Reichsbürger movement

Reichsbürgerbewegung ("Reich Citizens' Movement") or Reichsbürger ("Reich Citizen(s)", the German word is the same in singular and in plural) is a label for several anticonstitutional/revisionist groups and individuals in Germany and elsewhere who reject the legitimacy of the modern German state, the Federal Republic of Germany, in favour of the German Reich. One typical claim is that the German Reich continues to exist in its pre-World War II borders, and that it is now governed by one of the Reichsbürger groups. Several incidents with violent members of the movement and illegal weapons depots earned the movement the attention of the media and the German authorities. The German authorities estimated that 21,000 people belong to the movement in Germany, . The original Kommissarische Reichsregierung (Temporary Imperial Government (KRR)) was founded in 1985 by Wolfgang Gerhard Günter Ebel. The movement espouses conspiracy theories, antisemitism, and racism. The movement has been described as neo-Nazi in character, although The Economist reported in 2016 that Reichsbürger adherents "draw ridicule even from neo-Nazis". Many supporters of the Reichsbürger movement are also monarchists who support a restoration of the German Empire or Holy Roman Empire. The German Federal Ministry of the Interior concludes that only a small part of the movement is part of the organized neo-Nazi milieu proper (for about 5%). Nonetheless, as the movement rejects the existence of the Federal Republic, it is very likely that members of the movement violate the legal order of the Federal Republic. A handbook of the state of Brandenburg explains the Reichsbürger movement as 'extremist' according to the framework of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Verfassungsschutz). There, 'extremist' refers to attitudes and ideologies that are directed against the basic conditions of a modern democracy and open society, such as the right of the people to elect their government democratically.