Wondering the alleged coup attempt in Germany

On December 7, the German authorities arrested more than twenty suspects involved in an alleged plot to overthrow the state through violence and military means.

According to Germany’s public prosecutor, the group, which includes far-right figures and former military officers, has purchased weapons and made concrete plans in recent months to stir up nationwide chaos and violently storm the German parliament, the Bundestag.

Heinrich Reuss, scion of a noble family, known as Prince Heinrich XIII, is the leading figure in the group.

On December 7, the German Federal Prosecutor’s Office announced in a statement, “The competent authorities thwarted a coup plot by launching attacks seeking to cause chaos in the country and seize power”.

The statement added: “52 suspects participated in the scheme, including a group affiliated with the extreme Citizens of the Reich Movement, and former officers”.

The Citizens of the Reich movement, which was founded in November 2021, doesn’t recognize the existing German political system, nor the German state in its current form, and in return recognizes the German Empire.

They don’t recognize the existing constitutional order in Germany, aims to overthrow it by carrying out a coup and re-establishing an empire, and it has been known since the 1980s.

Since the 2000s, the movement has splintered into many smaller organizations and Kingdoms and has begun to emerge more frequently.

The movement named Peter Fitzek established a Kingdom in the eastern German town of Wittenberg in 2012 whereby anyone wishing to become a citizen would receive, for a fee, an identity card signed by King Peter I.

Apart from these fringe attempts, the media widely covered for a long time the attempts of the “Citizens of the Reich” and far-right organizations to infiltrate state institutions, especially the army and police.

Since 2010, dozens of pistols and huge quantities of ammunition and explosives belonging to the German army have been lost and not found.

In 2017, it was revealed that First Lieutenant Franco A, joined the German army “Bundeswehr” with the aim of carrying out a coup and assassinating politicians.

On May 20, 2021, prosecutors in Germany said that “the defendant, First Lieutenant Franco A, acted with extreme right-wing motives”, according to the American Associated Press.

However, Moritz Schmidt Frick, the lawyer of the First Lieutenant Franco A, defended him by saying that “his client was the victim of a smear campaign,” and denied that he had extreme right-wing tendencies.

After that, members of the “Reichstiens” were prevented from obtaining arms licenses in 2018 until the end of 2021, and thus the licenses for weapons owned by 150 members of the movement were revoked.

And 500 members of the “Citizens of the Reich” still own weapons, according to German media reports.

The German media widely reported the messages of the movement’s members, who were planning a coup on the morning of the raid on December 7the, via the Telegram.

The members who were arrested in the framework of the recent security crackdown belong to the “Citizens of the Reich” movement, which includes many segments and groups.

This movement is known to be supported by the right-wing group Querdenker (sideways thinkers), which has been staunchly opposed to government shutdowns related to the coronavirus.

According to the reports of the German Internal Intelligence Service “Verfassungschutz”, the number of members of the movement is about 21,000, including a thousand extremist far rights.

The movement is heterogeneous, and includes opponents of Coronavirus vaccines, members of the AfD, and far-rights.

Among the members of the movement, who were arrested on charges of planning an attempted armed coup, on Wednesday morning, December 7, the prince of a noble dynasty, Heinrich Reuss, and the former deputy of the right-wing AfD party “Alternative for Germany” Birgit Malczak-Wenkmann, and the former German army officer Rudiger von B.

Members of the “Citizens of the Reich” movement were arrested on charges of plotting to overthrow the constitutional order, launch an armed raid on the German parliament, and seize power.

According to the claims of the official authorities, the members of the movement planned and risked death in a possible armed coup and an attempt to storm the parliament.

In fact, the media was also informed that the detainees formed a council for the period after the possible coup attempt, and shared their ministries among themselves.

According to this movement, post-WWII Germany is still under occupation, and current politicians and state officials should be tried in the Nuremberg Military Tribunal (a series of twelve military tribunals held in the Nuremberg Palace of Justice to try war crimes) for treason, in the belief that Germany is currently ruled by a “deep state” (from modern concepts in the social sciences).

Supporters of the movement recognize the borders of the German Empire in 1871, but refuse any official documents, and establish their own IDs, driver’s licenses, and title deeds.

Since they don’t recognize the police and judicial authorities, they are often tempted to commit crimes.

Members of the movement, who communicate with each other via digital channels, especially telegraphs, and use black and white as symbols of the imperial flag, live mostly in rural Germany.

According to German authorities, the movement’s ability to infiltrate the judicial system, the army, the police force and the German parliament through the AfD makes the movement even more dangerous.

The anti-terror campaign, in which 54 people were charged and 25 arrested, is described as the largest anti-terror operation in German history after the RAF.

Regarding the security operation, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office said, in a statement, that “the competent authorities have been monitoring the group since November 2011, and that the raid was recently carried out”.

The biggest criticism expressed regarding the security operation is that it was accompanied by the media, and details were discussed with various media outlets a few days ago.

After the large-scale security crackdown in Germany, left-wing MP Martina Renner claimed, in a press statement, that “some of the media knew two weeks ago that the operation would be organized, which would have posed a security risk for such a large-scale operation”.

Renner criticized such sharing of information that “might cause members of the Citizens of the Reich to take precautions by warning them in advance”.

While all politicians, especially German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, describe in his recent statements the alleged coup plan as “a serious threat to democracy and the German constitutional order”.

The far-right media active in Germany claims that the recent security crackdown is a play by the government aimed at restricting freedom of expression and further suppressing far-right movements and anti-vaccine groups.

It is clear that the German public has begun to discuss the manner in which the security operation was carried out, the cooperation between the media and the police and the potential dangers it creates.