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German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt has banned the far-right group “Kingdom of Germany,” a prominent faction of the country’s Reich Citizens movement, with four of its alleged ringleaders detained during raids across several German states.<\/p>\n
The organization, which reportedly has around 6,000 followers, has been accused of establishing a “counter-state” and building “criminal economic structures.”<\/p>\n
Four German men, aged between 37 and 59, were taken into custody, including the group’s founder, Peter Fitzek, a spokeswoman for the public prosecutor’s office said.<\/p>\n
Later on Tuesday, an investigating judge at the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe ruled that three of the four suspects will be remanded in custody, including Fitzek.<\/p>\n
The fourth suspect is to be brought before the court in Karlsruhe on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Who are the Reich Citizens?<\/strong><\/p>\n Reich Citizens is an umbrella term used to describe a diffuse group of German residents who do not recognize the authority of the current system of government.<\/p>\n The movement has no official structure and consists of several groupings, with “Kingdom of Germany” currently the most prominent.<\/p>\n Reich Citizens – or Reichsb\u00fcrger – are generally considered to belong to the extreme right, though the movements do not align completely.<\/p>\n Many of the group’s followers maintain that the German Reich proclaimed in 1871 still exists. They do not recognize modern-day democratic and constitutional structures such as parliament, laws or courts.<\/p>\n They also refuse to pay taxes, social security contributions or fines.<\/p>\n Reich Citizens groups have engaged in violent and criminal activities and are being monitored by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency as extremist organizations.<\/p>\n In 2023, the agency estimated some 25,000 people were part of the movement.<\/p>\n Most prominently, the alleged ringleaders of a group surrounding Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss – a descendant of a noble German family whose title carries no formal weight – were arrested in December 2022 over an alleged planned coup attempt.<\/p>\n Crackdown on <\/strong>‘Kingdom<\/strong> of <\/strong>Germany’<\/strong><\/p>\n The “Kingdom of Germany” group was founded in 2012 by Fitzek, who was born in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt.<\/p>\n Announcing the ban, Interior Minister Dobrindt said that the group’s members used anti-Semitic conspiracy theories to support their claimed sovereignty, adding that such behaviour cannot be tolerated in a state governed by the rule of law.<\/p>\n The group was not simply about harmless nostalgia, Dobrindt explained. It was building “criminal structures.”<\/p>\n According to the Interior Ministry, police conducting raids starting early Tuesday on properties owned by key members, including in the states of Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia.<\/p>\n It also said the group has for years operated illegal banking and insurance businesses through affiliated entities.<\/p>\n “The ‘Kingdom of Germany’ is characterized by a decidedly profit-oriented focus,” the ministry said, adding that members have carried out unauthorized banking and insurance transactions for years via sub-organizations.<\/p>\n Alleged ringleader Fitzek has been convicted several times including for driving without a licence and conducting illegal banking transactions.<\/p>\n He was also sentenced by a district court to a total of eight months’ imprisonment for intentional assault and insult.<\/p>\n According to prosecutors, as the “supreme sovereign” Fitzek was responsible for determining the ideological orientation of the group and issued his own “laws.”<\/p>\n Two of the detained men served as his deputies while the fourth man was responsible for the group’s finances.<\/p>\n As part of the ban, authorities have confiscated the group’s assets and shut down its online presence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n