Question 1

What did the Reichsbürger coup plot involve?

Accepted Answer

Prosecutors said the suspects planned to storm the Reichstag parliament building in Berlin, take lawmakers hostage and impose a new state order, killing people as needed. The alleged plot included standing up 286 paramilitary units and taking over Heckler & Koch, the main supplier of small arms to the German military. According to prosecutors, concrete preparations included recruitment efforts, site scouting, fundraising, weapons purchases and shooting training. Members of the “Council” — leading figures of the plot, who were to take key roles in the new government — regularly met in secret “to plan the intended takeover of power in Germany and the establishment of their own state structures,” prosecutors said. In December 2022, in one of the largest counterterrorism operations in postwar Germany, security forces raided 150 properties associated with suspected Reichsbürger plotters. They reported discovering more than a half-million dollars in gold and cash; 380 guns, 350 bladed weapons and 148,000 rounds of ammunition; ballistic helmets, bulletproof vests and night-vision goggles; and an enemies list. Police made 25 arrests, with more suspects detained in May 2023.

Question 2

Who is Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss?

Accepted Answer

A portion of the weapons cache was found in the basement of a hunting lodge in eastern Germany owned by the self-styled Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss. Nobility in Germany was abolished in August 1919, with the signing of the Weimar Constitution. Heinrich, 72, is a descendant of a dynasty that once ruled over parts of present-day Thuringia. (All males in the family are called Heinrich, under a naming tradition that pays tribute to Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI.) An article in the Berliner Zeitung German daily in 1998 described Heinrich XIII as a “multi-entrepreneur” involved in businesses spanning real estate, art and sparkling wine production. But it noted he was “angry” over property disputes stemming from expropriation of family land. As prosecutors describe it, Heinrich XIII was tapped to become head of state in post-coup Germany. They said he hosted and chaired the secret meetings of the “Council” at his lodge in Thuringia, and he tried to make contact with Russian representatives — with the idea that they would be his interlocutors when he tried to negotiate a peace treaty with the Allied powers that won World War II. There is no indication that Russian officials were receptive to his overtures. The rest of the Reuss family have long distanced themselves from Heinrich. Four months before he was arrested, family spokesman Heinrich XIV told regional German broadcaster MDR that his relative was a “partially confused” old man, “caught up in conspiracy theory misconceptions.”

Question 3

What is Germany’s Reichsbürger movement?

Accepted Answer

Reichsbürger is German for “citizens of the Reich.” Those who subscribe to Reichsbürger ideology don’t recognize the legitimacy of the modern German state. Instead, they believe that the German parliament and constitution are part of a commercial entity created and controlled by the Allies. Xenophobia and antisemitism, as well as anti-democracy and pro-monarchist tendencies, form the basis of the movement. Germany’s domestic intelligence services put the Reichsbürger movement under nationwide observation in 2016, after a Reichsbürger adherent killed a police officer during an attempt to confiscate his guns. “For a long time, [the Reichsbürger] had not been taken seriously at all,” said Kai Arzheimer, a political scientist at the University of Mainz. “But the authorities … came to realize that many of these cranks are quite dangerous.” The movement has grown in recent years, incorporating right-wing extremists, QAnon followers and elements of the covid-skeptic Querdenker movement. Germany’s domestic intelligence estimated in 2022 that there were 23,000 Reichsbürger affiliates across the country — some 2,300 of whom were “prepared to use violence.”

Question 4

How will the Reichsbürger plot trial work?

Accepted Answer

A total of 26 defendants are on trial. German prosecutors filed charges against 27 people, but one of them, a 73-year-old man identified as Norbert G., has since died. Because of security reasons and the scale of the case, the trial has been divided up into three court proceedings expected to run until at least January. The first trial of nine defendants, linked to the plotter’s military wing, got underway in Stuttgart in April. The Frankfurt trial that commenced Tuesday focuses on the nine alleged leading figures. The remaining suspects will go on trial in Munich starting June 17. Because of limited space, the hearings in the Frankfurt trial will not take place in the usual court building, but in a purpose-built hall, west of the city. According to German media, nine defendants and 25 defense attorneys as well as eight judges, four representatives of Germany’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office, about 40 judicial officers and 120 spectators will be accommodated in the approximately 14,000-square-foot hall.

Question 5

Who are the other suspects charged in the Reichsbürger coup plot?

Accepted Answer

Among those standing trial alongside the pseudo-prince is Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, a now-suspended judge and former lawmaker for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. Prosecutors said she used her access rights to help guide co-conspirators through the labyrinth of parliamentary buildings in Berlin’s government district. She was allegedly slated to become justice minister in post-coup Germany. At least seven of the suspected plotters had served with the German military, including an ex-colonel who helped set up Germany’s elite Special Forces Command in the 1990s and a former paratrooper. Other suspects include a clairvoyant, an amateur pilot, a doctor, a roofer and the organizer of a QAnon social media group. Most of the suspects face prison sentences of between one and 10 years if found guilty. One in the Stuttgart trial, Markus L., faces an additional charge of attempted murder for allegedly shooting police officers as they raided his home. If found guilty of that charge, he could be imprisoned for life.

A German prince is on trial for an alleged coup plot. Here’s what to know.