They do not see the Federal Republic as a sovereign state. After the major raid, the question arises again: What ideas do “Reich citizens” cling to? And how dangerous are they?
So-called Reich citizens are directed against the free democratic basic order in Germany. Especially during the protests against the federal government’s corona policy, supporters of the scene were always to be found in public from the very beginning. They also do not shy away from sometimes deadly violence – often against the police. What is their ideology?
What is meant by “Reichsbürger”?
The followers do not recognize the Federal Republic of Germany as a state. They falsely declare that the historic German Reich continues to exist to this day. “Reich citizens” negate today’s democratic and constitutional structures such as parliament, laws or courts. They do not want to pay taxes, social security contributions or fines.
“Reichsbürger” do not form a unified movement. Some of them even see themselves as heads of state of their own little empire, with their own identity cards and license plates. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution uses the term “self-administrator” for these. They claim legal and territorial autonomy outside of the Federal Republic. There are also mixed forms between “Reichsbürger” and “Selbstverwalter”.
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution ascribes around 21,000 supporters to the entire scene. The authority sees about ten percent of them as violent. According to the authority, around 1,150 are right-wing extremists.
What is the ideology behind it?
According to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the conspiracy myths of the “Reichsbürger” and “Selbstverwalter” transport anti-Semitic patterns that also play an important role among right-wing extremists. These include, for example, the denial of the Holocaust, blaming “the Jews” or the so-called “deep state” myth, according to which secret powers supposedly controlled world affairs.
For example, the false claim that Germany is still occupied by the four victorious powers of the Second World War is widespread. But that has been disproved long enough. The Two Plus Four Treaty of 1990 regulated the foreign policy of the Federal Republic with the Allies in the course of the unification of the then two German states. This ended Germany’s special status, which had existed since 1945 in the form of a kind of international guardianship by the victorious powers.
The federal prosecutor’s office writes about the current raid: “The members of the group follow a conglomerate of conspiracy myths consisting of narratives of the so-called Reichsbürger and QAnon ideology.”
What is QAnon and the supposed “deep state”?
QAnon is the name of a complex conspiracy narrative that began in the United States in 2017. At that time, a user with the pseudonym “Q” began to publish secret information about alleged criminals from politics, finance and show business on an Internet platform on which one can post anonymously and without restrictions. Since then, QAnon has been about alleged pedophiles and cannibals in the highest power centers.
An integral part of the movement is the narrative of an alleged “deep state”. This is based on the crude idea that secret powers that are not democratically legitimate are behind political decisions. An allegedly hidden “elite” in the highest government offices and social positions is actually in control.
The Office for the Protection of the Constitution recognizes “borrowings from the classic phantasm of the Jewish world conspiracy”. The supposed members of this group, also referred to as the “cabal” by conspiracy narrators, are often Jews, Jewish organizations or people characterized as Jewish – such as the US investor George Soros, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, the Rothschild banking family or the founder of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Klaus Schwab.
Which symbols are used?
The best known is probably the black, white and red flag of the former German Empire. She was also seen when activists tried to get into the Reichstag in the summer of 2020. It is considered an alternative to the colors black, red and gold, which stand for the democratic Federal Republic.
QAnon followers, on the other hand, often work with code. In addition to the letter “Q”, the abbreviation “WWG1WGA” is probably the most common – “Where We Go One, We Go All” (meaning: one for all, all for one). Experts see this as an appeal to conspiracy believers: that they are involved in a grand narrative via codes. There are also apocalyptic motifs that play an important role in QAnon’s typical black and white thinking. Former US President Donald Trump, who is said to save the world, is regarded as the messiah.
How high is the potential for violence?
“Reich citizens” try to saddle up on social protests. For example, under their influence, the demonstrations against the state corona policy have become increasingly aggressive during the course of the pandemic. For example, the protests in Berlin on August 29, 2020 included right-wing extremists and conspiracy theorists as well as Reich citizens. At that time, the barricade in front of the Reichstag was breached and the stairs of the building were temporarily stormed.
For the year 2021, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution attributed 1,011 extremist crimes to the “Reichsbürger” and “Selbstverwalter”, including 184 acts of violence. According to the authority, around 500 members of the scene had a gun license at the end of 2021.
It was not until April 2022 that “Reichsbürger” are said to have planned explosive attacks and the kidnapping of Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD). Four men were arrested during a nationwide search.
“Reich citizens” resist massively against state institutions – even with such relatively minor measures as the installation of an electricity meter. In the past, there have always been cases of officers being shot or hit. In October 2016, for example, a “Reich citizen” killed a police officer during a raid in Georgensgmünd, Bavaria. The special task force (SEK) wanted to confiscate the hunter’s weapons.
Source: Stern
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