On Wednesday morning, more than 3,000 investigators searched 130 objects in three countries and arrested 25 people. They are said to have planned the fall of the federal government. In the evening there are discussions about it on the ARD and ZDF talk shows.
On the morning of December 7th, the investigators strike. There are a good 3,000 searching around 150 objects. They arrest 25 people. They are suspected of planning a coup. Apparently they wanted to overthrow the government and seize power themselves. The leader is said to be Reich citizen Heinrich XIII. be Prince Reuss. He comes from a side branch of the Princely House of Reuss, whose main lines no longer exist. He is a right-wing extremist and anti-Semite, claims that World War I was funded by Jewish bankers to root out Christians. He is “partially insane,” says a member of his family, from whom he has broken away.
Another leader: the former AFD member of the Bundestag Birgit Malsack-Winkemann. In her Bundestag speeches, she calls for special quarantine measures for refugees because they carry germs that cannot be treated with antibiotics and would therefore infect German people with diseases. She is also in favor of compulsory HIV testing, especially for refugees from Africa. She is no longer a member of parliament, but still has access to the Reichstag. Until Wednesday she worked in Berlin as a judge.
Henry XIII Prince Reuss and Birgit Malsack-Winkemann belong to an alleged terrorist organization that was founded in November 2021. Members are said to have been numerous “violent” lateral thinkers. This also includes former members of the police and armed forces. According to the federal prosecutor’s office, the group planned to “eliminate the rule of law.” The terrorists are said to have accepted the death of people with approval.
On Wednesday evening, several politicians commented on the raids and arrests on the ARD and ZDF talk shows. Everyone could clearly see the relief.
“It was a very big blow, and it’s important that democracy is so resilient,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser from the SPD at Maischberger praised the work of the security authorities in the first. “I am happy and grateful that so many forces from the Federal Criminal Police Office, the Federal Police and the federal states have done such a great job.”
With a view to the connections that the terrorist group has to the police and the German armed forces, Faeser calls for quick action. Anyone who is violent or adheres to extremist conspiracy theories must be quickly removed from public service. “It often takes far too long,” she says. “We have very prominent examples such as Mr. (Björn) Höcke from the AFD, who is still in school service. It makes me a bit stunned that we haven’t done more in recent years, who quickly left the public service to remove.” That should change now. To this end, the Ministry of the Interior is preparing an amendment to the disciplinary law.
Faeser cannot imagine that the work is done. “I don’t think it’s over yet,” she says at Maischberger. Now the material that was found during the house searches would have to be evaluated. Other contacts could become known.
CDU General Secretary Mario Czaja spoke of a “terrifying view into the abyss” with Markus Lanz on ZDF. Security officials in the Bundestag were informed in advance about the dangerous situation, he explains. “But if you think about the fact that members of the Bundestag have employees who can bring them to the Bundestag without any checks – we have to change something,” demands the politician. At the same time, Czaja demands that the state constitutional protection authorities should consider closer monitoring of the AFD.
“I think these people are very dangerous,” says Sebastian Fiedler at Markus Lanz. And he should know: he is a criminal investigator and was chairman of the Association of German Criminal Investigators. He speaks of a “deployment of the century” by the security authorities, which had been investigating the terrorist network for months. Such investigations are very personnel-intensive and have to be completely isolated, says Fiedler. And: “These investigations are conducted by the Attorney General. This is the highest investigative standard that we know of. Great value is also placed on quality. That’s why the investigations actually hold up in court.”
The members of the terrorist group have academic training, extensive information and access to weapons. That makes her dangerous. “As crude as their ideas may appear, they are as real to those who were involved in the plans,” says Fiedler.
