Reichsbürger movement

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 1972 Basic Treaty between West and East Germany.[5] 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, had survived the collapse of Nazi Germany in spite the German Instrument of Surrender and the Allied occupation, but is incapable of acting as a state because it lacks any organization, such as governmental authorities.[6]

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.[7] 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.

The original Kommissarische Reichsregierung was founded in 1985 by Wolfgang Gerhard Günter Ebel,[8] 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.

The Reichsbürger movement is part of the far right.[9][10] The movement espouses conspiracy theories, antisemitism, and racism.[10][11] The movement has been described as neo-Nazi in character,[11] although The Economist reported in 2016 that Reichsbürger adherents "draw ridicule even from neo-Nazis."[12] The Reichsbürger movement is characterized by a rejection of the modern Federal Republic of Germany;[10][11] denial of its legality[13] and legitimacy;[14] and denial of the authority of the federal, state, and local governments in Germany.[14] 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."[13]

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.[15] This marked an increase from BfV's 2016 estimate of 10,000 adherents[15] and 2017 estimate of 12,600 adherents.[16] The increase in numbers may be attributable to more adherents becoming known to authorities, rather than an actual increase in the number of adherents.[15] 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.[17]

Reichsbürger adherents are scattered around Germany, but concentrated in southern and eastern part of the country,[10] in the states of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Bavaria.[13] BfV has estimated that there are 3,500 adherents in Bavaria and around 2,500 in Baden-Württemberg.[13]

Adherents tend to be older;[10] with most aged 40–60 years old.[18] and an average age of over 50.[13] The majority are male[13][18] and socially disadvantaged.[13] The Amadeu Antonio Foundation, which monitors far-right activities in Germany, states that Reichsbürger adherents are "often isolated" and "completely cut off from reality."[10] 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.[14]

Sign at the entrance of the home of a supporter of the Reich Citizens' Movement

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,[3] 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.[4] 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.[19] 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.[20]

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.[21] 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.[4]

Wolfgang Ebel's original organization, in particular, continues to attempt enforcing its asserted authority through attempts at intimidation.[19] 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.[19] Ebel has also admitted owning a "government helicopter" painted in the national colours, but has denied using it for intimidating fly-overs.[19] 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.[19]

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.[16]

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.[13] Police raids have found large stockpiles of guns and ammunition hoarded by Reichsbürger adherents.[13] 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."[9]

The following is a non-exhaustive list of KRRs that have received media coverage.[32]

• Fürstentum Germania, formerly based at Krampfer Palace, established in 2009, claims 300 adherents.[33]
• Interim Partei – Das Reicht[21]
• Zentralrat Souveräner Bürger, based in an inn in Schwanstetten[34]
• Ur, based in Elsteraue. Its leader Adrian Ursache was injured in a 2016 shootout with police.[35]

• Sovereign citizen movement – a somewhat similar movement operating mainly in the United States and the Commonwealth countries.

• Schmidt, Frank (2007). "KRR FAQ" (in German). Retrieved 2009-03-25, a KRR database.