On video: the first suspects in the coup are brought into custody in Germany (Photo: Reuters)
In a raid across Germany, 25 members and supporters of a terrorist organization that was part of an extreme right-wing movement and planned to overthrow the government in the country and establish a new regime were arrested today (Wednesday).
German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann said that the investigations focused on a terrorist network with ties to the "Reichsbürger" movement.
According to him, the raids were carried out against people suspected of planning an armed attack on state institutions.
Police officers remove items from the house of a suspect who was arrested (Photo: Reuters)
Identity card of one of those arrested in the raid (photo: screenshot, Twitter)
The organization targets members of the German army (Bundeswehr) and the police to help them carry out the coup.
He established a "military arm" and a council on which Heinrich the 13th P.R. served.
The council was supposed to function as the government of the new state, with some of the members supposed to be ministers instead, including a former member of the German parliament who was supposed to serve as minister of justice.
To implement their plans, the members of the organization were willing to use military means and violence against state representatives and were also willing to kill to achieve their goal.
According to the investigation, members of the organization "believed in conspiracy theories including QAnon."
According to the lawsuit, the organization believed that Germany was ruled by a "shadow state", similar to the unsubstantiated claims of former US President Donald Trump.
Police officers after a raid in Berlin (Photo: Reuters)
Police officers after a raid in Berlin (Photo: Reuters)
The "Citizens of the Reich" movement consists of several small organizations and individuals, mainly from the states of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Bavaria.
They do not accept the legality of the Federal Republic of Germany or its powers.
According to the movement, the pre-World War II German constitution was not properly repealed, and the creation of West Germany in 1949, and today's unified Germany, was never viable or valid.
The members of the organization believe that the state that exists today is nothing more than an administrative tool controlled by Western powers - the United States, Great Britain and France.
For them, the 1937 borders of the German Empire still exist.
The members of the organization refuse to pay taxes and have declared their own "national territories", which they call the "Second German Empire" or the "Free State of Prussia", or the "Principality of Germany".
They print passports and driver's licenses themselves.
They have t-shirts and flags that advertise the goals of the movement.
The movement also proudly announces its intention to "fight against the Federal Republic of Germany" on its website.
Police officers who participated in the raid in Berlin (Photo: Reuters)
The German intelligence agency, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), estimates that there are 21,000 members of the "Citizens of the Reich" in Germany, 5% of which are defined as extreme right.
Most of them are men aged 50 and over who believe in extreme right-wing populist, anti-Semitic and Nazi ideologies.
During the Corona epidemic the movement became even more violent and made headlines when it refused to comply with the restrictions imposed by the authorities.
On the other hand, the members of the movement usually flood the courts in Germany with lawsuits and complaints against orders and demands for payment from the local authorities.
Mayors also complained that they were attacked by members of the organization, verbally or physically.
The police found large caches of weapons and ammunition during the raids they carried out.
A recent BfV report states that the movement's members are willing and ready to commit "serious acts of violence". According to the Deutsche Welle website, a large number of the movement's members are ex-soldiers, including ex-soldiers in special units. Therefore, the movement is considered particularly dangerous. In the years Recently, the authorities revoked gun licenses for hundreds of members of the movement.
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In 2016, a police officer was shot and killed by a member of the movement during a police raid aimed at confiscating his weapons - more than 30 guns that he had illegally stored.
In 2021, several members of the movement were among the protesters against the corona restrictions who stormed the Reichstag building in Berlin.
In 2022, investigators found that the group planned, among other things, to storm parliament, damage power infrastructure and overthrow the federal government.
The plan was to establish a transitional government that would negotiate with the Allies who won World War II - with Russia first in line.
Prince Heinrich XIII, Prince Reuss
The 71-year-old aristocrat was arrested in the West End district of Frankfurt this morning.
He was described by the prosecution as the leader of the terrorist organization that planned to overthrow the government.
He saw himself as the leader of the new government.
Heinrich is the heir of the House of Reuss who ruled parts of Thuringia in East Germany for 800 years.
In 2019, he gave a 16-minute speech at a digital business summit in Zurich that was full of far-right conspiracy theories.
"After thousands of years of rule" his dynasty began to disintegrate after World War I, a conflict that "foreign forces" started.
He claimed that dark forces are behind the great wars of the 20th century, and they are the Rothschild dynasty and the "Freemasons".
In August, the head of the House of Reuss-Greitz, Prince Heinrich the 14th, distanced himself from his relative and said that he is an "old and confused man" who left the family 14 years ago.
According to the German media, he recently got rich from real estate deals and sparkling wine production.
Rudiger von Psektore
The 69-year-old reserve army officer was described by the prosecution as someone who aspired to be the leader of the military wing of the "Reich Citizens" terrorist organization.
In 1996-1993, von Psektor was an officer in the 251st Parachute Battalion which later became the Special Operations Command (KSK).
According to reports, he was dismissed from the army for illegally selling weapons from East German army stockpiles.
Brigitte Melsack-Winkenmann
The position of Minister of Justice in the new state planned by the terrorist organization was apparently reserved for Brigitte Malsak-Winkenmann, 58, who was arrested in her apartment in Berlin.
She has been a member of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party since it was founded in 2013.
As a member of the German parliament in 2017-2021, the lawyer argued that immigrants cause "excess costs of billions of euros" to the German health system because they cannot read instructions regarding the administration of drugs.
Members of parliament described her as a supporter of conspiracy theories, with an obsession with the Kew Anon cult, according to a Die Zeit report.
She has a license to carry weapons, and she has two guns.
In October, a court rejected a request by the left party to prevent Melsack-Winkenmann from returning to her post as a judge at the Berlin District Court.
Her spokesman at the time said she belonged to the "most moderate" part of the AfD.
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