Prince Heinrich XIII

The 25 suspects held on Wednesday are part of a far-right group that does not recognize the legitimacy of the Federal Republic that emerged from World War ...

The way they see it, they are the patriots, and that is why they want to free Germany from the current government. Members of the network’s military branch were supposed to help them depose the current powers. The Reichsbürger consider themselves the continuation of the German Empire, and they spread their vision of the world through the internet, where they have their own web pages, social media channels and discussion forums. Investigators were surprised by the age of the terrorists: almost all of them are over 40 and their two leaders – Heinrich XIII and Rüdiger P., a former Army colonel – are around 70 years old. [American conspiracy ideology](https://english.elpais.com/usa/2022-10-17/alex-jones-the-radio-personality-who-built-an-empire-on-conspiracy-theories.html) known as QAnon, according to the German Prosecutor’s Office. According to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, one such group, called the Bismarck’s Heirs, tried to create its own news website last year. This is how the police discovered that Prince Reuss was calling for violent action: “Now let’s crush them, the fun is over!” he exclaimed in one of the intercepted calls. According to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the federal domestic intelligence agency, the Reichsbürger have “a high potential for violence.” In the last report on extremist threats to national security, drafted in 2021, the office estimated that there are around 21,000 people associated with this ideology and that, of these, 2,100 are violent or there is a clear risk of their becoming so. Described by German authorities as a terrorist organization, it is made up of members of a far-right movement called the Reichsbürger (Citizens of the Reich) that does not recognize democratic Germany. They live in a kind of parallel reality where they refuse to use official identification documents and instead issue fictitious cards such as their own driving licenses and “German Reich” license plates. The Reichsbürger are one of the main concerns for Germany’s security forces, who consider them to be very radical and, in some cases, ready to take up arms. A wealthy doctor donated €20,000 to the group; according to Der Spiegel, the money was used for “spiritual matters” and to contact alleged fortune-tellers who were tasked with verifying whether potential comrades-in-arms were trustworthy.