Coup planning in Germany
The message that German police went to the arrests of 25 people scattered around Germany. Among those arrested are a former parliamentarian, a German aristocrat, a former high-ranking German officer and a Russian woman. The group, with connections to the neo-Nazi milieu, had concrete plans for a coup. The Riksdag was to be seized and members of the Riksdag were to be arrested. A new government was to be established.
A coup with nationalist features
The goal for the group was to install a government that does not accept Germany’s borders today, but wants the borders from 1871 back. The group does not recognize the current government and legally elected national assembly. The group does not recognize democracy either.
Large parts of the group come from the extreme right and neo-Nazi party “Alternative for Germany” (AFD). Chancellor Olaf Scholdz said this summer that the party was a Russian party. He said this during a debate on the import of Russian gas and the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. AFD advocated not closing the pipeline. Since 2014, AFD has worked to lift all sanctions against Russia.
The party will take a restrictive line on immigration. Especially regarding labor immigration. Here, the party does not distinguish between where labor immigration comes from. They are also against labor immigration from the EU. The party is otherwise skeptical of the EU as an institution.
A relic from the past
Of course, we still know little about the coup plans. But it gives me a bad taste anyway. The coup plans, if they are correct, also imply a reminder that undemocratic forces must still be fought, even in the heart of Western Europe. Democracy is not something we should take for granted, but fight for every day.
The taste of a past we hoped was gone in 1945 is bad. The brown forces live on. The investigation will hopefully reveal the details.
Sources:
Russia Denies Links to German ‘Terror’ Groups Amid Dawn Raids – The Moscow Times