Eccentric or extremist? The citizens of the self-proclaimed “Kingdom of Germany”

On the outskirts of the eastern German city of Wittenberg, a corrugated iron fence welcomes the “Königreich Deutschland”, the Kingdom of Germanya movement as surprising as it is disturbing for authorities and neighbors.

Those who cross the fence to access a group of nondescript buildings enter into “another country”with its own flag, its own laws, its own currency and its own identity documents.

He “Kingdom of Germany” It was founded in 2012 by Peter Fitzek, 58 years old, a former karate teacher who proclaimed himself king in a coronation ceremony in which neither the crown nor the scepter was missing.

Sovereign Peter and his subjects belong to the “Citizens of the Reich” (“Reichsbürger”), a heteroclite movement that includes right-wing extremists and conspiracy theorists born in the 1980s. Their common feature is that they reject the legitimacy of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Long considered harmless, the group has become radicalized over the years and is generating growing concern from the authorities.

Before 2012, Fitzek was a candidate in elections for deputy and mayor but without success.

Then he decided to found his own State to counteract the “massive manipulation” which, in his eyes, is devastating German society. Since then, his “kingdom” has spread to various places in Germany and has more than 5,000 citizens.

These are people with a “pioneer spirit that “They want to bring positive change to the world,” Fitzek declares in a meeting with AFP.

“We are open to all those who have their hearts in the right place”he explains sitting on a salmon-colored sofa in a modest office.

Vegetarians and anti-vaccines

In Wittenberg, the cradle of his kingdom, there are several administrative buildings, a carpentry workshop, a souvenir shop and a canteen that only serves vegetarian dishes. A community of about thirty people lives there. All of them are non-smokers, teetotalers and are not vaccinated against covid-19.

Arriving from the Munich region, Laina and Roland, aged 47 and 50, settled there a year ago with their three children aged 6, 9 and 12.

“We were already quite dissatisfied with our situation“explains Roland, formerly a manager in a teleshopping chain, who does not want to give the family name.

“And then the pandemic arrived, with all the restrictive measures, and we felt real discomfort”keep going.

For Laina, a graphic artist, it was above all about finding a better balance between private and professional life.

Their children do not go to school, which is illegal in Germany. They will learn at their own pace, without “being locked up somewhere where they are told: ‘You have to learn this now’”argues his mother.

Raids

According to the German intelligence service, the movement of “Citizens of the Reich” It had about 23,000 members in 2022, two thousand more than the previous year. And the number of them considered potentially violent went from 2,100 to 2,300.

The law enforcement forces are multiplying operations against small groups of this movement, suspected of wanting to attack democratic institutions.

On Wednesday there were raids in five regions, including in the same “Kingdom of Germany” of Wittenberg.

Authorities suspect that eight people founded and managed a health insurance company and carried out banking transactions without having the necessary permits.

The most spectacular case linked to this group broke out in December 2022. The authorities dismantled a small armed group that set the goal of overthrowing democratic institutions.

They included an aristocrat, Prince Henry XIII, former elite soldiers and a former far-right MP.

Another group made headlines for planning the kidnapping of Health Minister Karl Lauterbach to protest against restrictions implemented during the pandemic.

Fitzek himself had problems with the law, which sentenced him to prison for illegal insurance transactions.

He was recently sentenced to eight months in prison for assault, but he appealed the sentence and remains free until the final decision.

“Real danger”

The Citizens of the Reich represent “a real danger”says Jochen Hollmann, head of the internal intelligence agency of the state of Saxony-Anhalt.

With the expansion of the movement, “there is a risk that (…) others feel called to act against public order,” explains Hollmann to AFP.

Some in Germany are concerned about the development of this movement.

In the village of Halsbrücke, near Dresden, several residents have formed an association to oppose the project to build an organic farm by the Fitzek “kingdom”, and have managed to get the authorities to refuse it.

“At first glance, all this seems quite harmless.”says Jana Pinka, a 60-year-old engineer and councillor.

However, “We see at the same time a rejection of the state, and even of the borders of Germany, and the fact that people try to get closer to right-wing populist groups. And that scares us a little.”

Hollmann points out that in Saxony-Anhalt only the 8% of the Citizens of the Reich are considered, strictly speaking, to be extreme right-wing.

What they have in common is that they come from disadvantaged social backgrounds, particularly former communist East Germany.

“People look for a strong leader, something that unfortunately we already knew in Germany”says Pinka.

In Wittenberg, in the buildings of his “kingdom”, Peter Fitzek proudly shows visitors the environmentally friendly heating systems, and the press used to manufacture his “new German marks”.

In this same city was where the clergyman and theologian Martin Luther hung his “95 theses”the founding text of the Protestant Reformation that marked its break with Catholicism.

Fitzek dreams of his project growing in such a way that “the old order (…) will simply dissolve peacefully.”

“And we would not regret that loss at all, because we would have a much better order”he says with a wide smile.