Storming the parliament of a European country, kidnapping politicians, overthrowing the legitimate Government, announcing a new state order – it’s hard to believe, but this is exactly the scenario that the participants of the trial that started this week had foreseen. It is even harder to believe that all this could have happened in Germany.
The first process
The trial, which began on Monday in a maximum-security courtroom in Stuttgart, marks three trials in which 27 people are accused of the 2022 coup. the beginning of the conspiracy foiled by the authorities at the end.
Reich citizens generally consider themselves to be citizens of the former Germany, usually the German Reich that existed during World War I. They base their beliefs on the idea that a foreign “alliance,” including the United States and Russia, wants to help them overthrow the illegitimate so-called deep state that allegedly seized power in Germany after World War II.
The group of citizens of the Reich, which included about 21 thousand of persons who do not recognize modern Germany as a legitimate state, the Internal Intelligence Service began to monitor as early as 2016.
The Stuttgart trial focuses on nine suspected members of a group believed to have sought to impose strict martial law in Germany after the coup.
It is believed that the case will be heard here until January next year. However, considering the volume of the material (425 thousand sheets, 850 folders), the number of witnesses and suspects, the complexity of the information, it may take much longer, perhaps even several years.
The nine – members of a unit of a militaristic conspiratorial organization – are charged with treason, attempted murder and plotting a violent coup d’état.
They are accused of participating in the establishment of the so-called national defense units. The researchers managed to find a detailed description of the structure of the organization, lists of members, and training descriptions. In case of success of the coup, the members of these squads had to carry out political cleansing actions.
One of the defendants, Markus L., was arrested only last March. He met the officers of the special police wearing a bulletproof vest, with a semi-automatic double-barreled rifle mounted on a rack, from which he shot at the policemen. Officers later found a large number of weapons and ammunition, as well as Nazi memorabilia, in his apartment.
Circumstances: during the investigation of the conspiracy, a search was also carried out in the 19th century. In the Vaidmanshaili Castle built by the Reis family. / B. Schackow / DPA / Scanpix photo.
Legal subtleties
The political leadership of the conspirators, led by Heirich XIII, a scion of the Reis dynasty, an investor from Frankfurt am Main, will stand trial in Frankfurt at the end of May. Another group of suspects will go on trial in Munich in June.
According to the public broadcaster ARD, the success of the trial will depend on whether it will be possible to prove that the conspirators were indeed united in a terrorist organization. If at least one of the three courts in different cities answered this question in the negative, it could affect other processes as well.
By the way, almost 50 years ago, the trials of terrorists of the Red Army faction were also held in the Stamheim complex on the outskirts of Stuttgart, where the trial is taking place. This maximum security prison complex has a purpose-built court building to which the accused are taken through separate tunnels. In the courtroom, they sit behind bulletproof glass and can communicate with lawyers only through a special phone.
Journalists observing the trial under special security conditions reported that the defendants did not appear confused or distraught in the courtroom. Only a few of them hid their faces, others smiled and waved to the people watching the process and to each other.
Coup plan
Prosecutors emphasize: how carefully the suspects had planned their actions, how much firearms and cash they had, suggests that the conspirators from the “Patriot Union” posed a real danger. The actors tried in Stuttgart alone had 0.5 million. EUR in cash, 380 pistols, 350 cold weapons and about 148 thousand. of ammunition.
The success of the process will depend on whether it is possible to prove that the conspirators were indeed united in a terrorist organization.
According to prosecutors, the coup enthusiasts were influenced by the American conspiracy theory “QAnon”, which encouraged supporters of former President Donald Trump to storm the US Capitol in January 2021. It was intended to act similarly in Germany.
The conspirators planned to break into the parliament building in Berlin, well armed, to arrest the legislators, to disrupt the work of the system. According to prosecutors, they fully understood that in order to seize power, they would have to kill people.
Suspects arrested during or shortly after 2022. December 7 one of the largest police anti-extremist operations ever carried out in Germany.
Around 3,000 police officers then searched more than 130 flats, offices and warehouses in eleven federal territories, including the barracks of the Special Forces Command. Searches and arrests also took place in Austria and Italy.
Officers, doctors, judge
Many of those arrested had completed military training, including former Bundeswehr soldiers. For example, the military wing of the movement was led by Rüdiger von Pescatore, a former lieutenant colonel. Former paratrooper battalion commander back in the 20th century. was removed from service in the last decade due to allegations of embezzlement of weapons from the former East German arsenal for which he was responsible.
Among those detained are an active staff sergeant in charge of logistics at the special forces headquarters, a suspended police officer, a lawyer with a doctorate degree, a general practitioner, and a pilot. Several of the suspects were active in demonstrations against the restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 epidemic.
One of the biggest fish in the conspiracy is Birgit Malsack-Winkmann, a former member of the Bundestag (2017-2021) from the far-right Alternative for Germany party, who later worked as a judge in Berlin. Her knowledge undoubtedly came in handy for the conspirators: the former parliamentarian knows the Bundestag building very well and is a skilled marksman. If the coup was successful, Malsack-Winkmann would have become the new justice minister.
The leader of the coup, Prince Heinrich XIII, will be tried at the end of May in Frankfurt am Main / Photo by B. Weissbrod/AFP/Scanpix, Wikipedia.
The eccentric prince
However, perhaps the most colorful figure is the 72-year-old Prince Heinrich XIII, who comes from the Reis dynasty, which once ruled East Germany.
A real estate aristocrat from Frankfurt am Main owns a small neo-Gothic hunting estate in Thuringia.
Heinrich XIII gained attention a few decades ago when, after German reunification, he and his mother, Princess Voiclava Feodora, tried to recover the family’s property, which was in the Soviet-controlled area of the German Democratic Republic after World War II. The prince donated a large part of his wealth to the lawyers’ fees, but did not recover the buildings, which included the Gera City Theater. After recovering the cultural values, the prince soon sold them, and donated part of the money to the “Fiat Lux” sect, to which his mother was attached. Later, Princess Voiclava Feodora regained Talvic Palace.
in 2019 In January, Heinrich XIII gave a keynote speech at a forum in Zurich, where he accused the Rothschild family and the Freemasons of financing wars and revolutions aimed at overthrowing monarchies. Despite these actively displayed monarchist views, the prince himself was in disfavor with his family: in 2022. The current leader of the Reis dynasty, Prince Henry XIV, has publicly distanced himself from his relative, who is prone to conspiracy theories.
The conspirators would have set up a council headed by the Prince Voyageurs, which would have begun negotiations for a new German state order with the victors of World War II.
This candidate for the new German leadership has been in contact with Russian officials, seeking support for his plans. One of the indictments mentions the Russian citizen Vitalija B., who could mediate between Heinrich XIII and the Russian Consulate General in Leipzig, and in 2022 in June, he personally accompanied the prince to a meeting with a Russian diplomat. Some sources call the Russian the prince’s life partner.
Together with the aristocrat, 1997 will also be tried. R. von Pescatore, ex-policeman Michael Fritsch and B. Malsack-Winkemann were dismissed.
He sought to return to 1945.
The organizers of the coup believed that the so-called alliance could free them from the powers of the deep state. They are convinced of the existence of this technically superior secret organization. The alliance is said to consist of secret services and military personnel of various countries, including Russia and the United States. The group even appointed a liaison officer with the alliance – Marco van H. is on trial in Stuttgart.
The indictment states that the group planned that the alliance would give the news about the dawn of Day X. Then the alliance was supposed to attack the highest state institutions, and the followers of Prince Heinrich XIII – to paralyze other government institutions, and attack county and municipal officials.
According to the Attorney General, one of the dates discussed was the death of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II. She died in 2022. in September, three months before a massive raid on the network in which scores of individuals were arrested.
After the coup, the conspirators would have established a council headed by the Prince of Reis, which would have begun negotiations for a new German state order with the victors of World War II. However, they considered only Russia as the main negotiating partner.
Photo by B. Weissbrod/AFP/Scanpix, Wikipedia.
