German police announced recently their successful search of twenty properties linked to the far-right Reichsbürger movement, a group accused of attempting to destabilize state institutions and the Federal Republic of Germany itself. The latest sequence of raids spanned eight out of Germany’s sixteen states.
The police operation was initiated in 2021 after the discovery of suspicious activity occurring on the messaging service, Telegram, a favored communication platform of the group. The Reichsbürger movement operates various channels on the messaging service to promote and spread their conspiracy theories. It was reported by police that attempts were made to disrupt their communication channels and unduly influence their decisions through targeted mass contact with authorities.
While several members of the organisation have been identified and a sizable amount of digital equipment, such as laptops, computers, phones, and external data carriers, were seized, no arrests have been made at the time of the announcement.
The Reichsbürger movement, translating to “Reich Citizens,” emerged during the 1980s and is a general term used to describe a number of groups within Germany who assert that the 1871 borders of the German Empire are still valid today. The contemporary German government along with any other German government post-Nazi regime are not recognized by these groups. While once seen as a fringe organization, the reach and influence of the movement has increased in recent years, and their ideologies have become progressively more violent, advocating for racist and anti-Jewish Nazi ideologies.
The dangerous potential of this movement was underlined in 2017, when a man identified as a Reichsbürger member was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of a police officer. Further instances involved raids being initiated and arrest warrants being issued in December 2022 for twenty-five individuals who were accused of plotting a coup to overthrow the German government. An additional arrest in November 2021 led to charges of forming a criminal organization, inciting hatred, and coercion.
In the face of escalating anti-government extremism, Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz – BfV) issued a warning in May, especially in relation to provocations ignited by authoritarian states, for instance, Russia.