Latest news with #Fitzek
Spectator
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Spectator
Monarchism is a real threat to the German state
Last week a man called Peter Fitzek was apprehended by police. He calls himself King Peter I, and he is the head of the 'Kingdom of Germany', the largest of a number of groups that don't accept the legitimacy of the current German state and want to replace it with their own. Monarchism may not be widespread in Germany, but the idea certainly has a dedicated following. Police came down hard on Fitzek's realm in coordinated morning raids last Tuesday. Over 800 police officers stormed and searched properties in seven German states, leading to the arrest of 'King Peter' and three other people deemed to be the ringleaders of the group, which is estimated to be 1,000 members strong (though Fitzek claims it's 6,000 nationally).
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
A former chef declared himself King of Germany. This week Germany arrested him
As dawn broke over Germany's eastern state of Saxony on Tuesday morning, heavily armed police massed outside a property in the picturesque village of Halsbrücke and prepared to smash down its front door. It was 6am, and inside the house was a declared enemy of the state. But this was no ordinary criminal, but a monarch, a self-described one at least. Peter Fitzek, a 59-year-old former chef and karate instructor, has spent more than a decade denying the legitimacy of the Federal Republic of Germany and advocating for a return to the borders established during the Second Reich of 1871-1918. Following his arrest, it now seems likely that 'Peter I's' political aspirations as 'King of Germany' will meet a similarly ignominious end to those of his hero, the Kaiser. 'This is illegal and unlawful,' he told reporters on Tuesday as he was ushered into a police car. According to the rules of his own self-proclaimed seat, the so-called Kingdom of Germany, he may have been right. The son of a digger driver, Fitzek was brought up in East Germany. Having failed to secure elected office, either as a mayor or member of the German Parliament, he felt he had no choice but to proclaim an independent kingdom from the grounds of a former hospital in the city of Wittenberg. Fitzek filmed his own coronation in 2012, adorned in ermine robes and holding a mediaeval sword. No stranger to publicity, he has continued to be the subject of bemused profiles in media outlets from New York to Tel Aviv to Sydney in the years since. Life under a king, he told one interviewer, was 'the natural state of the German people'. The country's borders should, he argued, expand to reclaim countries like Poland 'if the people there wanted it'. His own constitution 'came through God – I just dictated it'. And he, himself, was, of course, the reincarnation of the Archangel Uriel. For all the attention he generated, Fitzek and the disparate grouping of nostalgic, anti-state conspiracy theorists who made up his following were largely dismissed as harmless eccentrics prior to the Covid pandemic. But after purchasing a 300-acre estate in Saxony in 2022, he boasted that his kingdom was 'now two and a half times the size of the Vatican'. As his influence grew, there were plenty of signs that the divine right of Peter I to rule small pockets of eastern Germany risked coming into conflict with the secular rights of the federal German authorities. In 2017, Fitzek was convicted of embezzlement of £1.2 million, although a higher court overturned the verdict the following year. He has subsequently been convicted for driving without a licence (the court didn't recognise the one issued by his own kingdom), running his own health insurance programme and assault, a district court taking a dim view of his attempt to claim immunity as a head of state. By 2022, he had claimed 5,000 'citizens', many of them refusing to send their children to school, which is illegal in Germany, or pay tax, which is illegal almost everywhere. Instead, some of his subjects joined his 'system drop-out' seminars, priced at £295 and payable in 'Engelgeld' (angel money), his own currency. Despite Fitzek's protestations that his kingdom simply stands for a 'willingness to take responsibility', it was designated an extremist organisation in 2022 by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Germany's domestic intelligence agency. Three years of close observation culminated in this week's raids involving 800 security personnel in seven states. After being arrested along with several other senior 'subjects', Fitzek was accused by Alexander Dobrindt, German's interior minister, of 'undermining the rule of law' and spreading 'antisemitic conspiracy narratives to back up their supposed claim to authority'. His organisation, the Kingdom of Germany, has been banned. 'Today, a significant blow was struck against the so-called Reich Citizens and Self-Governors,' Dobrindt wrote on X. 'With the so-called 'Kingdom of Germany,' the largest association of this scene, which has been growing for years, was banned.' Dobrindt's tweet is a reminder of the strange, overlapping world of extremist German nostalgics. Abutting the Venn diagram of Fitzek's 'subjects' is the much larger circle of some 25,000 Reichsbürger ('Reich Citizens') who also deny the legitimacy of the country's 1949 constitution and want to re-establish a monarchy that was deposed in 1918. They have been under observation by the BfV since 2016, when one of its members shot dead a police officer during a raid at his home. The Covid lockdown in 2020 swelled their ranks – and their extremism. 'People spent a lot of time in isolation, in front of computers,' explains Jakob Guhl, an expert in far-Right extremism at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. 'Chat forums, such as Telegram, which are [largely] unregulated, saw a huge inflow of anti-vaccine people and far-Right groups. Part of that mix was Reichsbürger, and there was suddenly a far larger audience.' According to German government figures, Reichsbürger committed 1,000 extremist criminal acts in 2021, a twofold increase from the previous year. Officials estimate that 10 per cent of its members are potentially violent and five per cent Right-wing extremists. 'The ideology of rejecting state authority and holding historical revisionist ideas, many of them anti-Semitic, always had the potential to unload itself very badly,' says Guhl. As Covid ebbed and flowed, this first manifested itself in protestors attempting to storm the parliament building in Berlin in August 2020, while waving the pre-1918 flag of the German Empire. The following April, the police foiled a plot by a group calling themselves United Patriots, a subset of the Reichsbürger movement, who wanted to kidnap the health minister, foster a civil war and overthrow the democratic system. Four men aged 46 to 58 and a 77-year-old former teacher were jailed in March this year. The most infamous manifestation of the Reichsbürgers' violent, revisionist intentions was an attempted coup in December 2022, foiled by 5,000 police officers operating in 11 of Germany's 16 states, the largest such operation since 1945. The plot contained many farcical elements, notably a belief that Elizabeth II was part of a global, child-abusing elite and a cast of conspirators that included minor aristocrats, a chef and an opera singer. However, its deadly intentions were apparent from the discovery of 380 guns, 350 bladed weapons and more than 148,000 rounds of ammunition. Its alleged members, whose trials started last year and are still ongoing, included a former AfD member of the Bundestag and a founding member of the German special forces. Interviewed by the BBC shortly after the attempted coup, Fitzek said he had no intention of doing something similar himself (although he did describe the German state as 'destructive and sick', adding he had 'no interest in being part of this fascist and satanic system'). It is, however, interesting to note that some of the conspirators espoused the same historical views as the 'Kingdom of Germany', notably the self-proclaimed Heinrich XIII, a 73-year-old prince from the House of Reuss, who was alleged to have been central to their plans. Prince Reuss, whose family ruled parts of Thuringia until 1918, has recorded videos complaining that his '1,000-year dynasty' had been unjustly usurped. His co-conspirators allegedly shared a vision of returning Germany to elements of its Bismarckian constitutional settlement – a sentiment which enjoys a low but substantial level of support across Germany. Recent polls have shown that almost 10 per cent of the population would like to see the return of the monarchy, a figure that doubles for those under the age of 34. 'The Second Reich is a bit less problematic than harking back to the Nazis,' explains Guhl. 'It doesn't have the same level of toxicity attached to it. The symbols don't tend to be banned; the flags won't necessarily get you into trouble. It's a past that's easier to idealise for movements that want an idealised version of the past.' But this idealised version of the Second Reich ignores the reality of a new country riven by political and cultural divisions and destroyed in the First World War by the Kaiser's ham-fisted Weltpolitik. And as Dobrindt, the interior minister said of Fitzek's arrest this week: 'We are not talking about a group of harmless nostalgics, as the title of the organisation might suggest, but about criminal structures and a criminal network.' There is also an argument that these German nostalgics, however ill-intentioned, would benefit from a better grasp of the historical period they claim to fetishise. The Kaiser died unhappily in exile in 1941, rejected by his own people. Even at the start of the second Reich, a mere Prussian aristocrat knew how to put minor royalty in its place. When Bismarck, the German chancellor, was unifying Germany in 1870, he placated the reluctant King Ludwig of II of Bavaria by offering him his own separate postal service – and little else. 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Time of India
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Germany bans far-right 'Kingdom of Germany' group
AP file photo A spokeswoman for Germany's Federal Prosecutor's Office said the founder of the " Reich Citizens " subgroup " Kingdom of Germany ," Peter Fitzek, had been taken into custody on Thursday. Fitzek and three other suspected ringleaders of the group, part of a conspiracy theorist movement that rejects the legitimacy of the modern German republic, were arrested. What do we know about the 'Kingdom of Germany' arrests? Police on Tuesday conducted raids on the properties of key members of the group in seven German states, making four arrests. The swoop came after Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt banned what is currently the largest group of so-called Reich Citizens. He accused the "Kingdom of Germany" of trying to establish a "counter-state" within Germany. Security authorities believe Fitzek to have founded the group in 2012, ruling as the self-declared monarch of the "Kingdom." Justifying the ban on the group, Dobrindt said, "The members of this association have created a 'counter-state' in our country and built up criminal economic structures." "In this way, they undermine the rule of law and the Federal Republic's monopoly on the legitimate use of force," he added. "At the same time, they use antisemitic conspiracy narratives to back up their supposed claim to authority." The ban also includes associated splinter groups. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Switch to UnionBank Rewards Card UnionBank Credit Card Apply Now Undo What is the 'Kingdom of Germany' group? According to Dobrindt, the "Kingdom of Germany" group, which reportedly has around 6,000 members, is the biggest association within the Reichsbürger scene, whose supporters deny the legitimacy of Germany's post-World War II Federal Republic. This attitude leads some members to refuse demands made by legal authorities, such as fines and taxes. They have also been known to print their own passports and driver's licenses. Security authorities in Germany have paid increased attention to the movement in recent years amid fears of its violent potential. Most notably, a plot to overthrow the German government was uncovered in late 2022. Its planners are said to have intended to raid the German parliament and arrest key politicians before installing an interim government. Some 27 people were charged in connection with the plot, and 380 firearms were found. Three major trials on terrorism and conspiracy charges began in late April 2024. The Tuesday raids took place in Baden-Württemberg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Self-proclaimed 'king of Germany' arrested in plot to overthrow government
The self-styled "king" of Germany and three of his senior "subjects" were arrested for attempting to overthrow the state, according to media reports. Peter Fitzek, 59, was taken into police custody during morning raids conducted Tuesday in seven German states, the BBC reported. Fitzek's group, the Reichsbürger, or "citizens of the Reich," has also been banned by the government. Trump Celebrates Conservative Party Win In Germany The group's aim is to establish the Königreich Deutschland, or "Kingdom of Germany." "I have no interest in being part of this fascist and satanic system," Fitzek previously told the news outlet in a 2022 interview. Read On The Fox News App Reichsbürgers reportedly have their own currency, flag and identification cards and want to set up separate banking and health systems. The Reichsbürger undermined "the rule of law," said Alexander Dobrindt, Germany's interior minister, by creating an alternative state and spreading "antisemitic conspiracy narratives to back up their supposed claim to authority," the news report states. Germany's New Leader Looks To Distance Europe From Trump He said the group finances itself through crime. Fitzek, who claims to have thousands of "subjects," denied having violent intentions but also called Germany "destructive and sick." In 2022, dozens of people associated with the Reichsbürger were arrested for plotting to overthrow the German government in Berlin. They were accused of planning a violent coup, which included kidnapping the health minister in an effort to create "civil war conditions" to bring down German democracy, according to the BBC. Once dismissed as eccentric by critics, the group is now seen within Germany as a serious threat as the far right has grown politically over the past decade, the report article source: Self-proclaimed 'king of Germany' arrested in plot to overthrow government
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Germany bans extremist 'Kingdom of Germany' group
May 13 (UPI) -- The leader of a secessionist group known as the "Kingdom of Germany" was arrested Tuesday morning with supporters for allegedly running a counter-German state, which government officials have now banned. Peter Fitzek, 59, along with three others, were arrested in raids across seven German states aided by roughly 800 law enforcement personnel as leaders of the so-called "Reichsburger" -- also known as "citizens of the Reich" -- which seek to establish the Konigreich Deutschland, or a "Kingdom of Germany." "These extremists created a counter-state in Germany and ran criminal financial operations," German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said Tuesday in a statement, accusing the group of trying to "undermine the rule of law." Meanwhile, a fifth property was searched in Switzerland. Founded in 2012 to the east in Wittenberg in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, the so-called "Kingdom of Germany" allegedly ran unlicensed banking operations, promoted its own set of laws, had currency, a flag and ID cards with Fitzek as "King Peter I," who in turn appointed two deputies and a finance chief in the scheme. The German Empire under the Hohenzollern dynasty ended with the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1918 at the end of World War One which then saw to several years of instability and ultimately the rise of facism lead by Nazi party leader Adolf Hitler, who became German chancellor in 1933. "This is not about harmless nostalgia," Dobrindt said Tuesday. According to officials, Fitzek was previously convicted of running an illegal banking operation. Dobrindt said no weapons had been seized in the raids. "However, that was not to be expected," he pointed out, adding how the group did not appear to be particularly interested in weaponry, but others "are known to have a fundamental affinity for" them. There are roughly 25,000 "Reichsburger" members nationwide in groups who seek to overthrow Germany's government, according to its domestic intelligence agency. They're known to be largely right-wing or anti-Semitic extremists in numbers that have grown over the years. "I have no interest in being part of this fascist and satanic system," Fitzek told the BBC in 2022, calling the German state "destructive and sick." The arrests arrived on top of calls to ban the far-right "Alternative for Germany" party, backed by White House adviser Elon Musk, which is now the largest opposition party in the German parliament. "They reinforce their bogus claim to power with antisemitic conspiracy theories," Dobrindt added. In March, five people tied to the "Citizens of the Reich" were jailed in an alleged plot to overthrow Germany's federal government in a far-right coup. "A constitutional democracy cannot tolerate this," the Germany interior minister stated Tuesday.
