The Reich Citizens? There’s a name that’s sure to make them popular (in both the sarcastic and sadly literal truth).
It’s not a political party (for one thing the movement is not united, because all Reichsbürger contest the legitimacy of the German state, but they are disunited in what, if anything, is legitimate - there are several co-exiting monarchs, governments, and one-person states, for another thing being a party would mean they acknowledge the existence of the state they are a political party in).
They are much like the American sovereign citizens, except perhaps for a greater tendency to informally organize.
20 people arrested? That will never be enough. there are thousands of them. And yes, the similarities to QAnon are evident. Both are on the loony fringe. Here is a documentary that the ARTE TV station aired recently, I don’t know whether it can be seen in the USA:
Perhaps on YouTube if the link does not work. Interesting and harrowing. There are idiots, fools and assholes galore everywhere, always have been, always will be.
They call themselves Reichsbürger (Citizens of the Reich, as you wrote). When I answer them on-line, for instance when I try to refute some BS they have posted on the comments section of an article, I like to call them Reichsrentner (Pensioners of the Reich), as they often are old bitter men with too much time on their hands and too little time left to live. It is nice, because it angers them. But it does not do justice to the scale of the problem. They are dangerous. And not all of them are old.
They also have weird connections to esoteric circles. The Nazis had that too, curiously. Homeopathy, quiropracticioners, Heilpraktiker (funny name, when you come to think of it), druids, runes… it’s all there mingled somewhere.
Thanks for your information. I guess I saw “Among the accused plotters was a member of the far-right [Alternative for Germany] party” and conflated that with the group as a whole.
Translation, please?
Chiropracters?
Chiropractor, or chiropractitioner, the word I wrote just before that one, comes pretty close. There are subtle cultural and legal differences.
Oh, you write it with an e, not with an o. OK, sorry. That is what I meant. But Heilpraktiker fits, IMO. From the German Wikipedia:
In Germany, a Heilpraktiker (a term that emerged at the beginning of the 20th century and was generally introduced in 1928) is someone who practices medicine professionally or commercially without being licensed as a doctor or psychological psychotherapist (Section 1 of the Alternative Practitioners Act, which has existed since 1939). As a rule, these are alternative medical practices. The practice of medicine as a Heilpraktiker requires a state license in Germany; unlike doctors, however, alternative practitioners only have to prove that they do not cause harm and not that they can actually heal.
Yes, the law was adopted 1939 (bolding in the quote mine). And is still valid. I think that is no accident. In fact, since 1952 the interdiction to teach to become a Heilpraktiker was abolished, as it was ruled inconstitutional. So being and becoming a Heilpraktiker is even more institutionalized and stately sanctioned than under the Nazis.
No, I did not make this up. I couldn’t if I tried.