Murder trial unmasks Germans who believe the Reich never ended – France 24

Murder trial unmasks Germans who believe the Reich never ended – France 24 – When German police approached the home of Wolfgang P. on October 19, 2016, they would have noticed the line of yellow paint that circled the modest building in the Bavarian town of Georgensgmünd. Perhaps they read the handwritten warning on the letterbox – “My Word Here is Law!” – and remembered that its author had only contempt for the laws they were there to enforce. But there was little to prepare the officers for the volley of gunshots that ripped through the front door as they walked up to the first-floor apartment. Despite wearing protective gear and bullet-proof vests, four policemen were hit, one of them fatally.

Ten months on, the gunman goes on trial on Tuesday in nearby Nuremberg, charged with murder under laws he doesn’t recognise, by officials he refuses to submit to. Like other “Reichsbürger” (Citizens of the Reich), Wolfgang P. denies the legitimacy of the Bundesrepublik – the Federal Republic of Germany – and its institutions. The yellow paint marked the borders of his self-styled sovereign territory, the “Regierungsbezirks Wolfgang” (Wolfgang District). When the officers turned up at his home to requisition an arsenal of 31 hunting weapons, he regarded them as invaders.