Reichsbürger movement
Reichsbürger adherents typically espouse the belief that the German Reich[1] was not succeeded by the Federal Republic of Germany under the principle of state succession.
Reichsbürger have engaged in violence and criminal activities, and are monitored by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution as extremist organizations.
Reichsbürger and other right-wing extremists strengthened within this movement [10] In 2021 the state office for the Protection of the Constitution in Lower Saxony published a study and came to the conclusion: "The mixing of corona deniers, Reich citizens and right-wing extremists leads to a dangerous radicalization of corona denier and Querdenken-movement.
[12] A handbook of the state of Brandenburg classifies the Reichsbürger movement as "extremist" according to the framework of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Verfassungsschutz).
There, "extremist" refers to attitudes and ideologies that are directed against the basic conditions of a modern democracy and open society, such as the right of the people to elect their government democratically.
[14] Reichsbürger believe that the political boundary of either the 1871 or 1932 borders still exist and that the modern Federal Republic of Germany is "an administrative construct still occupied by the Allied powers".
One of them is a selective reading of a 1973 decision of the Federal Constitutional Court concerning the 1972 treaty between West and East Germany.
An example is article 23 (old version)[clarification needed]: This Basic Law shall initially apply in the territories of the states Baden, Bavaria, Bremen, Greater Berlin, Hamburg, Hesse, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Schleswig-Holstein, Württemberg-Baden and Württemberg-Hohenzollern.
[16] The judgement of the Court on 31 July 1973 ruled that the Basic Treaty does not violate the constitution because it does not make a German re-unification impossible.
Therefore, many members of the Reichsbürger movement typically conclude that the German Reich still "exists" and that the Federal Republic of Germany is not an actual sovereign state but a corporation created by Allied nations after World War II.
Still other groups have created, in their point of view, German sovereign states without historical precedent, for example a Kingdom of Germany or a regional entity.
Antisemitic conspiracy theories are attractive for the people in the Reichsbürger movement because they provide a simple explanation of the world by dividing humanity into friends and foes.
[20] The heterogeneity of the movement and its division into many small groups that are often independent of one another make it difficult to estimate the number of active Reichsbürger.
[22] Reichsbürger adherents are scattered around Germany, but concentrated in the southern and eastern parts of the country,[6] in the states of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Bavaria.
[13] The Amadeu Antonio Foundation, which monitors far-right activities in Germany, states that Reichsbürger adherents are "often isolated" and "completely cut off from reality".
[21] Some KRRs are ready to issue, for a fee, so-called official documents such as building permits, and driving licences, which their adherents may attempt to use in everyday life.
In one instance, Wolfgang Ebel's KRR issued an "excavation permit" to the Principality of Sealand (a micronation), who then had men dig up a plot of land in the Harz region in search of the Amber Room for two weeks, until the landowner hired a private security service to drive them off.
[25] KRR adherents have also on occasion refused to pay taxes or fines, arguing that the laws providing for such sanctions have no constitutional basis.
In 2009, after Swiss authorities refused to recognize the so called Reich Driving Licence of a German KRR adherent, he unsuccessfully appealed the case up to the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland.
[24] Several attempts to prosecute Ebel for threats, impersonating a public servant and so forth have failed because, according to German prosecutors, all courts have found him to be legally insane.
[24] In 2016, Adrian Ursache, a self-proclaimed Reichsbürger and the 1998 winner of the Mister Germany beauty contest, violently resisted his eviction from his house in Reuden.
Ursache deemed his property as part of the self-proclaimed State of Ur and flew the flag of the old German Reich above the home.
[28] Also in 2016, in Georgensgmünd near Nuremberg, a self-described Reichsbürger fired on a special response unit of the Bavarian Police when they attempted to confiscate his 31 firearms.
[29] The weapons confiscation followed the revocation of the murderer's firearms permit and his repeated refusal to co-operate with local authorities.
[34] In April 2022 four members of a Reichsbürger group called United Patriots (Vereinte Patrioten) were detained for plotting to overthrow the government.
Reuss was the starting point for the investigations, which ended up being carried out by the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) under the name Shadow.
[41] During the raids, coordinated by the Federal Police, 25 people were arrested out of a total of 52 suspected far-right coup plotters associated with the Reichsbürger movement.
[41][43] The Patriotic Union group had stockpiled Iridium satellite telephones, expensive devices which could operate even if the electricity network was down.
"[41] Those arrested included aristocrat Heinrich Reuss (who styles himself Heinrich XIII, Prince Reuss of Greiz) a 71-year-old descendant of the House of Reuß, who owns an estate in Thuringia where the group met, several of his followers, and a 69-year-old former Bundeswehr parachutist commander identified as Rüdiger von P.[41][45] Also arrested was Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, a former Alternative for Germany (AfD) member of the Bundestag and a current judge.
