"Reich citizen", absurdity or reality in Germany?

Source: Global Times

Occupying the German Bundestag by force, overthrowing the German government, and then restoring the rule of the German Empire - as the investigation of the far-right organization "Reich Citizen" deepened, the coup plan of the organization gradually surfaced. The group's members appear to be quite mainstream and are often considered "pillars of democracy," but these "pillars" want to destroy its "superstructure." Some analysts believe that the views of "Reich Citizens" members that "Germany is a colony of the United States" to a certain extent reflect the current German-American relations, but their idea of launching a coup d'état with the help of "Russian and American governments, intelligence agencies and military personnel" is like idiotic words. The far-right forces represented by "imperial citizens" are constantly expanding in Germany, driven by historical reasons and domestic realities, mixed with the influence of American conspiracy theorists. To complicate the situation, some German and American media and the forces behind it have also taken the opportunity to fish in troubled waters in an attempt to turn the attention of the investigation of the coup d'état of "imperial citizens" to Russia, causing geopolitical attention.

"Ordinary" members, absurd plans

On top of a hill in the small town of Batllobenstein in the eastern German state of Thuringia stands a hunting lodge. From the cottage, you can see the surrounding snow-covered villages. The place looks peaceful and peaceful, but the German security forces' December 7 operation, code-named "Shadow," was like a boulder thrown into a lake, making the spa town and the whole of Germany "tremble", and the hunting lodge became one of the many targets of the German government's raid.

Germany's largest anti-terrorist operation since World War II was a raid on a group called Reichsman. As of the 9th, 25 members of the organization have been arrested, and more than 30 others are under investigation. Among those arrested were former judges, doctors, celebrity chefs, pilots, classical tenors, policemen, active and retired soldiers, etc., while the owner of the hunting lodge, Heinrich XIII, from a noble family, was an important figure in the organization.

German officials said Heinrich XIII turned his hunting lodge into a meeting place for "citizens of the Reich." In the basement of the room, security forces found a large amount of weapons and military equipment, as well as a "blacklist" of 18 politicians and journalists, including several dignitaries, including the German chancellor and foreign minister. In the forest surrounding the hut, members of the "Citizens of the Empire" sometimes practice targeting.

Some 150 homes were also raided. In 50 of them, German police found large amounts of military equipment, hundreds of thousands of euros in cash, gold and silver, and 20,000 euros worth of iridium satellite phones. Even if the German power grid collapses, such calls ensure smooth communication between members of the "Reich Citizen".

The members of the "Citizens of the Empire" look like ordinary people on the surface, but their goals and some activities are absurd. According to Deutsche Presse and other media reports, the "citizens of the Reich" intend to negotiate peace treaties with the United States and Russia after the overthrow of the German government to "re-establish" the German order, and then Heinrich XIII will become the "head of state". Some members of the group plan to create 280 armed forces across Germany that would be responsible for "arresting and executing" people after a coup. German intelligence officials revealed that the far-right group has prepared coups twice this year — one in mid-March and one in September, but both operations have been delayed. The British newspaper The Guardian quoted German investigators as saying that "citizens of the empire" even asked "people who can foresee the future" to check the feasibility of their plans and the credibility of their members.

They considered Germany a colony of the United States

Every German government since World War I has been illegitimate – this is the "theoretical basis" on which "Reichs' citizens" want to overthrow their own government. According to the German historian Hoyer and some media reports, the organization, which has about 21,000 members, is not unified in its internal thinking, with some wanting to restore the German Empire before World War I and the Nazi Germany before World War II.

Although they have different opinions on which period of Germany is the real Germany, according to the Australian Dialogue News Network, the members of the "Imperial Citizen" basically believe that the current Germany lacks sovereignty and is a "limited company". In the eyes of these people, the United States, Britain and France still maintained control over Germany after ending their occupation of West Germany in 1955, so the current Germany is a "puppet regime" that does not protect the interests of the German people. France's 24-hour news television said that many members of the "Citizens of the Reich" considered Germany to be a colony of the United States. Tian Dewen, a researcher at the Institute of Russian and Eastern European and Central Asian Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that the above ideas of "imperial citizens" reflect German-American relations to a certain extent: most of Germany's defense work is entrusted to the US-led NATO, and Germany's political culture has also fundamentally changed after World War II, accepting liberal concepts.

Members of the "citizens of the empire" are often considered eccentrics and "trolls", because, on the one hand, they deny the legitimacy of government agencies, refuse to pay taxes and fines, but on the other hand they send a large number of complaints, motions, etc. to local governments and courts. Burkehard, a councillor for the town of Batllo Benstein, and his colleagues often set up stalls in local markets to listen to the concerns of locals. At this time, they were insulted by members of the "citizens of the empire" and their supporters. "They shouted at us: 'We are not Germans. This is not a real country! We are just a branch of a limited company!'" Burkehard said.

American-style conspiracy theories "infect" the German far right

Although Germany is not a colony of the United States, the reports of many media such as Germany, the United States and Britain show that some political situations in Germany, especially those related to the extreme right, have many similarities with the United States, including a large number of extreme right-wing elements are conspiracy theorists and support violent actions.

Founded 40 years ago, German "Reichs' citizens" operate mainly in small groups. France's 24-hour news television said the German far-right group had long been estimated to have only a few hundred members. However, in the Internet age, especially in the past few years, the number of members of the organization has grown exponentially. Moreover, the main members of the "Citizens of the Reich" were middle-aged white men who believed in right-wing populism, anti-Semitism or Nazism.

German intelligence said "Reichscivic citizens" had been committing violence in the last four or five years. In 2016, a man claiming to be a member of the group killed a Bavarian police officer; In 2020, members of the organization participated in a protest against coronavirus restrictions and tried to storm the German Bundestag building. In 2021, German intelligence believed that members of "Reichscian Citizens" had committed about 1,011 extremist crimes. According to the BBC, members of Citizens of the Empire believe they can only achieve their goals through "military means, including killings and violence against people representing the state."

Many members of Imperial Citizenship echo the ideas of the American conspiracy group Q Anonymous, most typically believing that both countries are controlled by some "deep forces" and therefore need to be overthrown. According to some German scholars, the uniquely American-style conspiracy theory that "deep forces control the government" has become part of German extremist ideology. In the "Q Anonymous" chat room on the social media Telegram, the second most spoken language is German. In addition, the second most translated language for videos and documents published by Anonymous Q is also German. Tian Dewen reminded that the German far-right forces are in tandem with the far-right wing of the United States and other European countries.

The "why" is the crux of the matter

"This ('Reich citizen') is a threat to German society." Posier, an entrepreneur who lives in Lower Saxony, told the Global Times that many members of the "citizens of the empire" are elites. According to the British newspaper The Guardian, arrested members of "citizens of the empire" are generally considered "pillars of democracy". German historian Hoyer said this shows that Germany's far-right forces have evolved from neo-Nazis in the 90s to a more "diverse" composition.

Like many Germans, Posier supports cracking down on such groups, but he believes that figuring out why Germany has such groups is the key. Posier said that there are many reasons for the rise of the power of "imperial citizens", one of the important factors is their dissatisfaction with government policies, including the measures taken by the government in dealing with the refugee crisis, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, high inflation, energy crisis and other issues. This can also be seen in German polls. A recent YouGov poll showed that 66 percent of Germans are somewhat or very dissatisfied with the government's work.

Neumann, a professor at King's College London and an expert on terrorism, said that the new crown pneumonia epidemic is a major driving factor for the growth of "imperial citizens". During the lockdown, protests broke out in many parts of Germany, and the Reichscivic took the opportunity to form alliances with other far-right groups, while making the group more organized and more connected with each other.

The growth of "imperial citizens" is also a microcosm of the rising of extreme right forces in Germany in recent years. This force has entered the German military and political institutions, some of which are constantly "attacking cities" in political circles, and some are committing crimes.

Why is the far-right expanding in Germany? Dan Sigil, a professor of political science at Princeton University in the United States, and three other scholars said after analyzing thousands of German intelligence reports, parliamentary speeches and police publications that this is closely related to German history. After World War II, the German government did not completely eliminate former Nazis from its intelligence and law enforcement agencies. In the first decades of the Cold War, Germany focused on opposing communism and left-wing extremism, and most political parties, especially center-right, intelligence agencies and police departments systematically downplayed the threat of right-wing extremism.

Many media outlets and academics have also cited inequality between the east and west of Germany as the reason for the rising power of the far right in the country. According to the Australian Dialogue News Network, for many people in eastern Germany, after the merger of East and West Germany, they became second-class citizens. In this context, many people are distrustful of the current German political system. A Süddeutsche Zeitung poll published in September found that only 39 percent of people in eastern Germany were satisfied with the way democracy worked in the country.

In addition, Sun Keqin, a researcher at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations and vice president of the German branch of the China European Society, told the Global Times reporter that the distortion of history and culture is also the breeding ground for Germany's extreme right-wing forces. Take the "Citizens of the Reich", for example, which had a "special" historical memory of the period of German Empire, regarded Bismarck and others as heroes and gained a sense of superiority from its "aristocratic status." They believed that Germany's current constitutionalism was coerced by the victorious powers, and therefore opposed the German political system and made it their mission to restore the rule of the German Empire. Dialogue News Australia said similar historical revisionism was common among the far right in Germany.

The "implicated" AfD and Russia

After the raid on the 7th, the AfD became a target because the party is not only a far-right party, but its member Marsack Winkmann was one of the 25 people arrested this time. Bavarian Governor Sodel from the center-right CSU said AfD had close ties to "Reich citizens," according to the Associated Press. Groz, a member of the Social Democratic Party, one of Germany's ruling parties, believes that there is a need for greater scrutiny of the AfD. Klingbel, one of the SPD leaders, said all AfD members should be placed on the intelligence agency's "watch list".

AfD, leader of the AfD party, and others issued a statement saying that the party condemned and firmly opposed the coup plan of the "citizens of the Reich". However, at the AfD forum, some people believed that the government was deliberately creating a so-called "right-wing threat", because how could more than 50 "retirees" stage a coup d'état. Others said the raid was a public relations stunt orchestrated by the security services to divert attention from some negative news.

Russia was also implicated. "Focus" weekly, "Bild" and many other German media emphasized that Heinrich XIII visited the Russian Consulate General in Leipzig in June last year to celebrate Russian National Day with his Russian girlfriend. According to Klins, the legal policy spokesman of the coalition party (CU/CSU), this is a warning sign that must urgently check whether there is a link between these coup plotters and Russia.

Some German and American media also took the opportunity to portray Russia as a "threat" to Germany. Germany's West German radio and television quoted the North Rhine-Westphalia Office for the Protection of the Constitution as saying that Russia "uses 'imperial citizens' to destabilize Germany." The American "Newsweek" claimed that there was a shadow of Russia in the "imperial citizen" incident. The report also tried to link the AfD with Russia, saying that Gul, a scholar at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a British think tank, said that conspiracy theories such as Reich Citizens are generally very pro-Russian, and there are also people within the AfD who support Russia.

The Russian embassy in Germany issued a statement denying links with "citizens of the empire." Tian Dewen said that the rhetoric of pointing the "Imperial Citizens" coup to the AfD and even Russia cannot be scrutinized. Although the AfD is considered a far-right party, it also operates within the framework of formal political rules, and criticism of Russia has become a form of "political correctness". Tian believes that such remarks are more likely to be a means of party struggle in Germany.