By Eric Vandenbroeck and co-workers

The German Reichsbürger Plot

On 7 December we mentioned how 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. 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.

 

Overlapping Ideas Of Qanon, The 'Deep State Corona Protests, And Even Anthroposophy.

Exemplified by Bundestag, Malsack-Winkemann, the movement  has also become externally politicized while sharing with the QAnon conspiracy theory the idea that Germany is held captive by the “deep state.” 

Footage of the incident showed hundreds of people, some waving the flag of the German Reich of 1871-1918 and other far-right banners, running toward the Reichstag building and up the stairs. This also led to a 2022 German Bundestag investigation titled Anthroposophy and Corona Protests, which mentioned that there is currently no known evidence of collaboration between anthroposophical institutions and right-wing extremist groups.(1)

 

The Security Threat Posed By The Corona-Skeptic Querdenken Movement In Germany.

The Emergence of the Lateral Thinking (Querdenker) Protest Movement In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, or corona pandemic, as it is usually referred to in German-speaking countries, the German government first initiated a set of containment regulations in mid-March 2020, including rules to minimize personal contact, a ban on public gatherings, and the closure of restaurants.2 Though acceptance of these rules was generally high among the population, almost immediately, some people expressed grievances over these constraints publicly, albeit initially without any structure and little, if any, coordination between them.3

Unlike the National Socialist Underground, a far-right German neo-Nazi terrorist group founded in 1998 and only uncovered in 2011—to the shock of both the German authorities and the public—the Reichsbürger movement is not a clandestine organization that the authorities were oblivious about.

Parts of the wider public have also been cognizant of their existence, not least because some Reichsbürger are willing to propagate their beliefs during rallies or other events and in TV interviews.

Reichsbürger is an umbrella term for different individuals, groups, and organizations that believe that the Federal Republic of Germany is not a legal state under international law and therefore does not exist. Instead, they view the “German Reich,” usually based on its 1871 borders, as still the legally valid regime, albeit currently without de facto state power.

The Reichsbürger scene is heterogeneous, and an archetypal adherent does not exist, making it more precise to refer to it as a movement than a group. However, according to research conducted by the Demos-Brandenburg Institute fur Gemeinwesenberatung, a German civil society organization focused on combating the far right and promoting democracy, Reichsbürger disciples do share some key characteristics: They are primarily single, older men who are socially isolated, and display exaggerated self-esteem. The same research suggests that they are often paranoid, typically lacking a sense of basic trust, making them prone to conspiratorial beliefs.

Their general ideological heterogeneousness, though, allows for various elements of far-right extremism to be present, including its aggressive nationalism, hostility toward strangers, and trivialization or denial of the crimes of Nazism. Germany’s Ministry of the Interior classified 1,250 individuals associated with the Reichsbürger movement as right-wing extremists in 2022.

Given their worldview and the rejection of the German state, Reichsbürger supporters do not accept state-issued documents such as driver’s licenses and passports but instead often create their own. For example, in 2021, a Lower Saxony police officer who allegedly held Reichsbürger views applied for an ID card as a citizen of the “Kingdom of Prussia” and was suspended from duty.

But what may sound like a mere nuisance has become a severe issue for German authorities. Attacks on government employees, both verbal and physical, are well documented. Reichsbürger supporters’ refusal to pay taxes and fines or comply with court orders and administrative decisions has put bailiffs and police officers in perilous and sometimes fatal circumstances. Near Nuremberg in 2016, a Reichsbürger adherent murdered a police officer and injured two others.

Only in the aftermath of this incident did the relevant authorities start paying attention to the violence these conspiracy theorists can inspire. Since then, the Reichsbürger movement has been under observation by authorities nationwide and has been declared an “anti-state movement” by Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

Before this incident, the government did not track relevant data on the movement. In a November 2012 parliamentary enquiry by Die Linke (the Left Party) about how many individuals belonged to the movement, the government could not provide an answer.

In the hierarchy of threats to democracy, between radical right, radical left, and jihadists, Reichsbürger was a non-existent factor. After all, arguing that individuals who return their passports, appoint themselves “Reichskanzler” (Reich chancellor), and claim that the Federal Republic of Germany is a subsidiary of the United States pose an imminent threat seemed unreasonable at best.

Gideon Botsch, a University of Potsdam political science professor and expert on right-wing extremism, warned on German radio in 2021 that right-wing terror was generally underestimated by German security authorities, stating that “in Germany, people always assumed: They are too stupid, they can’t do it, they talk a lot, they have violent fantasies—but they don’t implement any of them.”

Since data started being collected by the Ministry of the Interior and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution in 2016, figures suggest that the scene has been steadily growing. The individual state authorities for the Protection of the Constitution assumed the number of Reich citizens grew to 15,600 by January 2018—an increase of 56 percent compared to 2017.

As of December, the Federal Ministry of the Interior suspects 23,000 people of being part of the Reichsbürger movement, with 2,100 ready-to-using violence. Thomas Haldenwang, president of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, confirmed that the movement had become increasingly popular in recent years, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

The Protests Against COVID-19 Measures Brought New Supporters Into The Milieu.

Some people lost faith in the democratic state and became receptive to supposed freedom struggles and the establishment of an alternative state. The rhetoric of the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD), including its use of terms such as “Corona dictatorship” and equating the government’s public health policies with the 1933 Enabling Act, paved the way for Adolf Hitler’s dictatorship, undoubtedly contributed to the increase.

Even more concerning than the quantity is the quality of people now pursuing the conspiracy theory. The cell arrested during the Dec. 7 raid did not consist of lower-class working men or uneducated individuals. Among those arrested was a judge who sat in the Bundestag for the AfD, former soldiers, aristocrats, and former members of the police force. In other words, people with contacts, insight into democratic institutions, and financial resources. Some are familiar with or trained in weapons. The involvement of police and armed forces, including special commandos, provided them with heightened capabilities to conduct sophisticated operations.

This brings a different level of intricacy to the equation. For instance, the cell consisted of two wings: one for politics and one for the military. Together, both had been preparing for the overthrow of the political system in Germany since November 2021. Moreover, a targeted attempt was made to recruit soldiers and police officers for the military faction. In the summer, the cell held four meetings in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, and in November, the cell attempted to recruit police officers in northern Germany. Armed forces barracks were also scouted out in October for recruitment.

On top of this, the Federal Ministry of the Interior believes that 500 Reichsbürger adherents possess gun permits, even after at least 1,050 members have revoked their permits since 2016.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser announced the weekend after the arrests that, among other things, federal gun laws would be tightened as a result. “We are not dealing with harmless crackpots, but with terror suspects who are now all in custody,” she told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

However, German gun laws are already highly restrictive regarding the possession and use of firearms and ammunition. Depending on the type, handling weapons or ammunition is prohibited or requires a permit—especially in the case of firearms. To purchase and own a firearm, you must have an officially issued gun ownership card, for which reliability, expertise, physical fitness, and a special need must be proven. Adults under the age 25 must also submit a medical and psychological report to obtain a gun license.

Data shows that, in 2020, around 952,000 private individuals owned a total of 5.3 million firearms and firearm parts, according to the National Weapons Register, the central office for recording the legal possession of weapons in the private sector in Germany. Moreover, the involvement of members of the police and armed forces in the Reichsbürger movement raises the question of whether tightening the gun laws can have the desired impact.

Many politicians are advocating for reforms within the security agencies instead.

Nancy Faeser has already presented a draft law to expedite disciplinary proceedings against officials suspected of being anti-democratic. Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann has also called for more vigilance. “We have already removed Bavarian police officers who were identified as supporters of the Reich citizen ideology from the service,” he said to radio station Bayern 2. It is also important that “every authority, every district court, every tax office, every district office, but also every citizen” reports if they become aware of Reichsbürger activities, Hermann said, according to the German current affairs magazine Stern.

For years, experts had warned of right-wing networks in German security agencies and the armed forces. In July 2020, then-Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer dissolved an entire company of the Kommando Spezialkräfte, the special military command of the German armed forces, after images surfaced of members making the Hitler salute.

Factors above make the Reichsbürger and the extremists associated with them a threat to the rule of law, even if they can hardly bring it to its knees. However, Germany has not yet found an answer to this threat. While German authorities and politicians possess a sound understanding of radicalization regarding some strains of right-wing extremism and Islamist extremism, the gap within the concept of conspiratorial terrorism has yet to be bridged.

Analyses and preventive measures must and will be made and taken. Observation can no longer suffice, considering that crises in a complex world are pushing people away from democracy, sometimes, which can seem tedious and complicated, particularly amid a pandemic, energy crisis, and various other challenges people face.

By Nancy Faeser, there have been several clarifying comments, most of them published in https://www.das-parlament.de, where among others Daniel Goffart, "Wirtschaftswoche," Düsseldorf observed that even the large-scale and (including media support) carefully planned arrest action against the conspirators indicates that the state neither underestimated the so-called Reich citizens nor left them criminally unobserved. The searches and arrests carried out simultaneously at more than 150 locations suggest that the Office for the Protection of the Constitution obtained a relatively broad overview of the people who subverted it, both at the state and federal levels. Such insights are not gained within a few days but require months of observation and intensive investigative work.

 

Let The Real Reichsbürger Stand Up

What we can see from the Reichsbürger Plot under discussion is that the accused belong to a terrorist organization founded by the end of November 2021 at the latest, which has set itself the goal of overcoming the existing state order in Germany and replacing it with its form of government, which has already been developed in outline. The association members are aware that this project can only be realized through military means and violence against state representatives. This also includes committing homicides. The accused are united by a deep rejection of the state institutions and the free democratic basic order of the Federal Republic of Germany, which over time has made them decide to take part in their violent elimination and to take concrete preparatory action for this purpose.

The plot group members under discussion, and as we saw in the case of former AfD member of the Bundestag, Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, follow a conglomerate of conspiracy myths consisting of narratives of the so-called Reichsbürger and QAnon ideologies. They are firmly convinced that Germany is currently governed by members of a so-called "deep state." According to the association members, liberation promises the imminent intervention of the "Alliance," a technically superior secret society of governments, intelligence services, and militaries of different states, including the Russian Federation and the United States of America. The association is convinced that members of the "alliance" are already in Germany and that their attack on the "deep state" is imminent.

The fight against the remaining institutions and representatives of the state and the safeguarding of power are to be taken over by the association and a Germany-wide network of homeland security companies founded by it. This violent elimination of the democratic constitutional state, also at the level of the communities, districts, and municipalities, is to be carried out by members of a "military arm." The association is aware that there will also be deaths. However, it at least accepts this scenario as a necessary intermediate step to achieve the "system change at all levels" it is aiming for.

 

The Hoped-For Russian Connection

For the above-described purposes, a (military) transitional government is to be formed by the association, which, according to the association's members, should negotiate the new state order in Germany with the victorious Allied powers of World War II by the classic Reich citizen narrative. From the point of view of the Association, the primary contact for these negotiations is currently the Russian Federation. 

The accused, Heinrich XIII P.R., has already contacted representatives of the Russian Federation in Germany. According to the investigations, however, there are no indications that the contact persons have reacted positively to his request.

Attached to the Council is the Military Arm. Some of its members have served actively in the Bundeswehr in the past. It is up to this part of the association to enforce the planned takeover of power by force of arms. This is to be accomplished via a system that is already being set up, so-called homeland security companies, by militarily organized and, in the planning, also armed units. 

Among other things, the management staff handled the recruitment of new members, the procurement of weapons and other equipment, the establishment of tap-proof communication and IT structure, and the implementation of target practices and plans for the future accommodation and catering of the home security companies. 

 

The Coup And The Military Arm

As suggested the plans of the suspected terrorist group from the "Reichsbürger" scene were challenging: the group wanted to bring about a coup, and a "military arm" was supposed to take over the protection. An attack on the Bundestag should also have been considered. Injuries and deaths were accepted. As we shall see underneath, special attention in this context was given to the Special Forces Command (KSK), the elite unit of the Bundeswehr.

 

The Recruitment Of Police Officers

Some of the "Reich citizens" searched by the police last week wanted to recruit police officers and former soldiers for their projects. The federal government is now reporting this in a confidential document. A targeted attempt was to recruit police officers in northern Germany in November. The "Spiegel" had also reported on the recruitment attempts.

Recruiting former soldiers were also planned. In the summer of this year, there were four meetings in Baden-Württemberg, where a suspect is said to have campaigned for the group and its goals.

According to investigators, establishing a "military arm" was planned from among the accused. This section is supposed to enforce a takeover by force of arms. It is now known that members of the "military arm" are said to have scouted out Bundeswehr barracks in October. According to the internal report, these were barracks in Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, and Hesse.

 

Spied On Barracks In Southern Germany

In Baden-Württemberg, locations in Calw, Ulm, Laupheim, and Niederstetten were affected. After a possible seizure of power, the accused wanted to accommodate so-called homeland security companies in the spied-out Bundeswehr barracks. It was probably planned to set up a total of 286 such companies.

The Special Forces Command (KSK) units are stationed at the Bundeswehr base in Calw. According to the paper, investigators also found spying documents on the barracks during the raid last week.

 

The Current Political Situation

As a result of the above political infighting has already started. For example, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has classified the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as a suspected right-wing extremist. The Cologne Administrative Court confirmed this assessment in the first instance. The party continues to defend itself against the evaluation. The proceedings at the Higher Administrative Court in Münster are still ongoing. But a particular trend is currently discernible: It's going further to the right, said Thomas Haldenwang, the President of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

With a view to the recent arrests in the "Reichsbürger" scene, the head of the domestic secret service explained that it was worrying how quickly this association had managed to network nationwide. The "heterogeneous mixed scene" that can be observed here includes so-called Reichsbürger and self-governors, sometimes also right-wing extremists, active or former AfD members, supporters of various conspiracy narratives, and people who belong to the new phenomenon area "delegitimization of the constitutional protection relevant to the constitutional protection. "The unifying force of the actors is the rejection and overcoming of the system of the Federal Republic of Germany," Thomas Haldenwang stated.

 

1. Belege für eine Zusammenarbeit von anthroposophischen Institutionen mit rechtsextremistischen sowie Verschwörungserzählungen anhängenden Gruppierungen in Deutschland sind derzeit nicht bekannt. Anthroposophie und Corona-Proteste WD 1 - 3000 - 024/22, 4. Wissenschaftliche Studie, p.6.

2.  For example, Kate Conolly, “German police raids target ‘anti-vaxxer murder plot’ against state leader,” Guardian, December 15, 2021; “German raids on Covid extremists over Saxony leader death plot,” BBC, December 15, 2021; Frederik Pleitgen, Claudia Otto, and Joshua Berlinger, “Murder plots and threats from anti-vaxxers pose challenge for Germany’s new chancellor,“ CNN, December 16, 2021; “German police ‘foil anti-vaxxer murder plot’ against state premier,” ABC News (Australia), December 15, 2021.

3. Thomas Plümper, Eric Neumayer, and Katharina Pfaff, “The strategy of protest against Covid-19 containment policies in Germany,” Social Science Quarterly 102 (2021): pp. 2,236-2,250.

 

 

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