German Coup Plot Averted

Twenty five alleged plotters have been arrested

NPR (“Across Germany, 25 are arrested on suspicion of planning an armed coup, officials say“):

Thousands of police carried out a series of raids across much of Germany on Wednesday against suspected far-right extremists who allegedly sought to overthrow the state in an armed coup.

Federal prosecutors said some 3,000 officers conducted searches at 130 sites in 11 of Germany’s 16 states against adherents of the so-called Reich Citizens movement. Some members of the group reject Germany’s postwar constitution and have called for the overthrow of the government.

Justice Minister Marco Buschmann described the raids as an “anti-terrorism operation,” adding that the suspects may have planned an armed attack on institutions of the state.

Prosecutors said 22 German citizens were detained on suspicion of “membership in a terrorist organization.” Three other people, including a Russian citizen, are suspected of supporting the organization, they said.

The weekly Der Spiegel reported that locations searched include the barracks of Germany’s special forces unit KSK in the southwestern town of Calw. The unit has in the past been scrutinized over alleged far-right involvement by some soldiers.

Federal prosecutors declined to confirm or deny that the barracks was searched.

Along with detentions in Germany, prosecutors said that one person was detained in the Austrian town of Kitzbuehel and another in the Italian city of Perugia.

Prosecutors said those detained are alleged to last year have formed a “terrorist organization with the goal of overturning the existing state order in Germany and replace it with their own form of state, which was already in the course of being founded.”

The suspects were aware that their aim could only be achieved by military means and with force, prosecutors said.

BBC (“Germany arrests 25 accused of plotting coup“) adds:

The group of far-right and ex-military figures are said to have prepared to storm the parliament building, the Reichstag, and seize power.

A minor aristocrat described as Prince Heinrich XIII, 71, is alleged to have been central to their plans.

According to federal prosecutors, he is one of two alleged ringleaders among those arrested across 11 German states.

The plotters are said to include members of the extremist Reichsbürger [Citizens of the Reich] movement, which has long been in the sights of German police over violent attacks and racist conspiracy theories. They also refuse to recognise the modern German state.

Other suspects came from the QAnon movement who believe their country is in the hands of a “deep state”.

An estimated 50 men and women are alleged to have been part of the group, said to have plotted to overthrow the republic and replace it with a new state modelled on the Germany of 1871 – an empire called the Second Reich.

NYT (“Germany Arrests Dozens Suspected of Planning to Overthrow Government”) adds:

The prosecutors described the group, which they did not identify, as being influenced by the ideologies of the conspiracy group QAnon and a right-wing German conspiracy group called the Reichsbürger, or Citizens of the Reich, which believes that Germany’s post-World War II republic is not a sovereign country but a corporation set up by the victorious Allies.

Many of those arrested had military training and included former German soldiers, including from the army of the former East Germany, and were known to have been heavily armed with weapons acquired illegally. The group was most likely formed in late 2021, the prosecutors said.

Its aim was “to overcome the existing state order in Germany and to establish its own form of state, the outlines of which have already been worked out,” the prosecutors said in the statement.

[…]

The group, which included people who had taken part in demonstrations against coronavirus lockdowns, was fueled by conspiracy theories, the authorities said.

According to the members of the group, liberation is promised by the imminent intervention of the “Alliance,” a technically superior secret coalition of governments, intelligence services and militaries of various states, including Russia and the United States, according to the prosecutors.

Germany’s intelligence services have for years said that the greatest threat to the country came from domestic, far-right extremist groups.

Obviously, all we have at this point is the police point of view, which can often be skewed. It’s not at all clear from these reports how plausible this plot was, in terms of the ability of these people to actually carry it out. I’m highly skeptical on that front.

Still, what’s fascinating to me is how unified far-right conspiracy theories have become across the West. I had no idea before this morning, for example, that QAnon was an international phenomenon. While the “deep state” was originally a Turkish concept, I was unaware of it before Donald Trump made it a part of his messaging here; it has apparently been incorporated among German right-wingers as well. And of course, Russia seems to figure heavily in all of these threads, seen as a willing accomplice to undermine Western institutions everywhere.

FILED UNDER: World Politics, , , , , , , , ,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. MarkedMan says:

    Just more man-boys with guns, wanting to live out their hero fantasies and leaving real-life destruction and, all too often, carnage in their wake. Fortunately in this case there was no carnage, and the destruction was limited to these pathetic misfits.

    3
  2. Scott says:

    From Politico:

    An active member of the German army’s elite unit Special Forces Command is reportedly among the more than 50 suspects under investigation, as well as a former German MP from the far-right Alternative for Germany party.

    We need to keep vigilance on the politization of our own military and law enforcement. I highlighted this in yesterday’s Open Forum:

    The military fielded over 200 domestic extremism reports last year

    The services took in 211 reports of domestic extremism between October 2021 and September 2022, 183 of which launched investigations, according to data in a recently released report by the Defense Department inspector general.

    Of those, 48 service members were subject to military legal action and 112 were referred to civilian law enforcement for investigation, according to data compiled by the services and submitted to the IG.

    9
  3. Kingdaddy says:

    Prince Heinrich XIII? That reminds me of someone…

    https://youtu.be/PKQEG9IZpc8

  4. Kingdaddy says:

    It’s not at all clear from these reports how plausible this plot was, in terms of the ability of these people to actually carry it out. I’m highly skeptical on that front.

    Most terrorist groups have unachievable ambitions, usually based on some tortured theory that small-scale violence will trigger a series of events leading to an apocalyptic outcome. That doesn’t make them harmless crackpots, however, any more than we should be complacent about our own right wing extremists in the US, like the Proud Boys or the Oath Keepers. The Reichsbürgers have grown more confrontational and violent. Maybe they won’t achieve a coup, but they can certainly hurt or kill people, and contribute to an increasingly poisonous climate on the right. (Their core tenet is that the continuation of the Third Reich is the only legitimate government that Germany can have.)

    https://www.europenowjournal.org/2018/10/01/just-harmless-lunatics-the-reichsburger-movement-in-germany/
    https://qz.com/929946/a-radical-fringe-group-refuses-to-admit-the-german-reich-is-over-and-theyre-getting-violent

    Here’s the sort of outcome that definitely is possible:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidnapping_and_murder_of_Aldo_Moro

    Lest we think that the Reichsbürgers, and the militia group that plotted to kidnap Governor Whitmer, are just comically feckless losers.

    10
  5. Kingdaddy says:

    @Scott:

    We need to keep vigilance on the politization of our own military and law enforcement. I highlighted this in yesterday’s Open Forum:

    Exactly what I meant when I said that the real threat isn’t the terrorists will succeed, on their own terms, in overthrowing the state.

    6
  6. OzarkHillbilly says:

    Germany’s intelligence services have for years said that the greatest threat to the country came from domestic, far-right extremist groups.

    Now if only the GOP was half as honest about our own far right extre…. What am I saying? They could never get elected without the far right extremist vote.

    6
  7. Stormy Dragon says:

    Still, what’s fascinating to me is how unified far-right conspiracy theories have become across the West.

    It’s like a particular country is coordinating their activities as part of a plan to weaken the West

    15
  8. Mikey says:

    Deutlich gibt es in Deutschland auch Vollidioten.

    4
  9. Modulo Myself says:

    Just laughing at the thought of post-coup Germans hearing there exists a Prince Heinrich XIII and he’s now their ruler.

    1
  10. JohnSF says:

    @Kingdaddy:

    …core tenet is that the continuation of the Third Reich is the only legitimate government…

    Maybe there’s different variants of Reichburgers, but I first came across the name a decade or more back, and those guys were certainly right-wingers and nutcases; but radical reactionaries not Nazi nostalgists.

    They had no affection for the Third Reich; they were mostly enthusiasts for the Second Reich, the Wilhelmine Empire.
    Most regarded post-1933 Nazi germany as illegitimate, along with the Bundesrepublik, but accepted the 1919.Republic (Weimar) as legitimate.
    Some IIRC also consider considered Weimar out of bounds, and only the pre-1918 empire as OK

    Which of course differentiates all of them from the real conservatives: those who consider the Empire of 1871, the Second Reich, as illegitimate, and prefer the German Confederation of 1814-71.
    Or the Holy Roman Empire for that matter: the First Reich.

    5
  11. gVOR08 says:

    @Kingdaddy:

    Lest we think that the Reichsbürgers, and the militia group that plotted to kidnap Governor Whitmer, are just comically feckless losers.

    It’s possible to be both a serious threat and comically feckless losers. The Beer Hall Putsch wasn’t very well thought out.

    3
  12. daryl and his brother darryl says:

    MAGA has offices in Germany???

    2
  13. Michael Reynolds says:

    A couple dozen guys are going to overthrow a country of 83 million people, which happens to be the fourth largest economy on earth? Their absolute best-case scenario was a hostage crisis which would have ended with all of them dead. Note to coup plotters: you need an organization with some muscle – traditionally the military or security forces, but sometimes a political party, ie. communists.

    Thank God the current crop of fascists are such buffoons. And so lazy.

    3
  14. gVOR08 says:

    I would speculate that the Third Reich entered the conversation either because so many rightists do mythologize the Third Reich or because the Second and Third Reich’s were lazily conflated. Having read journalism all my life, I would find it easy to believe there are journalists so innumerate as to not realize reference to a Third Reich implies a First and Second.

    2
  15. JohnSF says:

    @daryl and his brother darryl:
    Qanon/MAGA has gone global.
    There’s always been a large fraction of Brit “online Brexiters” who were Trump fans, and quite sharing common alt-Right positions: islamophobia, “Great Replacement”, obsession with debt finance/quantitative easing, etc etc.
    Then along came Covid and antivax and other “anti” stances, then Ukraine, with FSB eagerly pushing deza in social media channels.
    And of course, English is a pretty common language of international culture these days; UK and other English speaking countries are particularly open to influence, but not exclusively so.

    What’s really striking is how segments of the international far left have also taken up aspects of this discourse, to varying extents. Especially over Ukraine, and the evils of NATO, and international corrupt elites. And sometimes over monetary/economic matters, and vaccines.

    What can be hilarious is you spot a happy school swimming together on social media, twig who’s what breed of mutt, and chuck a stick of dynamite in the pond.
    For instance a “MAGAt Likudnik” and a “Campist Southist” on matters Middle Eastern.
    Or a Islamist and a BJP bopper suddenly discovering their wee differences of opinion on Kashmir.
    Or a alt-Right evangelical homophobe, a hyper-libertarian, and a tankie socialist suddenly discovering the slight incompatibilities in their world views.
    Innocent fun for the passing JohnSF troll, LOL.

    A bit more seriously, you can see Putin playing up to this constellation of opinion in his speeches.
    A lot have a section I’ve come to think of as “FSB social media greatest hits”.
    Shout-outs for a whole grab-bag of resentments: globalisation, unipolar/multipolar, NATO/US hegemony, inequality, energy policy, apartheid, racism, imperialism, neo-cons, neo-liberals, neo-colonialism, Neo from the Matrix, sexuality, Satanism, skateboarding… yadda yadda yadda.

    And afterwards you can often spot how various sections of the alts, right and left, have pricked up their ears at their trigger phrase, and ignored all others, which are often totally incompatible.

    6
  16. Scott says:

    @JohnSF:

    What’s really striking is how segments of the international far left have also taken up aspects of this discourse, to varying extents. Especially over Ukraine, and the evils of NATO, and international corrupt elites. And sometimes over monetary/economic matters, and vaccines.

    As just one example, vaccines, in the US, are where the loony left (mostly in California) meets the loony right.

    4
  17. Stormy Dragon says:

    If I had a nickel for every time an attempt by armed militants to storm a country’s legislative building was foiled the day after Warnock won a runoff election for senate, I’d have two nickels.

    Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it’s happened twice.

    3
  18. Kathy says:

    @Kingdaddy:

    Agreed. Just recall Timothy McVeigh.

    1
  19. MarkedMan says:

    James, I’ve been thinking about your original post and I realize what bothered me about it. You need to associate with a lower class of people. I think you have too exalted view of criminals and rioters and so when you actually come across some you have a tendency to think, “Well, these guys are just buffoons and clowns and so are only technically or slightly criminal”. I’ve known enough criminals to realize that most of them aren’t the hardcore toughs or master plotters you get in the movies. Most of the ones I’ve met can shoot the breeze and come across just fine, if a little impulsive. They can talk about their families, or the movies or what the best road is to take coming in from Virginia to DC on a holiday Friday. They are not criminals because they are vicious thugs (those exist, but are not the norm). They are criminals because they have no moral center, have poor to non-existent impulse controls, and often are not the sharpest crayons in the box. But meet them outside of a criminal enterprise and you would never realize they are the types that would, say, spot someone flashing a thick wallet, see them outside the bar later and impulsively decide to help themselves. They just intended to act tough and demand the wallet but things got out of hand and “you gotta do what you gotta do” and next thing they know they are on a bus in ankle bracelets heading heading upstate feeling scared and put upon.

    5
  20. MarkedMan says:

    @Stormy Dragon: You win the internet today

    1
  21. Stormy Dragon says:

    @MarkedMan:

    I should note I was plagiarizing a Phineas and Ferb gag.

    3
  22. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    @MarkedMan: Indeed! Something that Luddite and I often note is that neither one of us has ever met someone who would match the appellation “Colonel Moriarty–The Napoleon of Crime.” Not even close. We’ve not even met the Alfred E. Newman of crime.

    1
  23. Jamie says:

    There’s a bit of chicken-and-egg going on with terrorist organizations having unachievable aims. If their aims are achievable, police action is probably not going to be able to dismantle the organization. If they’re unachievable, you instead get misguided comments such as the one James made here.

    1
  24. MarkedMan says:

    @Stormy Dragon: Plagiarism + Adaptation = Art

  25. Flat Earth Luddite says:

    @Just nutha ignint cracker:
    Truth truthily truthed. Most of the time, they’re more like the dudes inSpy vs Spy.

    @MarkedMan:
    Of the guys I did time with,most were control deficient idjits with the skill set (& attention span) of gnats. Out of 2000+, maybe 10 or 15 were scary dangerous.

  26. James Joyner says:

    @Kingdaddy: @MarkedMan: Mostly, my view of these things is skewed by one too many FBI-orchestrated plots with big arrests. This definitely sounds more organized and dangerous than many of those. Do I think they had any hope of replacing the German state? No. Do I think they could have killed a bunch of folks trying? Yes.

  27. de stijl says:

    @Stormy Dragon:

    I adore Phineas and Ferb! (And Gravity Falls, too!)

    Best opening / theme song ever for a kid’s cartoon by Bowling For Soup (check out Life After Lisa or The Girl All The Bad Guys Want.)

    I stream or YT Phineas and Ferb episodes once or twice a week. Gravity Falls maybe once or twice a month. Sometimes I binge. Like hard.

    This is not youthful nostalgia. When they originally aired I was in my mid to late 40s. This is me being a dork and nerding out over cool-ass, smart, clever cartoons.

  28. Stormy Dragon says:

    @de stijl:

    My favorite Bowling For Soup song is their cover of SR-71’s “1985”