In operations across Germany, 25 people suspected of planning to topple the government were apprehended.
According to reports, the gang of far-right and ex-military officials planned to storm the Reichstag and grab power.
Allegedly, 71-year-old Prince Heinrich XIII, a minor aristocrat, was key to their objectives.
Among those arrested in eleven German states, he is one of two alleged ringleaders, according to federal prosecutors.
Among the alleged conspirators are members of the radical Reichsbürger [Citizens of the Reich] movement, which has been a longtime target of German authorities due to violent attacks and racist conspiracy theories. Additionally, they refuse to acknowledge the current German state.
Other suspects came from the QAnon movement, which believes that a “deep state” controls the nation.
Conspirators prepared to kill for their purposes
An estimated fifty men and women are said to have conspired to overthrow the republic and replace it with a new state modeled on the Germany of 1871 – an empire known as the Second Reich.
A federal prosecutor’s office spokesperson stated, “We do not yet have a name for this organization.”
Three thousand officers participated in 130 raids across the majority of the country, arresting two individuals in Austria and Italy. The detained individuals were scheduled to be questioned later that day.
Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann tweeted that a massive anti-terror operation was underway and that a “planned armed attack against constitutional bodies” was suspected.
Since November 2021, according to the federal prosecutor’s office, the gang has been organizing a violent coup, and members of its top “Rat” (council) have had frequent meetings.
The prosecutor stated that they had already formed plans to rule Germany with ministries handling health, justice, and foreign affairs. Members realized they could only achieve their objectives through “military methods and violence against state representatives,” which included murder.
In April of last year, investigators found a kidnapping scheme involving a gang known as United Patriots, which is believed to have given them information about the organization.
They, too, were members of the Reichsbürger scene and allegedly plotted to kidnap Health Minister Karl Lauterbach while simultaneously generating “civil war conditions” to abolish Germany’s democracy.
A former Bundestag member of the far-right AfD is suspected of involvement in the conspiracy and of being considered for the position of the justice minister. Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, one of the 25 individuals detained, returned to her position as a judge last year, and a court has since rejected efforts to remove her.
A notable attorney was slated to manage the group’s foreign relations, with Prince Heinrich serving as the group’s leader.
“fueled by conspiracy ideas”
Heinrich XIII is descended from an ancient noble dynasty known as the House of Reuss, which ruled portions of the present-day eastern German state of Thuringia until 1918. All of the male family members were given the name Heinrich and a number.
Heinrich is rumored to own a hunting lodge near Bad Lobenstein, Thuringia, where his descendants still control a few castles.
The rest of the family has long since distanced themselves from the minor nobleman, with one spokesman telling local radio MDR in the summer that Heinrich was a “sometimes confused” guy who believed “misconceptions fueled by conspiracy theories.”
In addition to a shadow government, the conspirators also envisioned a military wing led by a second mastermind named Rüdiger von P.
Officials suspect that they consisted of active and retired military personnel, including former elite soldiers from special teams. According to prosecutors, the objective of the military wing was to remove democratic bodies at the local level.
Rüdiger von P is suspected of recruiting police officers in northern Germany and keeping an eye on army installations as well. Officials stated that bases in the German states of Hesse, Baden-Württemberg, and Bavaria were evaluated for possible use when the government was overthrown.
One of the individuals under investigation was a former member of the Special Commando Forces; his home and room at the Graf-Zeppelin military facility in Calw, southwest of Stuttgart, were investigated by police.
Vitalia B, a Russian woman tasked with approaching Moscow on Heinrich’s behalf, has been identified as a second suspect. In a statement, the Russian embassy in Berlin stated that it does not “keep contacts with representatives of terrorist groups or other criminal entities.”
In recent years, the German far-right has been tied to several violent acts. In 2020, a 43-year-old man fatally shot nine foreigners in the western town of Hanau, and in 2016, a Reichsbürger member was imprisoned for murdering a police officer.
The Reichsbürger movement is estimated to have up to 21,000 adherents, of which approximately 5% are considered to be far-right extremists.
