Conspiracy Theorists: The Full Story of the Reich Citizens’ Movement Coup Attempt in Germany

On December 7, 2022, Europe woke up to the news of a failed coup attempt in Germany, the second in the old continent in two years, which seriously indicates its rapid slide towards the currents of Nazism and far-right fascism.

This is accompanied by a significant increase in the proportion of supporters of right-wing parties dreaming of a new reality in various parts of the continent that has been under the grip of American liberalism for decades.

On the morning of December 7, the German authorities announced the arrest of an extreme right-wing group that planned to storm the parliament building and seize power, including 25 extremists belonging to the Reichsbürger Movement (Reich Citizens’ Movement).

German military intelligence confirmed that among the detainees was a descendant of the imperial family called Henry XIII, 71 years old, and had a pivotal role in the coup plan.

This is the second actual coup attempt carried out by the far-right in a European country, after a previous attempt in France in 2021.

The French newspaper Le Parisien revealed on October 27, 2021, that the infection of coups spread for the first time to Europe from Africa and Arab countries so that Western cooks tasted the poison of their support for the coups in Africa and the Middle East.

At the time, it said that France, a country of freedoms in Europe, thwarted a coup attempt that was led by a far-right politician and planned to storm the Elysee Palace, but the intelligence services arrested him, in addition to 36 military captains.

 

What Happened?

Following a massive campaign of raids that included more than 130 sites, including military barracks, the German police arrested 25 people belonging to the Nazi Reich Citizens’ Movement, accusing them of planning a military coup.

More than three thousand security personnel, including elite anti-terrorism units, participated in the raids and arrests in what German media described as one of the largest police operations the country has witnessed.

The raids mainly targeted members of the Reich Citizens’ Movement, who are suspected of carrying out actual preparations to storm the German parliament with the support of an armed group, according to a statement by the German prosecution.

On its part, the German newspaper Der Spiegel revealed on the same day that the sites that were inspected included the barracks of the German Special Forces unit in the southwestern town of Kalu, which was subject to a previous investigation regarding the involvement of some of its soldiers with far-right groups.

In addition to Prince Henry XIII, the newspaper confirmed that among the suspects were a judge, a former deputy from the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD), former soldiers, and two of the 25 detainees arrested in Austria and Italy.

The arrested coup leaders were previously accused at the end of November 2021 of establishing a terrorist movement with the aim of overthrowing the current state regime in Germany and replacing it with a state of their own and seeking to achieve this through military means and force, according to the newspaper.

“The accusers share a deep rejection of state institutions and the democratic system of the Federal Republic of Germany,” the German prosecution said.

 

Who Is Behind It?

The German newspaper Bild confirmed that the cell is headed by Prince Henry XIII, a former member of the AfD Party, and Judge Birgit Malsack-Winkemann.

It quoted private sources as saying, “After the success of the coup, the group wanted to establish a monarchy and form a government divided into different ministries according to royal principles.”

On its part, the local website Blake confirmed that the prosecution’s statement confirmed that the members of the movement are firmly convinced that Germany is currently ruled by members of the so-called deep state.

They also believe that a secret society of governments, intelligence services, and military from different countries, including the Russian Federation and the United States, is currently running the country.

German intelligence reports had previously warned of the growing size of the Reich Citizens. They said that they were planning to establish a private army. German newspapers confirmed that most of those arrested in the recent coup attempt belonged to this movement.

Germany’s Constitutional Protection Agency (internal intelligence) began tracking members of the Reich Citizens after a person belonging to this movement killed a German police officer on October 19, 2016.

 

Who Are the Reich Citizens?

According to Deutsche Welle, the Reich Citizen’s Movement dates back to 1871.

The movement includes neo-Nazis, conspiracy theorists, and armed supporters who reject the legitimacy of the current German Republic and see the need to return to Nazi Germany within an authoritarian monarchy.

The movement’s followers do not recognize the modern German Republic, which was established after the collapse of Nazism (The Third Reich) after World War II in 1945.

They insist that the Third German Empire still exists within the borders of 1937 or the borders of 1871, which includes parts of Poland and France now, so they considered installing the former Prince Henry XIII as a new leader for the country in the event of the success of the coup.

They refuse to pay taxes or fines, seeing that everything they earn is their own money and that their property should be kept completely out of the supervision of state authorities that they do not recognize.

They also refuse to acknowledge the German constitution and the rest of the laws and prepare their own unrecognized papers, such as passports and driver’s licenses.

The movement began to become active and attract new followers during the eighties and continued to develop itself until it reached a movement of about 19,000 affiliates, according to what German intelligence confirms.

German police classify about 950 members of the movement as extremists and confirm that a thousand members of the movement have licenses to possess weapons, and a large number of them adopt anti-foreign ideologies.

The case of Wolfgang P., who was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of killing a police officer in 2016, is the turning point that has prompted German authorities to deal more seriously with the movement’s extremists.

As this extremist shot dead officers who were searching his house for the possibility of firearms possession, the crime caused a sensation, attracted the world‘s attention, and sounded the alarm about right-wing violence in Germany.

Since then, the security raids on the movement’s members have been repeated, and the authorities have banned many of its activities.

The police and army have also investigated internally to see if there are members or sympathizers with the movement among their ranks.

The movement has increased in extremism in recent years and has become an increasing security threat, and what exacerbated its danger is the accession of former soldiers to it.

The German Focus magazine reported on December 7, 2022, that the Reich Citizens’ Movement had been planning for years to establish its own secret army, especially in the states of eastern Germany.

It said that members of the movement from several German states met in a conspiratorial meeting to establish an armed movement to prepare for the promised day (Day X).

On December 12, 2020, Austria announced a strike against this German movement after seizing weapons and ammunition that were intended to form a far-right militia.

 

Is Russia Involved?

It was also remarkable that the German prosecution confirmed that Prince Henry XIII had contacted Russian officials with the aim of negotiating a new regime in the country once the German government was overthrown.

Although the Reich Citizens’ Movement declared its attachment to the German Empire, a number of its members appeared with the Russian flag, which leveled accusations that the movement was supported by Russia.

Therefore, the Russian embassy in Berlin, coinciding with the announcement of the coup, was quick to deny any connection with far-right terrorist groups in Germany.

Russian newspapers and websites, such as Russia Today, focused on the German Prosecutor’s Office’s assertion that there is no evidence proving the involvement of any Russian officials in supporting the alleged coup plot in Germany.

 

Is It Repeated?

On August 25, 2022, The Times newspaper said, “German intelligence had warned that the country was waiting for an autumn of anger, due to the growing far-right tide in the country.”

It warned that the extreme right is taking advantage of the general state of anger coinciding with the high cost of living, fuel crisis, and gas shortages—due to the consequences of the Russian-Ukrainian war and Berlin’s support for Kyiv—to implement terrorist plans.

The newspaper quoted German intelligence officials as saying that “the country is facing months of economic, living and geopolitical turbulence, with the rise of far-right voices in German public opinion.”

German officials stress that there is concern that neo-Nazi extremists will attempt to unify and mobilize disparate opposition forces into a broad uprising against the democratic regime, especially in East Germany.

The victory of the far-right in France, Austria, Sweden, Italy, Hungary, Germany, and finally, the UK did not ring alarm bells as much as the emergence of more extreme armed right-wing currents that are not satisfied with democracy and want to return their country to the age of empires.

Concern about the escalation of these currents that adopt violence is not only European but also global because when fascism and Nazism dominated Europe before, the result was world wars that led to the deaths of 60-70 million people in World War II alone.

Europe did not rise until it brushed off the dust of Nazism and fascism and tried to bury these extreme right-wing ideas, but now it is not threatened, and with it the world as well, only by the ideas of racist extremist politicians, but also by armed paramilitary movements that seek coups through which they rule and restore the glories of their empires.

Will thwarting the coups in Germany and France be enough to save Europe? Or will the danger continue?