Nine suspects will take the stand in Stuttgart for attempting to install minor aristocrat and businessman Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss.
Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss
Published On 29 Apr 2024
Nine suspected members of a German far-right group accused of plotting to overthrow the government are set to go on trial.
German prosecutors will open the hearing in the southwest city of Stuttgart on Monday. The nine suspects are accused of plotting a violent coup to install minor aristocrat Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss as Germany’s leader and imposing martial law.
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Nine suspected members of a German far-right group accused of plotting to overthrow the government are set to go on trial.
German prosecutors will open the hearing in the southwest city of Stuttgart on Monday. The nine suspects are accused of plotting a violent coup to install minor aristocrat Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss as Germany’s leader and imposing martial law.
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The case claims that the defendants – including former soldiers and judges, as well as a member of parliament for the far-right Alternative for Germany – participated in the “military arm” of the German Reichsbuerger (Citizens of the Reich), which espouses conspiracy-based theories regarding sovereignty.
The plot unravelled in late 2022 when police launched a series of raids. Charges include high treason.
One person faces an additional charge of attempted murder related to shots fired at police officers, who were injured in the confrontation, as they searched Reuss’s home in March last year.
A total of 27 defendants are accused of plotting the violent overthrow of the German government while accepting the likelihood that people would die. The plan was to install Reuss as the head of a new form of government.
The hearings will be split among three courts across three cities.
Police stand outside a house they raided in Berlin, Germany [File: Carsten Koall/Getty Images]
Real danger
The Stuttgart trial is to focus on the group’s military wing, which is charged with attempting to overthrow the state by force of arms. According to the charges, they had started forming 280 armed units.
Prosecutors say the suspects’ meticulous planning and stocks of firearms and cash show they were a real danger, Reuters news agency reported.
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“They planned to infiltrate an armed group into the parliament building in Berlin, detain legislators and bring down the system,” they wrote. “They understood that seizing power would involve killing people.”
The accused, aged between 42 and 60, are alleged to have joined the association in 2022 and have been active in various roles for the military wing.
Hatred of democracy
The alleged plotters – including right-wing hardliners and gun enthusiasts – espoused a mix of “conspiracy myths” drawn from the global QAnon movement and the German Reichsbuerger scene, according to prosecutors.
Similar to the “sovereign citizen” movement in the United States and other far-right, conspiracy-based movements in Europe, Reichsbuergers believe they are citizens of an earlier state – in this case, the pre-World War I German Reich – which has been usurped by modern political structures.
Reichsbuerger groups are driven by “hatred of our democracy”, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said before the start of the trial.
“We will continue our tough approach until we have fully exposed and dismantled militant Reichsbuerger structures,” she added.
Real danger
The Stuttgart trial is to focus on the group’s military wing, which is charged with attempting to overthrow the state by force of arms. According to the charges, they had started forming 280 armed units.
Prosecutors say the suspects’ meticulous planning and stocks of firearms and cash show they were a real danger, Reuters news agency reported.
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“They planned to infiltrate an armed group into the parliament building in Berlin, detain legislators and bring down the system,” they wrote. “They understood that seizing power would involve killing people.”
The accused, aged between 42 and 60, are alleged to have joined the association in 2022 and have been active in various roles for the military wing.
Hatred of democracy
The alleged plotters – including right-wing hardliners and gun enthusiasts – espoused a mix of “conspiracy myths” drawn from the global QAnon movement and the German Reichsbuerger scene, according to prosecutors.
Similar to the “sovereign citizen” movement in the United States and other far-right, conspiracy-based movements in Europe, Reichsbuergers believe they are citizens of an earlier state – in this case, the pre-World War I German Reich – which has been usurped by modern political structures.
Reichsbuerger groups are driven by “hatred of our democracy”, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said before the start of the trial.
“We will continue our tough approach until we have fully exposed and dismantled militant Reichsbuerger structures,” she added.
SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES
German far-right coup plot trial to begin
Jens Thurau04/28/2024April 28, 2024
The first of three trials involving a far-right network of "Reichsbürger" around ringleader Prince Reuss is about to start. The group is accused of planning to topple the government.
https://p.dw.com/p/4fEUM
Trials begin on 'Reichsbürger' plotters who sought to overthrow the governmentImage: Christophe Gateau/dpa/picture alliance
The first of three trials linked to a far-right coup plot begins in Germany on Monday, with the defendants accused of preparing to commit high treason and belonging to a terrorist organization.
All the suspects, part of the so-called "Reichsbürger" movement, were allegedly plotting to overthrow the German government. The Reichsbürger, or "citizens of the Reich," reject Germany's post-war state, claiming it was installed and controlled by the Allied powers who won World War II.
Police uncovered the suspected plot in a series of nationwide raids on December 7, 2022. Some 25 people were arrested and are now in detention awaiting the upcoming trials. More than 380 firearms were confiscated, along with almost 150,000 pieces of ammunition.
The alleged military arm of this group is to face court in Stuttgart on April 29. The nine defendants are represented by 22 lawyers, while more than 300 witnesses have been named, including 270 police officers.
On May 21, the most high-profile trial begins in Frankfurt against the ten ringleaders of the plot. A further eight suspected members of the alleged association will have to stand trial in Munich from June 18.
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What do Reichsbürger believe?
"Reichsbürger" translates to "citizens of the Reich." The nebulous movement rejects the modern German state, and insists that the German Empire's 1937 or 1871 borders still exist and the modern country is an administrative construct still occupied by Allied powers. For Reichsbürger, the government, parliament, judiciary and security agencies are puppets installed and controlled by foreigners.Image: picture-alliance/SULUPRESS/MV
The first 'Reichsbürger' Wolfgang Ebel
Wolfgang Ebel was the first to argue the German Reich's continued to exist. A resident of West Berlin, he worked for Berlin S-bahn local train service which the GDR operated under the label "Deutsche Reichsbahn." When he got sacked in 1980 he argued that he was actually a civil servant of the Reich and could not be sacked by a post-war institution. He lost all his court cases and turned radical.Image: picture-alliance/dpa/D. Ebener
What do they do?
The Reichsbürger refuse to pay taxes or fines. They see their personal property, such as their houses, as independent entities outside the authority of the Federal Republic of Germany, and reject the German constitution and other legal texts, but also swamp German courts with lawsuits. They produce their own aspirational documents such as passports and driving licenses.Image: picture-alliance/Bildagentur-online/Ohde
How much of a threat are they?
The Reichsbürger scene began to develop in the 1980s and is a disparate, leaderless movement that has grown to about 23,000 supporters, according to German intelligence officials. Of those, about 950 have been identified as far-right extremists and at least 1,000 have a license to own firearms. Many subscribe to antisemitic ideologies.Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Weihrauch
Who are its members? One was Mr. Germany
According to German authorities, the average Reichsbürger is 50 years old, male, and is socially and financially disadvantaged. The movement's members are concentrated in the southern and eastern parts of Germany. Adrian Ursache, a former winner of the Mister Germany beauty pageant, is also a Reichsbürger and was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2019 for shooting and injuring a policeman.Image: picture-alliance/dpa/H. Schmidt
Turning point
The case of Wolfgang P., who in October 2017 was sentenced to life in prison for murdering a police officer, is seen as a turning point for how German authorities deal with the extremist group. P., an alleged Reichsbürger member, shot at officers who were raiding his home to confiscate weapons. The case gained international attention and set off alarm bells over the escalation of violence.Image: picture-alliance/dpa/D. Karmann
What are the authorities doing about it?
German authorities were accused of long underestimating the threat. In 2017 for the first time Germany’s domestic intelligence service documented extremist crimes perpetrated by individual Reichsbürger. Since then there have been several raids on Reichsbürger targets and subgroups have been banned. Police and military have also probed whether they have Reichsbürger in their own ranks.Image: picture-alliance/dpa/P. Zinken
International parallels, conspiracy theories
Reichsbürger have been seen waving Russian flags, leading to allegations that they are funded by Russia with the aim to destabilize the German government. Germany's Reichsbürger are also compared to US groups such as "freemen-on-the-land," who believe that they are bound only by laws they consent to and can therefore declare themselves independent of the government and the rule of law.Image: DW/D. Vachedin
Ringleader Heinrich XIII, Prince Reuss
The prince was the ringleader of "Reichsbürger" affiliates who planned a coup in 2022. He had lost several court cases to regain lost lands and properties, and then publicly reiterated the belief that the current democratic Federal Republic has no valid basis, peddled well-worn antisemitic tropes and suggested to reinstate the Kaiser, who had been removed against the wishes of the people.Image: Boris Roessler/picture alliance/dpa
German intelligence agencies estimate that the "Reichsbürger" movement comprises around 20,000 people in Germany, about 2,300 of whom are described as "prepared to use violence." What they have in common are xenophobic and antisemitic beliefs. They reject democracy and have pro-monarchist tendencies.
Court proceedings recently began against "Reichsbürger" activists accused of threatening to abduct German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach of the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), in connection with government activities to stem the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reporter Tobias Ginsburg spent eight months researching undercover in the "Reichsbürger" scene. He also carried out similar investigations among radical anti-vaxxer groups and conspiracy theorists during the COVID pandemic in 2020 and 2022.
When asked by DW last March whether he thought the movement was a real threat to the German state, Ginsburg said: "That is not so easy to answer as it might seem. The "Reichsbürger" are not a coherent group or an independent form of extremism. It is more of a conspiracy theory that is deeply anchored in German society and National Socialism." But he said that the group shared the fantasies of all far-right activists: "That is the idea of a homogenous society without aliens."
Rulings in all three trials linked to the alleged coup attempt of Prince Reuss and his co-conspirators are not expected before 2025.
This article was originally written in German.
Jens Thurau04/28/2024April 28, 2024
The first of three trials involving a far-right network of "Reichsbürger" around ringleader Prince Reuss is about to start. The group is accused of planning to topple the government.
https://p.dw.com/p/4fEUM
The first of three trials linked to a far-right coup plot begins in Germany on Monday, with the defendants accused of preparing to commit high treason and belonging to a terrorist organization.
All the suspects, part of the so-called "Reichsbürger" movement, were allegedly plotting to overthrow the German government. The Reichsbürger, or "citizens of the Reich," reject Germany's post-war state, claiming it was installed and controlled by the Allied powers who won World War II.
Police uncovered the suspected plot in a series of nationwide raids on December 7, 2022. Some 25 people were arrested and are now in detention awaiting the upcoming trials. More than 380 firearms were confiscated, along with almost 150,000 pieces of ammunition.
The alleged military arm of this group is to face court in Stuttgart on April 29. The nine defendants are represented by 22 lawyers, while more than 300 witnesses have been named, including 270 police officers.
On May 21, the most high-profile trial begins in Frankfurt against the ten ringleaders of the plot. A further eight suspected members of the alleged association will have to stand trial in Munich from June 18.
'Reichsbürger' ringleader Prince Reuss will stand trial from May 21Image: Boris Roessler/dpa/picture alliance
The alleged ringleader of the "Reichsbürger" group facing charges is Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss, a 72-year-old estate agent from Frankfurt and descendant of an aristocratic family. He was allegedly earmarked for the role of provisional head of a German state by his supporters.
His group is accused of planning to storm the German parliament and detaining prominent politicians, including Chancellor Olaf Scholz , Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz .
Among Reuss' co-conspirators to stand trial in Frankfurt is Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, a judge and former representative of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in the federal parliament, the Bundestag. She was allegedly to become Justice Minister after the coup.
The alleged ringleader of the "Reichsbürger" group facing charges is Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss, a 72-year-old estate agent from Frankfurt and descendant of an aristocratic family. He was allegedly earmarked for the role of provisional head of a German state by his supporters.
His group is accused of planning to storm the German parliament and detaining prominent politicians, including Chancellor Olaf Scholz , Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz .
Among Reuss' co-conspirators to stand trial in Frankfurt is Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, a judge and former representative of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in the federal parliament, the Bundestag. She was allegedly to become Justice Minister after the coup.
AfD lawmaker Birgit Malsack-Winkemann had been earmarked as Justice Minister in a 'Reichsbürger' governmentImage: Metodi Popow/IMAGO
Following the high-profile arrests of the group surrounding Reuss in December 2022, there were more raids and arrests of Reichsbürger conspirators. In November 2023, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said: "We cannot say loudly enough on the day of one of the biggest raids against state subversive activities carried out by the right that this kind of polarization is increasing. And we have to defend our democracy anew each day."
QAnon-inspired fantasies
Reuss' supporters allegedly fantasized about deploying German army helicopters, flown by soldiers that back their cause. They are even accused of planning a violent takeover of the arms business Heckler & Koch, based in Oberndorf am Neckar, the Bundeswehr's main supplier of small arms.
The prosecution alleges that Prinz Reuss and his supporters believe that a "deep state" runs Germany and was planning to murder hundreds of children and teenagers. The group apparently believed the floods in Germany's Ahr Valley in 2021 were an attempt to cover up murders already committed by flooding old government bunkers. Among Reuss' supporters, there was talk of 600 dead children.
The federal prosecutor's office says the group was planning a violent coup d'etat and aiming to negotiate a new treaty with the World War Two allies, particularly Russia. The group allegedly carried out firearms training and reconnaissance missions in the Bundestag in preparation
The Reichsbürger movement in Germany
They reject the legitimacy of Germany's government. Some are prepared to use violence. Who are the Reichsbürger? And what is Germany doing about them?Image: picture-alliance/chromorange/C. Ohde
Following the high-profile arrests of the group surrounding Reuss in December 2022, there were more raids and arrests of Reichsbürger conspirators. In November 2023, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said: "We cannot say loudly enough on the day of one of the biggest raids against state subversive activities carried out by the right that this kind of polarization is increasing. And we have to defend our democracy anew each day."
QAnon-inspired fantasies
Reuss' supporters allegedly fantasized about deploying German army helicopters, flown by soldiers that back their cause. They are even accused of planning a violent takeover of the arms business Heckler & Koch, based in Oberndorf am Neckar, the Bundeswehr's main supplier of small arms.
The prosecution alleges that Prinz Reuss and his supporters believe that a "deep state" runs Germany and was planning to murder hundreds of children and teenagers. The group apparently believed the floods in Germany's Ahr Valley in 2021 were an attempt to cover up murders already committed by flooding old government bunkers. Among Reuss' supporters, there was talk of 600 dead children.
The federal prosecutor's office says the group was planning a violent coup d'etat and aiming to negotiate a new treaty with the World War Two allies, particularly Russia. The group allegedly carried out firearms training and reconnaissance missions in the Bundestag in preparation
The Reichsbürger movement in Germany
They reject the legitimacy of Germany's government. Some are prepared to use violence. Who are the Reichsbürger? And what is Germany doing about them?Image: picture-alliance/chromorange/C. Ohde
What do Reichsbürger believe?
"Reichsbürger" translates to "citizens of the Reich." The nebulous movement rejects the modern German state, and insists that the German Empire's 1937 or 1871 borders still exist and the modern country is an administrative construct still occupied by Allied powers. For Reichsbürger, the government, parliament, judiciary and security agencies are puppets installed and controlled by foreigners.Image: picture-alliance/SULUPRESS/MV
The first 'Reichsbürger' Wolfgang Ebel
Wolfgang Ebel was the first to argue the German Reich's continued to exist. A resident of West Berlin, he worked for Berlin S-bahn local train service which the GDR operated under the label "Deutsche Reichsbahn." When he got sacked in 1980 he argued that he was actually a civil servant of the Reich and could not be sacked by a post-war institution. He lost all his court cases and turned radical.Image: picture-alliance/dpa/D. Ebener
What do they do?
The Reichsbürger refuse to pay taxes or fines. They see their personal property, such as their houses, as independent entities outside the authority of the Federal Republic of Germany, and reject the German constitution and other legal texts, but also swamp German courts with lawsuits. They produce their own aspirational documents such as passports and driving licenses.Image: picture-alliance/Bildagentur-online/Ohde
How much of a threat are they?
The Reichsbürger scene began to develop in the 1980s and is a disparate, leaderless movement that has grown to about 23,000 supporters, according to German intelligence officials. Of those, about 950 have been identified as far-right extremists and at least 1,000 have a license to own firearms. Many subscribe to antisemitic ideologies.Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Weihrauch
Who are its members? One was Mr. Germany
According to German authorities, the average Reichsbürger is 50 years old, male, and is socially and financially disadvantaged. The movement's members are concentrated in the southern and eastern parts of Germany. Adrian Ursache, a former winner of the Mister Germany beauty pageant, is also a Reichsbürger and was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2019 for shooting and injuring a policeman.Image: picture-alliance/dpa/H. Schmidt
Turning point
The case of Wolfgang P., who in October 2017 was sentenced to life in prison for murdering a police officer, is seen as a turning point for how German authorities deal with the extremist group. P., an alleged Reichsbürger member, shot at officers who were raiding his home to confiscate weapons. The case gained international attention and set off alarm bells over the escalation of violence.Image: picture-alliance/dpa/D. Karmann
What are the authorities doing about it?
German authorities were accused of long underestimating the threat. In 2017 for the first time Germany’s domestic intelligence service documented extremist crimes perpetrated by individual Reichsbürger. Since then there have been several raids on Reichsbürger targets and subgroups have been banned. Police and military have also probed whether they have Reichsbürger in their own ranks.Image: picture-alliance/dpa/P. Zinken
International parallels, conspiracy theories
Reichsbürger have been seen waving Russian flags, leading to allegations that they are funded by Russia with the aim to destabilize the German government. Germany's Reichsbürger are also compared to US groups such as "freemen-on-the-land," who believe that they are bound only by laws they consent to and can therefore declare themselves independent of the government and the rule of law.Image: DW/D. Vachedin
Ringleader Heinrich XIII, Prince Reuss
The prince was the ringleader of "Reichsbürger" affiliates who planned a coup in 2022. He had lost several court cases to regain lost lands and properties, and then publicly reiterated the belief that the current democratic Federal Republic has no valid basis, peddled well-worn antisemitic tropes and suggested to reinstate the Kaiser, who had been removed against the wishes of the people.Image: Boris Roessler/picture alliance/dpa
German intelligence agencies estimate that the "Reichsbürger" movement comprises around 20,000 people in Germany, about 2,300 of whom are described as "prepared to use violence." What they have in common are xenophobic and antisemitic beliefs. They reject democracy and have pro-monarchist tendencies.
Court proceedings recently began against "Reichsbürger" activists accused of threatening to abduct German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach of the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), in connection with government activities to stem the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reporter Tobias Ginsburg spent eight months researching undercover in the "Reichsbürger" scene. He also carried out similar investigations among radical anti-vaxxer groups and conspiracy theorists during the COVID pandemic in 2020 and 2022.
When asked by DW last March whether he thought the movement was a real threat to the German state, Ginsburg said: "That is not so easy to answer as it might seem. The "Reichsbürger" are not a coherent group or an independent form of extremism. It is more of a conspiracy theory that is deeply anchored in German society and National Socialism." But he said that the group shared the fantasies of all far-right activists: "That is the idea of a homogenous society without aliens."
Rulings in all three trials linked to the alleged coup attempt of Prince Reuss and his co-conspirators are not expected before 2025.
This article was originally written in German.
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