A disgraced minor nobleman and a retired paratroop commander leading a group of conspiracy theorists and right-wing activists to overthrow the German government...  it may sound like the plot of a novel you can find at an airport bookshop, but according to prosecutors in Germany, this is a real-life plot that they were forced to swoop in and foil just this week.

The catch-all term for the group is the 'Reichsbuergers' or citizens of the empire. Who are they, how many of them are there – and should people be worried about them?

What is the Reichsbuerger movement?

The term Reichsbuergers is used to denote a loosely connected group, with ties to Germany's far right, who believe that the borders of the German Empire should still be in effect.

The group deny the existence of the post-World War II German Federal Republic (West Germany) that was established in 1949 and subsequently the reunification of Germany in 1990. They insist that the current state is just an administrative construct still occupied by the Western Allies: the U.S., the UK and France.

Members who have self-identified as Reichsbuergers don't accept the legality of the Federal Republic of Germany. They have in the past refused to pay taxes, printed passports and driving licenses and, in some cases, declared their own small "Free States" within modern Germany. 

Authorities and security services estimate that there are around 21,000 Reichsbuergers in Germany today.

Radicalization during the pandemic

Most are men over 50, and it would be easy to dismiss the group as harmless crackpots – except some members of the group have subscribed to an antisemitic neo-Nazi ideology. Furthermore, some have not been afraid to use violence to achieve their goals.

The group underwent a transformation during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Reichsbuergers started to push back against restrictive measures designed to stop the virus from spreading. 

As far as the Reichsbuergers were concerned, the authorities issuing the measures were illegitimate, and Germany's courts became flooded with motions filed by supporters against the coronavirus prevention policies. Local authorities across the country had to process these objections, with some mayors claiming to have been attacked by Reichsbuerger supporters.

Germany's gun nuts

Members of the Reichsbuerger movement, according to the BfV, Germanys domestic intelligence agency, have been stocking up on firearms. The most recent report by the security services says that they were preparing to commit "serious acts of violence."

There is an element within the Reichsbuerger movement that draws support from retired and serving soldiers of Germany's armed forces. This is one of the reasons for concern over how dangerous the group is, as some of these former and current soldiers have come from the elite special forces of Germany's military. 

The raids on Wednesday focused in part on a serving member of the Bundeswehr's Special Forces Command (KSK), with searches being carried out at the soldier's home and barracks in Baden-Wurttemberg.

Security Services are basing their concern not only on the weapons stockpiled by Reichsbuergers, but on the actions of members when they have attempted to carry out investigations. For example, in 2016 a police officer was shot and killed while executing a search warrant on a property where over 30 illegally possessed firearms were found.

In 2021 Reichsbuerger members were clearly visible, baring flags from the German Empire, during an attempt to storm the Reichstag building in Berlin, where the German Parliament sits.

Latest police raid

In the early hours of Wednesday, raids took place to arrest 25 people that prosecutors accuse of being linked to a plot to overthrow the German government. Around 3,000 officers took part in searches on 137 properties belonging to 52 suspects in all but five of Germany's 16 states.

Prosecutors have accused them of belonging to a domestic terrorist organization founded at the end of November 2021. They say the group "set itself the goal of overcoming the existing state order in Germany and replacing it with its own form of state, which has already been worked out in outline."

Of the 25 arrested, 24 were German citizens, and one was from Russia. Arrests also took place in Austria and in Italy. Federal Prosecutors are still looking to speak to 27 other individuals about the suspected plot.

The top of the plot

Prosecutors have named the two ringleaders of the plot to overthrow the German government as minor nobleman as Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss von Greiz, aged 71, and former army paratrooper field officer Rudiger von Pescatore, aged 69. Also rounded up in the raids was a former MP for the right-wing AfD party, Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, 58.

The family of Prince Reuss von Greiz, a descendant from a royal line that ruled Germany for 800 years until the monarchy's dissolution, told the Ostthuringer Zeitung newspaper in August that he was a "bitter old man" that held "crazy conspiracy theory views." The family said that they had distanced themselves from him, disavowing his beliefs.

Von Greiz's group is accused of believing that Germany was run by a deep-state conspiracy about to be exposed by an alliance of German intelligence agencies and the armed forces of other nations, including the U.S. and Russia.

Die Zeit newspaper reported that shortly before the arrests were made, a supporter of the plot posted on the Telegram app that "everything will be turned upside down: the current public prosecutors and judges, as well as the heads of the health departments and their superiors, will find themselves in the dock at Nuremberg 2.0."

The prosecution says that the suspects believed that their aims could only be achieved through military means and force. However, authorities also said it was unclear at this stage if the plotters had amassed the weaponry to achieve these goals.

Some of the accused, who are current or former military personnel, are suspected of having illegally taken weapons from German army's stocks. Others rounded up this week hold firearms licenses.

A Russian connection?

Heinrich XIII, who under the plot would have been established as the new head of state, had made efforts to contact Moscow. However, prosecutors said, "there is no indication that the contacts reacted positively to his approach."

The Russian embassy in Berlin denied any involvement, stating that "Russian diplomatic and consulate offices in Germany have no contact to representatives of terrorist groups or other illegal units."

What now?

Germany's interior minister Nancy Faeser has called the plotters "enemies of democracy," saying that "the investigations provide a glimpse into the abyss of a terrorist threat from the Reichsbuerger milieu."

Prosecutor general Peter Frank told reporters that the group had been waiting for a so-called 'Day-X' when their plan would be implemented. He said it showed the Reichsbuerger movement had progressed to a "new level."

Currently, some 19 of the 25 suspects arrested are being held in detention as they await trial.