Reichsbürger movement

Reichsbürgerbewegung ("Reich Citizens' Movement") or Reichsbürger ("Reich Citizens") is a label for several groups and individuals in Germany and elsewhere who reject the legitimacy of the modern German state, the Federal Republic of Germany.[1] The Reich Citizens' Movement are often connected to far-right and antisemitic positions. In 2016 a Reichsbürger shot dead an officer of Spezialeinsatzkommando in Georgensgmünd, Bavaria, while police wanted to disarm him. Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz is observing the movement.[2][3]

The German Reich within its 1937 borders

They maintain that the German Reich (or, occasionally, Prussia)[4] continues to exist in its pre-World War II borders, and that it is governed by a Kommissarische Reichsregierung (KRR, Provisional Reich Government), or Exilregierung ("government in exile").[5] There are a number of competing KRRs, each claiming to govern all of Germany.

Arguments
See also: Legal status of Germany

The self-described Reichsbürger ("Reich citizens") maintain that the Federal Republic of Germany is illegitimate and that the Reich's 1919 Weimar Constitution remains in effect. Most of their arguments are based on a selective reading of a 1973 decision of the Federal Constitutional Court concerning the Basic Treaty between West and East Germany.[6] The judgement held that the 1949 Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (Grundgesetz) itself assumes that the Reich, as a subject of international law, despite the German Instrument of Surrender and the Allied occupation, had survived the collapse of Nazi Germany, but is incapable of acting as a state because it lacks any organization, such as governmental authorities.[7]

The Reichsbürger do not, however, cite the Court's further holding that the Federal Republic is not a successor state to the Reich, but, as a West German state at that time partially, and—since 1990—fully identical to it.[8] Instead they claim to have restored the governmental bodies of the German Reich and to be capable of acting on the basis of the Weimar Constitution.

History

The original Kommissarische Reichsregierung was founded in 1985 by Wolfgang Gerhard Günter Ebel,[9] a former Reichsbahn traffic superintendent in West Berlin. Ebel, who appointed himself Reich Chancellor, claimed to be acting on the authority of the Allied occupation authorities. Some of the members of his "cabinet" later fell out with Ebel, and established provisional governments of their own with names such as Exilregierung Deutsches Reich or Deutsches Reich AG (the latter being based in Nevada, United States).

KRRs engage in activities such as issuing currency and stamps, as well as promoting themselves through the Internet and other media. Where the number of their adherents allows, they also emulate the "re-established" institutions, such as courts or parliaments, of the Weimar Republic or of earlier German states. A restored Reichstag temporarily existed as well as several Reich Ministers, state governments, and a Reichsgericht.

Ideology
Further information: Far-right politics in Germany (1945–present)

The Reichsbürger movement is part of the far right.[10][11] The movement espouses conspiracy theories, antisemitism, and racism.[11][12] The movement has been described as neo-Nazi in character,[12] although The Economist reported in 2016 that Reichsbürger adherents "draw ridicule even from neo-Nazis."[13] The Reichsbürger movement is characterized by a rejection of the modern Federal Republic of Germany;[11][12] denial of its legality[14] and legitimacy;[15] and denial of the authority of the federal, state, and local governments in Germany.[15] Reichsbürger followers believe that the German Empire borders of 1937 or 1871 borders still exist and that the modern Federal Republic of Germany is "an administrative construct still occupied by the Allied powers."[14]

Membership

In April 2018, Germany's domestic intelligence service, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), estimated that Reichsbürger movement membership had grown by 80% over the previous two years, more than estimated earlier, with a total of 18,000 adherents, of whom 950 were categorized as right-wing extremists.[16] The marked an increase from BfV's 2016 estimate of 10,000 adherents[16] and 2017 estimate of 12,600 adherents.[17] The increase in numbers may be attributable to more adherents becoming known to authorities, rather than an actual increase in the number of adherents.[16] The heterogeneity of the movement and its division into many small groups that are often independent of one another makes it difficult to estimate the number of active Reichsbürger.[18]

Reichsbürger adherents are scattered around Germany, but concentrated in southern and eastern part of the country,[11] in the states of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Bavaria.[14] BfV has estimated that there are 3,500 adherents in Bavaria and around 2,500 in Baden-Württemberg.[14]

Adherents tend to be older;[11] with most aged 40–60 years old.[19] and an average age of over 50.[14] The majority are male[14][19] and socially disadvantaged.[14] The Amadeu Antonio Foundation, which monitors far-right activities in Germany, states that Reichsbürger adherents are "often isolated" and "completely cut off from reality."[11] German counterextremism official Heiko Homburg states that the Reichsbürger movement is an amalgamation of right-wing extremists, esoterics, and "sovereign citizens" and that the movement attracts conspiracy theorists, the economically troubled, and "people who are a little mentally disordered," and people with economic problems.[15]

Activities

As of 2009, there was no reliable count of the number of KRRs then existing, but the KRR FAQ, an online registry maintained by a German jurist, lists some 60 persons or organizations associated with operating competing KRRs. Several (though by no means all) KRRs have links to far-right extremist or neo-Nazi groups,[4] and are under observation by the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

Some KRRs are ready to issue, for a fee, "official" documents such as building permits, and driving licences, which their adherents or gullible citizens may attempt to use in everyday life.[5] 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.[20] Similarly, in 2002 Ebel's KRR "sold" the Hakeburg, a manor in Kleinmachnow south of the Berlin city limits that had been owned by the German Reichspost (and therefore, according to Ebel, by his KRR) to one of the two competing governments of Sealand, thus creating, in their view, an enclave of Sealand in Germany.[21]

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 the ensuing judicial proceedings, they refuse to recognize the courts as legitimate.[22] Some also pursue their activities abroad. In 2009, after Swiss authorities refused to recognize the "Reich Driving Licence" of a German KRR adherent, he unsuccessfully appealed the case up to the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland.[5]

Wolfgang Ebel's original organization, in particular, continues to attempt enforcing its asserted authority through attempts at intimidation.[20] According to Ebel, his "government" has issued more than 1,000 "arrest warrants" against people who have disregarded documents issued by the KRR. These warrants inform the addressee that, once the Reich Government is in power, they will be tried for high treason, for which the penalty is death.[20] Ebel has also admitted owning a "government helicopter" painted in the national colours, but has denied using it for intimidating fly-overs.[20] 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.[20]

The Bundesverfassungsschutz (Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution; Germany's federal domestic security agency, has been monitoring Reichsbürger since November 2016, and the security services of individual states have been monitoring the activities of the group for longer.[17]

In Höxter, North Rhine-Westphalia, in 2014, one Reichsbürger group (the "Free State of Prussia") attempted to smuggle weapons into Germany in an attempt to create its own militia.[14] Police raids have found large stockpiles of guns and ammunition hoarded by Reichsbürger adherents.[14] In 2018, the German magazine Focus reported that Reichsbürger adherents had been attempting to build an armed militia in preparation for "Day X"—"an imagined day of reckoning or uprising against the German government."[10]

Interaction with law enforcement authorities

On 25 August 2016, Adrian Ursache, a self-proclaimed Reichsbürger and former Mister Germany violently resisted the eviction of his house. The original eviction was scheduled for 24 August 2016, with the official justification for the eviction being the liquidity issues of his household. When the German police arrived on scene they encountered a group of around 120 people, who were staying on Ursache’s and his in-law’s property. To Ursache his property was part of the state of "Ur", proclaimed by him. After the first eviction attempt failed, the German police returned with a special response team the day after. When the eviction started, Ursache began firing at them, lightly injuring two officers. Ursache was shot and rushed to a hospital. The trial for attempted murder began on 9 October 2017.[18][23]

On 19 October 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. Three police officers were injured. One of them later died from his injuries.[24] The weapons confiscation followed the revocation of the murderer's firearms permit and his repeated refusal to co-operate with local authorities.[25] German authorities expressed concern at the escalation in violence. The event attracted international attention.[26] Bavarian ministers called for increased surveillance of the "right-wing extremist" movement.[27] On 23 October 2017, Wolfgang P. was sentenced to imprisonment for life.[28]

There were renewed calls for more serious measures against the movement, including revocation of firearms permits and seizure of their weapons, following disciplinary action against police officers with alleged connections to the movement.[29][30] On 27 October 2016, a Bavarian police officer was suspended from his duties because of his connections to one of the Reichsbürger movements. There have been allegations of similar kind against other police officers in different states of Germany as well.[31][32]

List of Reichsbürger groups

The following is a non-exhaustive list of KRRs that have received media coverage.[33]

  • Fürstentum Germania, formerly based at Krampfer Palace, established in 2009, claims 300 adherents.[34]
  • Interim Partei – Das Reicht[22]
  • Zentralrat Souveräner Bürger, based in an inn in Schwanstetten[35]
  • Ur, based in Elsteraue. Its leader Adrian Ursache was injured in a 2016 shootout with police.[36]
gollark: I may have *slightly* hardcoded "PotatOS" in half the code.
gollark: Good luck.
gollark: Using proprietary potatotech.
gollark: Yes, it's self-installing.
gollark: `pastebin run rm13ugfa`

See also

Footnotes
  1. Rulf, Kirsten (2018-08-09). "Meet the 'Reichsbürger': Germany's Far-right anti-Semitic Cult That Is Armed to the Teeth". Haaretz. Retrieved 2018-08-15.
  2. https://www.br.de/nachricht/rechtsaussen/reichsbuerger-rechtsextremismus-100.html
  3. https://www.br.de/nachricht/rechtsaussen/reichsbuerger-rechtsextremismus-100.html
  4. Oppong, Martin (15 May 2008). "'Kommissarische Reichsregierungen': Gefährliche Irre". Die Tageszeitung (in German). Retrieved 2009-03-25.
  5. Thiriet, Maurice (11 March 2009). "'Reichsführerschein' im Thurgau nicht gültig". Tages-Anzeiger (in German). Retrieved 2009-03-25.
  6. BVerfGE 36, 1 ff.
  7. "Das Grundgesetz – nicht nur eine These der Völkerrechtslehre und der Staatsrechtslehre! – geht davon aus, dass das Deutsche Reich den Zusammenbruch 1945 überdauert hat und weder mit der Kapitulation noch durch Ausübung fremder Staatsgewalt in Deutschland durch die alliierten Okkupationsmächte noch später untergegangen ist ... Das entspricht auch der ständigen Rechtsprechung des Bundesverfassungsgerichts, an der der Senat festhält. Das Deutsche Reich existiert fort ..., besitzt nach wie vor Rechtsfähigkeit, ist allerdings als Gesamtstaat mangels Organisation, insbesondere mangels institutionalisierter Organe selbst nicht handlungsfähig. ... Mit der Errichtung der Bundesrepublik Deutschland wurde nicht ein neuer westdeutscher Staat gegründet, sondern ein Teil Deutschlands neu organisiert." (citations omitted)
  8. "Die Bundesrepublik Deutschland ist also nicht ‚Rechtsnachfolger‘ des Deutschen Reiches, sondern als Staat identisch mit dem Staat ‚Deutsches Reich‘, – in Bezug auf seine räumliche Ausdehnung allerdings ‚teilidentisch‘, so dass insoweit die Identität keine Ausschließlichkeit beansprucht."
  9. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-07-02. Retrieved 2009-04-01.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. Elizabeth Schumacher (12 January 2018). "Report: Far-right Reichsbürger movement is growing, building army". Deutsche Welle.
  11. Christopher F. Schuetze (March 19, 2020). "Germany Shuts Down Far-Right Clubs That Deny the Modern State". New York Tines.
  12. "German police raid neo-Nazi Reichsbürger movement nationwide". BBC News. March 19, 2020.
  13. "Hundreds of Germans are living as if the Reich never ended: The "Reichsbürger" maintain the Federal Republic is a Jewish-controlled conspiracy". The Economist. November 10, 2016.
  14. Wolfgang Dick (19 October 2016). "What is behind the right-wing 'Reichsbürger' movement?". Deutsche Welle.
  15. Anthony Faiola & Stephanie Kirchner (March 20, 2017). "In Germany, right-wing violence flourishing amid surge in online hate". Washington Post.
  16. "Germany's far-right Reichsbürger movement larger than earlier estimated". Deutsche Welle. 28 April 2018.
  17. "Verfassungsschutz zählt 12.600 Reichsbürger in Deutschland" [Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution estimates 12.600 Reichsbürger in Germany]. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. 22 May 2017. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  18. GmbH, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (2016-09-12). "„Reichsbürger"-Szene: Schießerei im Staat Ur". FAZ.NET. Retrieved 2017-11-30.
  19. Kate Connolly, German police arrest members of far-right group after state ban, The Guardian (March 19, 2020).
  20. Philip Gessler (2000-08-15). "Die Reichsminister drohen mit dem Tod". Die Tageszeitung (in German). Retrieved 2009-03-25.
  21. Document of Sealand's supposed acquisition of the Hakeburg
  22. "BRD-Leugner: Was ist die Interim Partei?". Badische Zeitung (in German). 2008-09-03. Retrieved 2009-03-25.
  23. mdr.de. "Chronologie: Mordprozess gegen "Reichsbürger" Adrian Ursache | MDR.DE" (in German). Retrieved 2017-11-30.
  24. GmbH, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (2017-10-23). "Wolfgang P. aus Georgensgmünd: Lebenslange Haft wegen Polizistenmordes für Reichsbürger". FAZ.NET. Retrieved 2017-11-30.
  25. "Germany shooting: Policeman dies in raid on far-right gunman". BBC. 20 October 2016. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
  26. "Germany fears radicalisation of Reichsbürger movement after police attacks". The Guardian. 20 October 2016. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
  27. "Anti-government 'Reichsbürger' attacks German police and calls them Nazis after extremist shoots officer dead". The Independent. 21 October 2016. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
  28. "Lebenslange Haft wegen Polizistenmordes für Reichsbürger". Frankfurter Allgemeine. 23 October 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  29. "A broken oath: Reichsbürger in the police force". Deutsche Welle. 31 October 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
  30. "State premier: Three suspected Reichsbürger police in Saxony". Deutsche Welle. 6 November 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
  31. "Staatsleugner als Staatsdiener". Spiegel Online. 21 October 2016. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  32. "Polizei suspendiert mutmaßlichen "Reichsbürger"". Spiegel Online. 27 October 2016. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  33. See, generally, the media section of KRR FAQ.
  34. Fröhlich, Alexander (2009-03-15). "Die Hippies von Germania". Der Tagesspiegel (in German). Retrieved 2009-03-25.
  35. "'Staatenlose' lösen Unbehagen aus". Schwabacher Tagblatt (in German). 2008-10-28. Retrieved 2009-03-25.
  36. Extremist Group Leader Injured in Shootout With German Police, Zeke Turner, The Wall Street Journal, 2016-08-25.
  • Schmidt, Frank (2007). "KRR FAQ" (in German). Retrieved 2009-03-25, a KRR database.
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