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Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach: The threat "affects my life"
Photo: Frederic Kern / Future Image / IMAGO
Karl Lauterbach (SPD) feels threatened by extremists.
The threat from Reich citizens, for example, "affects my life and I'm worried about my children," said the Health Minister of the "Rheinische Post".
At first he thought that Reichsbürger were "a couple of harmless crazy people."
He now knows "that these people are dangerous terrorists, many of whom are armed."
But he himself was "very well protected," said Lauterbach.
Lauterbach himself was the target of a kidnapping squad: in April 2022, Reich citizens and opponents of the corona policy are said to have planned to kidnap the minister.
According to group members, Lauterbach's kidnapping was supposed to be the prelude to a coup d'état.
According to the federal prosecutor's office, the group had set itself the goal of triggering conditions similar to civil war in Germany and thus ultimately bringing about the fall of the federal government and parliamentary democracy.
"The plan was to bring about a nationwide 'black out' by damaging or destroying power supply facilities," the federal prosecutor said at the time.
The killing of bodyguards is said to have been considered in the planned kidnapping of Lauterbach.
sol/AFP