check whether "troops" could be housed there after a coup. The group is also said to have discussed penetrating the Bundestag with a small, armed group. According to media reports, electromagnetic impulses should lead to a power failure. A concrete implementation should not have been imminent.

The federal prosecutor explained that the suspects accepted the possibility of committing homicides as part of their plans for a coup. A “deep rejection of state institutions” in Germany unites the accused. They are firmly convinced that members of a deep state govern the Federal Republic. Their goal was a "system change at all levels.

After the major raid on the "Reichsbürger" scene, SPD leader Lars Klingbeil calls for consequences for the AfD. "The AfD belongs nationwide on the watch list of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution and not in parliaments, courts or the public service," said Klingbeil on Thursday of the German Press Agency in Berlin. The raid again showed a close connection between the violent right-wing extremist scene and the AfD. "That must have consequences." Klingbeil called the AfD an "openly anti-constitutional party" that acts as a "parliamentary interface for hatred, hate speech, and violence."

 

Conclusion

After the large-scale raid against so-called Reich citizens, the German security authorities expect further suspects and searches due to plans for a coup. In interviews on Wednesday evening, the Presidents of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), and the Federal Public Prosecutor were convinced of the seriousness of the coup plans.

The US government supported the German government after the crackdown on the Reich Citizens' Scene. "We remain in close contact with our partners in government and stand ready to help if asked," White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said on Wednesday when asked whether the United States would allow Germany to join the government. Could you offer example intelligence information on this matter? We applaud the German government and its law enforcement agencies diligence in fighting "against violent extremism" and for the "security of their citizens and government institutions."

Thuringia's Minister of the Interior, Georg Maier, is also expecting further arrests after the significant raid. This is to be expected if confiscated pieces of evidence such as mobile phones are evaluated, said the SPD politician on Deutschlandfunk on Thursday. Maier accused the AfD of functioning as an interface for right-wing extremist organizations.

North Rhine-Westphalia's Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) said on Deutschlandfunk that he expected further actions against the Reichsbürger scene. The raids had shown that the rule of law was defensive.

 

 

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