Far-right extremists stage rural land grab across
Germany
Reichsbürger movement aims to establish parallel
societies by infiltrating schools, clubs and public offices
Kate
Connolly in Rutenberg
Wed 27 Dec
2023 10.45 CET
A strategic
rural land grab by rightwing extremists is taking place across Germany with the
concerted aim of creating communities independent of the state, according to
the domestic intelligence agency and government ministries.
Authorities
and NGOs monitoring far-right groups say the members of the Reichsbürger
movement who reject the post-1945 German state are making a targeted effort to
establish parallel societies and infiltrate existing structures including
schools, clubs and public offices.
According
to a recent request for information to the federal interior ministry by Martina
Renner of the opposition leftwing Die Linke party, rightwing extremist
organisations have bought 40 properties across Germany in the past two years.
The figure
indicates an acceleration of a pattern observed for more than a decade, in
which hard-to-sell houses, pubs and farmland properties are being snapped up
and used by the rightwing groups for everything from living space to birthing
houses, sport halls and party venues.
“The
properties are of less interest to Reichsbürger and the far-right scene as
investments; rather they are utilised for establishing their parallel societies
and creating spaces of fear for all those who don’t share their view of the
world,” said Renner.
Among the
most prominent organisations is the Königreich Deutschland (kingdom of Germany)
or KRD, founded in 2012 in an elaborate ceremony, and boasting its own currency
and constitution that gives it a state-like structure.
It has been
pursuing expansionist aims by acquiring what it refers to as “national
territory” by buying up land and real estate.
German
authorities use the term Reichsbürger (citizens of the empire) to talk about
all far-right groups that reject the Federal Republic of Germany and aim to
overthrow the government, including the KRD, although it rejects the term.
Followers
dream of toppling modern German state
The snug
and secluded village of Rutenberg, a 90-minute drive north of Berlin in the
state of Brandenburg, has become one of the latest targets of the KRD’s
attempts to establish an autonomous community, or what its leader, the
self-styled “King” Peter Fitzek, has labelled a Gemeinwohldorf (common good
village).
The KRD
first bought up a derelict farm grange in the centre of the village, named the
Naturscheune or “nature barn”, with a view to it becoming a “public enterprise”
to provide the KRD with organic food. According to the BfV domestic
intelligence agency , it has plans to expand on to an adjoining 44 hectares
(108 acres) of land on the edge of the village.
The
self-governing KRD was established in 2012 by Fitzek, a former cook and karate
teacher, on the grounds of an old hospital in Wittenberg, Saxony Anhalt. Fitzek
had himself crowned “Peter I” in a ceremony complete with sceptre, orb, ermine
gown and crown.
He and his
followers – estimated to number between 2,000 and 5,000 – openly reject the
modern German state and dream of taking it over and replacing it with their own
realm. To this end the KRD already issues its own passports and has its own
currency, the Engelgeld (angel money), and bank.
It offers
those interested in how to become what it calls a “system drop-out” seminars in
how to do so for upwards of €340 (£295), and promises of freedom – including
from paying taxes – as well as six-hour working days, and homeopathy rather
than conventional medicine. Intelligence authorities have described the
offering as a “huge scam.” People are encouraged to part with their money in
exchange for Engelgeld and are then unable to change it back, they say.
BfV
officers say they have been watching the KRD and its “anti-democratic expansion
ambitions” in Rutenberg since early 2022. They warn of its plans to buy up
further properties and entice people sympathetic to their cause to move in.
They also
report its strong connections to the Anastasia movement, a cult-like new age
organisation with antisemitic leanings. Anastasia started in Russia in the late
1990s, and has been spreading elsewhere.
The BfV
says similar “Völkisch” (folkist or ethno-nationalist) land grabs are happening
elsewhere in Germany, often in abandoned areas and neglected villages where
life goes on largely unobserved.
The
pandemic lockdown only served to facilitate the group’s quiet arrival in some
parts.
But
Rutenberg is far from neglected, and a large number of its 200 residents, a mix
of locals, retirees and Berlin weekend blow-ins, have taken up the fight
against the settlers. Visitors to the village are met by defiant messages from
its Democracy Alliance.
Homemade
banners on everything from the fire station to trees on the village green, to
the 14th-century village church, read: “No Kingdom, No King, No Sects”, and
“Rutenberg’s over 700 years old – never will it be a kingdom”.
Marita
Berckner, a Rutenberger by birth, said she had been shocked to discover that
the people who had moved into the grange nursed ambitions other than leading a
simple, self-sufficient life. A BfV officer had briefed villagers at a meeting
at the local church, she said.
“We were
stunned and speechless. It was like seeing the world break down in front of my
own front door,” she said. “We have nothing at all against people wanting to
grow organic fruit and veg, but not people who intend to overthrow a
democracy.”
The
Democracy Alliance, said Berkner, had “brought the village together like never
before”.
‘How is it
possible in the middle of Germany that a state within a state can emerge?’
At almost
exactly the same time that Rutenbergers were reeling from the discovery about
their new neighbours, an altogether bigger revelation was making headlines
around the world. German authorities announced that a separate armed rightwing
extremist Reichsbürger group headed by the self-appointed Heinrich XIII, Prince
Reuss, had planned a putsch, intending to storm the Bundestag, kidnap MPs and
topple the state. In December, German prosecutors filed terrorism charges
against more than two dozen people in connection with the plot, including
Heinrich XIII and a former far-right lawmaker.
Authorities
estimate there are about 25,000 Reichsbürger and supporters of self-governance
in Germany, and that numbers are steadily growing. “What drives someone to
overthrow a democracy? How is it possible in the middle of Germany, that a
state within a state can emerge?” said Berckner.
The
alliance has also approached estate agents warning them to be on the lookout
for people acting as middlemen on behalf of the KRD. Local people are also
debating whether they can afford to buy the long-derelict local pub, Dorf Krug
(village pitcher), which is up for sale, through crowdfunding, to save it and
other properties from being seized by the KRD.
Carola
Gundlach, the mayor of Rutenberg, did not respond to requests for an interview,
but at a meeting between regional and state representatives from the interior
and education ministries and the police, she reportedly said she was taking the
situation seriously.
“If the
Kingdom of Germany manages to gain a foothold here, by misusing the cooperative
concept for their extremist ends, it is capable of spreading its radical
worldview,” she reportedly said.
“That is
not tolerable in the long run, either from a municipal community perspective or
with regards to tourism,” pointing out that the region, where Angela Merkel
also has a holiday home, could not afford to become known as the “region of
Reichsbürgers”.
A
spokesperson for Brandenburg’s education ministry rejected claims that
authorities had failed to use the force of the law to resist the group. He
referred to regular meetings between different agencies, including the school
authorities, youth welfare office and the domestic intelligence agency, who
“exchange ideas about ways to deal with developments in the area and have
agreed to inform each other and coordinate closely”. This included a focus on
“enforcing compulsory schooling for parents who keep their children away from
school permanently,” he said.
But
Brandenburg’s state premier, Dietmar Woidke admitted that authorities had been
too hesitant to clamp down on the far-right. “Brandenburg was too sluggish and
tardy in openly confronting right-wing extremism. The attitude in the 90s
(after the collapse of communism) when they first started settling, was that
these were just a few wayward youths with an attitude wanting to pick a fight,”
he told the Guardian. But now he said, the far-right, including the populist
AfD, was recognisably damaging the reputation of the state, and “poses a bigger
threat to our economic development than anything else”.
Fitzek, who
considers himself to be the reincarnation of the Archangel Uriel, as referenced
in esoteric European medieval literature, gives interviews only on the
understanding that the exchange is filmed by his own team. He has repeatedly
rejected the accusations levelled at the KRD, denying the organisation is
extremist, and insisting it stands for “willingness to take responsibility, for
cooperation and international understanding”.
In a recent
interview with a Swiss anti-mainstream media social media channel, Fitzek sat
on a gold-coloured sofa at his castle in Wolfsgrün, in the Ore mountains in
Saxony. Continuing attempts to prosecute him would not dissuade him from
fulfilling his vision to “serve God and humanity” and to free Germans from a
“postwar minority complex” based on a “massive guilty conscience” relating to
the crimes perpetrated by Nazi Germany, he said.
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