Its objective was to end democracy “with violence and military means”, according to the German Federal Prosecutor’s Office
The astonishment in Germany was general. The discovery last Wednesday of a far-right conspiracy to carry out a coup in the country and put an end to the democratic system surprised by how advanced the plans were, but also by the curious composition of those who tried to perpetrate it. A motley group of well-placed professionals, more reminiscent of an esoteric political sect than a revolutionary command.
In an unprecedented operation in Germany, more than 3,000 policemen were in charge of dismantling the organization and arresting the 25 people who are part of its hard core, while another 29 men and women are also being investigated. That day, more than 130 simultaneous registrations were made in 11 federal states, as well as in the Austrian ski resort of Kitzbühel and in the Italian town of Perugia.
Agents from the Federal Criminal Investigation Office (BKA) had been observing them for months. Listening to your phone conversations, monitoring the movements of your accounts, checking your movements and meetings and monitoring your channels on social networks. With all this, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office was clear that in the environment of the so-called ‘Reichsbürger’ -literally the “citizens of the Reich”-, a terrorist organization had been formed with the aim of changing the German political system for an authoritarian one through a coup of state against the legislature.
The members of the conspiracy prepared an armed assault on the Reichstag, the historic seat of the Bundestag, the German Parliament, to take hostage members of the federal government and the deputies of the lower house present in the plenary room. The prosecutors in charge of the case do not rule out that deaths could have occurred in that case among “representatives of the current system.” The group’s goal was to “eliminate by the use of violence and military means” democracy in Germany, said Federal Attorney General Peter Frank.
military and police
The discovery of weapons in fifty of the searches carried out, the constitution of an “armed wing” within the organization and the presence among its members of active duty military or in the reserve of the Special Forces Command (KSK), the unit of elite of the Bundeswehr, the federal Army, as well as police officers, have confirmed the dangerousness of the group.
A judge affiliated with the ultranationalist Alternative for Germany (AfD) who was a member of the Bundestag in the last legislature, a commercial airline pilot, a haute cuisine professional, a lawyer, an opera tenor, a businessman and a well-placed doctor They are also among the detainees. All members of the upper-middle class. And all of them are followers of the ‘Reichsbürger’, militants of the so-called ‘Querdenker’ movement, non-conformists who protested during the pandemic against the federal government’s measures, or followers of the ‘QAnon’ conspiracy cult, coming from the United States and who think, among other things, that the ruling elite murders children to obtain a rejuvenating serum.
Convinced to rid the world of evil powers
“What is decisive for the success of a conspiracy story is not its truth content, but its potential to credibly resolve contradictions,” explains psychiatrist Philipp Sterzer in his book ‘The Illusion of Reason’. Those who follow conspiracy theories “are people who are in a permanent apocalyptic state,” explains the social psychologist and expert in conspiracy ideologies Pia Lamberty. “They are convinced that deeply evil powers have a secret plan and that the world must be rid of them. They feel privileged, chosen ones capable of recognizing that danger. The logical consequence of this opinion is that the whole must be overcome and for this, violence is a legitimate means. They see themselves fighting against the greatest evil,” adds the expert, who describes the detained group as “extremely dangerous.”
At the head of all of them an extravagant nobleman of neo-Nazi ideology, anti-Semite, follower of conspiracy theories and who aspired to head the future coup government. Prince Heinrich -Henry- XIII of Reuss, 71 years old, descendant of a family with more than eight centuries of ancestry and owner in the Thuringia region of a hunting lodge, a palace with a crenellated tower from the early 19th century where the conspirators used to meet. The idyllic place was assaulted on Wednesday during the great raid by a unit of the GSG-9, the anti-terrorist commandos of the Federal Police. The prince was awakened at 6 a.m. and detained at his Frankfurt residence, where he successfully manages real estate deals. His family, with numerous branches, has disowned him. In a statement from the Reuss House Families Association, it is emphasized that what can be considered the clan’s ‘black sheep’ is a “bitter old man” who defends “erroneous opinions based on conspiracy theories”.
21,000 ‘Reichsburger’
Prince Henry XIII of Reuss is considered one of the leaders of the ‘Reichsbürger’ movement. These defend the validity of the legislation of the imperial Reich, the second Reich, not the third of Adolf Hitler. They claim that the Federal Republic is not sovereign and is still dominated by the powers that won World War II. They lament that the world is being manipulated from underground by big Jewish capitalists and claim, among other things, that World War I fundamentally benefited America’s business and commercial interests.
Noble of the Reuss House, he is 71 years old and lives from his real estate businesses. He is distantly related to the Romanovs, the former tsars of Russia.
Heinrich -Henry- XIII P. Reuss
Head of state
Active judge until last Wednesday in a court in Berlin. She is 58 years old and is a former representative of the far-right Alternative for Germany party.
B. Malsack-Winkemann
Minister of Justice
A conspiracy theorist, he was fired from the Hannover Police in January. He applied for a passport where he said that he was born in Prussia.
michael fritsch
Minister of interior
He recruited, trained and acquired arsenal. A 69-year-old former paratrooper commander, he was expelled from the Army for selling weapons.
Rudiger von Pescatore
Leader of the ‘armed wing’
A former member of the German KSK special forces, he was implicated in a plan to kidnap the Minister of Health.
Peter Wörner
Minister of Defense
In command of the group that tried to storm the German Parliament. A former Army colonel, he led an infantry battalion in Kosovo.
Maximilian Eder
assault force
Some 21,000 Germans are considered ‘Reichsbürger’, according to data from the internal intelligence services of the Federal Office for the Defense of the Constitution. Many are in conflict with Justice, the Treasury and the German Administrations. Some declare their independent residence and issue documentation of invented kingdoms and countries, when they do not crown themselves with all the pomp and pageantry as kings of their land or register their vehicle with a license plate befitting their new nation. But what worries the security forces the most is that many are legally armed.
The operation to dismantle the extremist group was precipitated after investigators learned that the aristocrat and his circle of conspirators intended to create a “shadow army” to carry out their plans, and that they had launched a discreet campaign to recruit followers among members of the German armed forces and law enforcement. As head of the organization’s “armed wing” and candidate for Defense Minister, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office has identified Rüdiger von Pescatore, 69, commander in the 1990s of a special paratrooper battalion, a forerunner of what is now the KSK. He took advantage of his rank of lieutenant colonel in those years to seize weapons from the Army and the Police of the extinct German Democratic Republic. Then 165 rifles and pistols disappeared and only 11 were recovered. Pescatore was sentenced to two years in prison on probation and his military career ended.
Peter Wörner, a 54-year-old former paratrooper who served under Pescatore’s orders and was until now a survival trainer in extreme situations, also belongs to the ‘shadow army’. A kind of German Rambo that moves in neo-Nazi environments. But an active KSK member, a 58-year-old sergeant with several tours of duty in Afghanistan, has also been detained.
The antecedent of another assault attempt in the midst of a pandemic
The idea of the coup leaders to take the Reichstag by force of arms has precedents. In the summer of 2020, and on the sidelines of a large demonstration against government measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic, a group of ‘Reichsbürger’ militants and ‘QAnon’ supporters were about to take the building by storm. There was a time when only three agents defended the entrance. Only the arrival of police reinforcements prevented the invasion of the building.
The plans now were to storm the Reichstag with two dozen armed men and women, take the deputies present hostage, arrest and handcuff members of the federal government and assume power with the support of a good part of the population who, they believed , would rise up against the current system, according to investigators from the Federal Office of Criminal Investigation (BKA).
The organization’s hard core had been outfitted with iridium satellite phones for secure communications. And financially he had no problems. In the searches carried out, more than 130,000 euros were seized, as well as kilos of gold and silver. They also had influential support, such as that of Alexander Q., identified as a collaborator by the police and protagonist of one of the most far-reaching channels of the ‘QAnon’ movement in Germany. With more than 131,000 Telegram subscribers, he frequently spreads stories of kidnapped children being taken from ‘Adrenochrom’, a supposedly rejuvenating serum.
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