Germany was right to take the Reichsbürger threat seriously

Germany is in the grip of one of the most extensively covered courtroom dramas in recent memory. On trial is an alleged terrorist group of nine men and women centred around the 72-year-old aristocrat Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss. They stand accused of having plotted to violently overthrow the state before they were arrested in December 2022. The groups’ network is said to reach far into Germany’s armed forces, police and politics, making the case one of the most bizarre and troubling in modern German history.

The case is so large that it had to be split into three parts. The first one began in Stuttgart in April. Another one is due to start in June in Munich. On Tuesday, the most high-profile segment, the case against Reuss and those prosecutors deem to be his associates, was launched in Frankfurt in a lightweight hall specially built for this purpose.

Some of the attending journalists felt reminded of the historic trials against the so-called Red Army Faction, a left-wing terrorist organisation in West Germany held responsible for 34 deaths as well as abductions, bombings and robberies in the 1970s and 80s.