Raids have been carried out across three German states on apartments of people belonging to the far-right Reichsbürger scene, federal prosecutors said on Sunday.

The alleged Reichsbürger members were suspected of having banded together by the summer of 2017 at the latest with the intention of "deliberately killing people if necessary" and to have "already obtained weapons for this purpose."

The raids in Berlin, Brandenburg and Thuringia were conducted to "objectify the existing suspicions," and in particular to "ascertain whether the suspects really have weapons," the prosecutors said, adding that no one had been arrested.

The German elite police squad GSG 9 and officers from the Mobile Mission Commando (MEK) of the Federal Criminal Police Office were involved in the raids, they said.

Reichsbürger consider modern-day Germany as a puppet state of the Allies

Disparate movement

"Reichsbürger," which translates to "citizens of the Reich," reject the modern-day Federal Republic of Germany, identifying instead with the German Empire, the nation-state that existed from 1871 to 1918.

Many embrace anti-Semitic ideologies, and some members are believed to be capable of violence.

Until fairly recently, the movement had been considered as leaderless and relatively unorganized. However, German media reported this year that its membership was growing and that it was trying to build an army.

There are thought to be some 15,600 Reichsbürger living in Germany. Most come from the southern state of Bavaria.

In October last year, an alleged member of the scene was sentenced to life in jail for the murder of a police officer.

The Reichsbürger movement in Germany What do Reichsbürger believe? "Reichsbürger" translates to "citizens of the Reich." The nebulous movement rejects the modern German state, and insists that the German Empire's 1937 or 1871 borders still exist and the modern country is an administrative construct still occupied by Allied powers. For Reichsbürger, the government, parliament, judiciary and security agencies are puppets installed and controlled by foreigners.

The Reichsbürger movement in Germany What do they do? The Reichsbürger refuse to pay taxes or fines. They see their personal property, such as their houses, as independent entities outside the authority of the Federal Republic of Germany, and reject the German constitution and other legal texts, but also swamp German courts with lawsuits. They produce their own aspirational documents such as passports and driving licenses.

The Reichsbürger movement in Germany How much of a threat are they? The Reichsbürger scene began to develop in the 1980s and is a disparate, leaderless movement that has grown to about 19,000 supporters, according to German intelligence officials. Of those, about 950 have been identified as far-right extremists and at least 1,000 have a license to own firearms. Many subscribe to anti-Semitic ideologies.

The Reichsbürger movement in Germany Who are its members? One was Mr. Germany According to German authorities, the average Reichsbürger is 50 years old, male, and is socially and financially disadvantaged. The movement's members are concentrated in the southern and eastern parts of Germany. Adrian Ursache, a former winner of the Mister Germany beauty pageant, is also a Reichsbürger and was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2019 for shooting and injuring a policeman.

The Reichsbürger movement in Germany Turning point The case of Wolfgang P., who in October 2017 was sentenced to life in prison for murdering a police officer, is seen as a turning point for how German authorities deal with the extremist group. P., an alleged Reichsbürger member, shot at officers who were raiding his home to confiscate weapons. The case gained international attention and set off alarm bells over the escalation of violence.

The Reichsbürger movement in Germany What are the authorities doing about it? German authorities were accused of long underestimating the threat. In 2017 for the first time Germany’s domestic intelligence service documented extremist crimes perpetrated by individual Reichsbürger. Since then there have been several raids on Reichsbürger targets and subgroups have been banned. Police and military have also probed whether they have Reichsbürger in their own ranks.

The Reichsbürger movement in Germany International parallels, conspiracy theories Reichsbürger have been seen waving Russian flags, leading to allegations that they are funded by Russia with the aim to destabilize the German government. Germany's Reichsbürger are also compared to US groups such as "freemen-on-the-land," who believe that they are bound only by laws they consent to and can therefore declare themselves independent of the government and the rule of law. Author: Samantha Early, Rina Goldenberg



tj/jm (dpa, AFP)

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