German military counterintelligence found among the employees of the Procurement Office of the Bundeswehr (German army) “citizens of the Reich” (or “Reichsburgers” rejecting the modern German state). Berliner Morgenpost reports.
The suspects work in the regional office of the city of Ulm, including the head of the office. An investigation into the alleged “Reichsburgers” has been ongoing since the end of 2019. Eight persons involved in the case have already been interrogated. According to the parliamentary secretary of state under the Ministry of Defense Peter Tauber, the first results of the investigation confirm the suspicions of intelligence.
Information carriers were seized from suspects and forbidden to appear at their workplaces.
In January 2018, it was reported that in Germany the number of people who consider themselves “citizens of the Reich” increased by 50 percent – according to the German Federal Service for the Protection of the Constitution and the Fight against Terrorism (BVT), there were 16 thousand such Germans.
“Citizens of the Reich” or “Reichsburgers” believe that the Federal Republic of Germany was established on the territory of the Third Reich illegally, and Germany should exist within the 1937 borders. In October 2016, one of the “Reichsburgers” shot a German policeman – since then, the attention of the special services has been riveted on them. In January 2020, counterintelligence reported that there are at least 592 people in the German army who are suspected of anti-constitutional views. It is also known about the “citizens of the Reich” among the employees of the regional and federal police.