"Reichsbürger" raid: US media compare planned attack with storming the Capitol

Created: 2022-12-08 2:11 p.m

By: Moritz Serif, Katja Thorwarth, Jan-Frederik Wendt

The police succeed in striking the "Reichsbürger" scene.

The Washington Post comments on the planned Bundestag attack with a historical comparison.

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“Germany has just averted its own January 6th and maybe the Fourth Reich,” the

compares the planned Bundestag attack by “Reich citizens” with the storming of the Capitol in the United States.

The US medium recognizes a moment of realization for Germany that the USA would have had almost two years ago on January 6, 2021: "The crazy people are becoming more and more radical".

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After the raid on the “Reichsbürger” scene, the search for more weapons continues.

According to the information shared by participants in the briefing, the representatives of the Bundestag's internal affairs committee were informed on Wednesday that two long guns, a handgun, swords and crossbows, alarm guns and signal guns were initially found during the raid.

These weapons were only partially found on suspected members of the group who had a weapons license.

According to reports, service weapons were also among them.

"Reichsbürger" have connections to the Bundeswehr, the police and the judiciary

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The Federal Chair of the Left, Janine Wissler, has called for more consistent action against right-wing networks within authorities.

At

said

She: “What makes such networks particularly dangerous is that they have connections to the Bundeswehr, the police and the judiciary.

Among them are people who are trained in handling weapons, who have access to weapons and sensitive data, which is why it is so important to consistently investigate and smash right-wing networks within the Bundeswehr and police.”

Raid against the "Reich Citizens": Number of supporters increased from 52 to 54.

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After the raid on the “Reich Citizens”, the number of accused members and supporters increased from 52 to 54.

However, this number could continue to grow, said the President of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), Holger Münch, on Thursday in the

".

"We have identified additional individuals whose status we do not yet know exactly in relation to this group," he added.

However, the German state system was never endangered.

"You don't have to assume that a group consisting of a two-digit, maybe a small three-digit number is able to really question the state system in Germany," Münch continued.

Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, ex-AfD member of parliament, was arrested during the raid on "Reichsbürger".

© Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa

Raid on "Reich citizens": AfD spread "conspiracy fantasies and overthrow fantasies",

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After the major raid against a “Reich citizen”, Thuringia’s Interior Minister Georg Maier sees a connection to the AfD observed by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in his country.

“The AfD has become more and more radical.

She spreads these conspiracy myths, she spreads these conspiracy fantasies and fantasies of overthrow," said the SPD politician on Deutschlandfunk on Thursday.

"But what's even worse is that it ultimately functions as an organizational center, an interface for networking right-wing extremist organizations.

And that is what makes this party more and more dangerous.” 

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After the nationwide raids in the Reich Citizens’ Scene, the President of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Thomas Haldenwang, calls for a security check for all people who are included in the federal and state security authorities.

Such a check by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution would make sense, said Haldenwang in the ARD “Tagesthemen”, given that there were several soldiers among the 25 arrested.

After a hit against "Reichsbürger": Further raids on the scene are expected

Update from Thursday, December 8, 6:20 a.m .:

The President of the Federal Criminal Police Office, Holger Münch, assumes that the number of suspects will increase after the major raid on a group of Reich citizens.

Münch spoke on Wednesday evening in the ZDF "heute journal" after the 25 arrests on Wednesday of 54 suspects and over 150 searches.

It is likely that other suspects will be found and further searches will be carried out in the next few days. 

"Reich citizen" arrested: "Greatest terrorist threat" in Germany

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The terrorism researcher Peter R. Neumann warned of a high risk from the movement after the arrest of alleged members of the “Reichsbürger” scene.

"In my opinion, right-wing extremism represents the greatest terrorist threat in Germany and within this scene, the 'Reichsbürger' are currently the most aggressive," Neumann told the

(Thursday).

Neumann emphasized that the "Reich citizens" were "capable and willing" to carry out serious terrorist attacks against the state.

So far, 25 members of the "Reichsbürger" scene have been arrested - they will not have been the last.

© Uli Deck/dpa

Reich citizen raid: 25 people were arrested

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What has happened so far: In one of the largest police operations against extremists in Germany, 25 people from the Reich citizen scene who wanted to overthrow the political system were arrested.

According to the federal prosecutor, they are suspected of having formed a terrorist organization that wanted to use armed force to install a new government and would have accepted the deaths.

The news sparked horror on Wednesday.

Among those arrested are the judge and former AfD member of parliament Birgit Malsack-Winkemann and a soldier from the Bundeswehr's Special Forces Command (KSK).

The entrepreneur Heinrich XIII is considered one of the ringleaders.

Prince Reuss of Hesse.

He and the first other suspects have now been taken into custody, as Attorney General Peter Frank said in Karlsruhe.

Reich citizen raid: Police arrest Germans in Italy

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According to the Italian police, the German who was arrested in the course of the anti-terror campaign against the German Reich Citizens Scene near Perugia in Italy is a former officer of a Bundeswehr special unit.

The 64-year-old was arrested in a hotel in Ponte San Giovanni, south-east of the central Italian city.

The procedures for extradition of the man are currently underway, the police said on Wednesday.

"Reich citizen"

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution assumes that there are around 21,000 "Reich citizens" and "self-administrators", including around 2,100 who are ready to use violence.

The proportion of those who are also assigned to the right-wing extremist spectrum amounts to more than five percent, around 1150 people.

"Reich citizens" reject the Federal Republic of Germany, citing a "German Reich".

Many are of the opinion that the FRG is not a legitimate and sovereign state.

Parts of the spectrum claim that the German Empire survives and that its constitution is still valid.

With reference to this imperial constitution, they demand that the great-great-grandson of Kaiser Wilhelm II, who abdicated in 1918, be installed as German Emperor.

“Self-administrators”, on the other hand, do not feel that they belong to the state at all.

They claim that they can withdraw from the state by declaring that they are not bound by its laws.

In its entirety, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution classifies the scene as anti-state and anti-constitutional.

Federal government describes Reich citizen scene as "fire dangerous"

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The federal government has classified the Reich citizen scene as “extremely dangerous”.

"We're talking about an association that, according to what we know so far, has planned the joint elimination of our democratic constitutional state," said government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit in Berlin.

He also referred to their plans for "an armed attack on the Bundestag."

Reich citizen raid, according to Russia, internal affair

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Russia has described the nationwide raid against the so-called Reich Citizens’ Scene as an internal matter in Germany.

"It's more of an internal problem in Germany.

You yourself have stated that there can be no talk of Russian interference here," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday, according to the Russian agency

, on the alleged coup plans of a terrorist group in Germany.

Russia only found out about this from the media and could not say anything about it, said Peskov.

Reichsbürger: Bundeswehr also suspect

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In connection with the alleged terror network of Reich citizens, members of the Bundeswehr have also been targeted by the investigators.

"The investigations are aimed, among other things, at an active soldier and several reservists," said a spokesman for the Military Counterintelligence Service (MAD) on Wednesday in Cologne.

The active soldier is a member of the special forces command, but did not hold a managerial position there. 

Prince Reuss was arrested in Frankfurt as the suspected head of a terrorist "Reichsbürger" cell.

© Boris Roessler/dpa

"Reichsbürger" network planned armed attack on the Bundestag

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The “Reichsbürger” network has been planning an armed attack on the Bundestag and the arrest of politicians since November 2021.

Apparently, the men and women assumed that unrest would break out in Germany.

In their imagination, parts of the security forces would then have shown solidarity with the terrorist group, which would have led to an "overthrow".

Meanwhile, the Russian embassy in Berlin rejects any connections to "Reich citizens".

The "Russian diplomatic and consular offices in Germany have no contacts with representatives of terrorist groups or other illegal entities," Russian news agencies quoted an embassy statement as saying on Wednesday.  

Prince Reuss was arrested in Frankfurt's Westend.

He is said to be the head of a terror network.

© Sabine Schramek

Frankfurt: Real estate entrepreneur Prince Reuss is said to have contacted the Russian Federation

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Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss, noble real estate entrepreneur from Frankfurt, is said to have a hunting lodge in Bad Lobenstein in East Thuringia.

As the second ringleader, the federal prosecutor named Rüdiger v.

P., according to media reports, a former paratrooper commander.

Prince Reuss is said to have already contacted representatives of the Russian Federation in Germany.

"According to the investigations so far, however, there are no indications that the contact persons have reacted positively to his request," said the federal prosecutor. 

Arrests in a raid on the Reich Citizens' Scene – Frankfurt's Prince Reuss should take over the government

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According to information from NDR, WDR and

, the main suspect is the 71-year-old nobleman Heinrich XIII.

Prince Reuss, real estate entrepreneur based in Frankfurt.

Accordingly, Prince Reuss should

head of government in the event of a takeover.

According to MDR information, there is an arrest warrant against the 71-year-old.

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According to the federal prosecutor’s office, the alleged “Reichsbürger” group primarily wanted to recruit members of the Bundeswehr and police for the planned overthrow of the state.

At at least four meetings in Baden-Württemberg last summer, suspected members promoted the terrorist organization and its goals, the authority said.

In November, suspects in northern Germany specifically wanted to win over police officers for the association.

In October, members of the "military arm" scouted out Bundeswehr barracks in Hesse, Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria "to inspect their suitability for housing their own troops after the overthrow." 

Raid on Reich citizens: Scene wanted to recruit police officers and soldiers

First report:

Karlsruhe – On Wednesday morning, the federal prosecutor's office had 25 people from the so-called Reich citizen scene arrested in the course of a raid.

Numerous officials are deployed in eleven federal states, a spokeswoman for the Karlsruhe authority told the German Press Agency.

background

According to the Federal Prosecutor's Office, members of the "Reichsbürger" scene wanted to overthrow the state order in Germany and replace it with their own.

The basic features of this form of government had already been worked out.

"The members of the association are aware that this project can only be realized through the use of military means and violence against state representatives," the statement said.

"This also includes committing homicides."

The members of the group follow a conglomerate of conspiracy myths consisting of narratives of the so-called Reichsbürger and QAnon ideology.

They are convinced that Germany is currently governed by members of a "deep state".

According to the members, liberation is promised by the imminent intervention of the "Alliance", a technically superior secret society of governments, intelligence services and the military of various countries, including the Russian Federation and the USA.

The association is convinced that members of the "alliance" are already in Germany and that their attack on the "deep state" is imminent. 

Raid on "Reich Citizens": Planned a coup by force of arms

The group is said to consist of a network of "Reich citizens" and conspiracy ideologues, which, according to information from NDR, WDR and

, includes a noble entrepreneur from Frankfurt am Main, a former AfD member of the Bundestag and judge from Berlin and several former members of the command special forces (KSK) and the paratroopers of the Bundeswehr belong.

According to the report, the group is said to have planned to use force to destroy state order and bring about a coup by force of arms.

Raid in the Reich Citizens' Scene: Largest search operation in West German history

According to the report, 3,000 emergency services have been searching more than 130 houses, apartments and offices since morning in one of the largest searches in German history.

According to information from the media mentioned, 51 people have been accused so far, and there should be an arrest warrant for 25.

Police units, including GSG9 special forces of the federal police, moved in nationwide.

The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), several state criminal investigation offices and authorities for the protection of the constitution had previously conducted extensive investigations.

(ktho/dpa/epd)