Peter Fitzek: Meet the 'King of Germany'
If you think the dramatized stories of kings and kingdoms
end with Game of Thrones, think again. It seems like there's a fine line
between fact and fiction, and there just might be a real-life Cersei.
Meet Peter Fitzek, the 48-year-old who claims to be the
monarch of a nine-hectare kingdom 'Königreich' (previously 'NeuDeutschland') in
Germany. Ironically, he is a political activist who is part of the
'Reichsbürgerbewegung' movement—aka Empire Citizens' Movement—that contests
Germany's legitimacy. Or, to put it plainly, does not believe in the country's
existence. As bizarre as it may sound, Fitzek went the whole nine yards and
established his own kingdom in 2011,
complete with his own currency called 'Engelgeld', a
"state-run" health care scheme, social security and even its own
currency bank.
The self-proclaimed 'King of Germany' has no hereditary claim
to royalty whatsoever but is the leader of the 'Fourth Reich'. From his
appearance—tight-fitting black pants and black shirt, embellished with a
Königreich coat of arms on its breast pocket, and his shoulder-length slicked
black ponytail—he seems to be more of a hippie than a Nazi.
However, he has previously cleared away any confusion about
his ideology being fascistic and said he chose to use 'reich' for the name of
his movement to inspire Germans to raise questions on why they aren't allowed
to forget the past.
His kingdom comprises of several properties in a 22-acre
plot around the city of Wittenberg in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, located south
of Berlin, and his movement claims to have 3,500 subjects who live on the
property rent-free. He also used legal cases that he claimed to have memorized
thanks to his photographic memory and said that Hitler's Third Reich was never
really dissolved with the culmination of the Second World War. Hence, he says,
Germany has no constitution and no legitimate authority over its citizens.
Fitzek was born in former East Germany, before the fall of
the Iron Curtain and belongs to the 'lost' generation of Germans. Their
upbringing during a term when the east was communist, left them shorthanded to
cope with life after reunification. When he was younger, Fitzek aspired to be a
teacher but was never able to get the education that he wanted. So he trained
as a cook, working in various restaurants and hotels before opening a video
store and then a bar.
With his own kingdom, policies and even driving licenses and
passports issued by the Königreich, he's become a thorn in the side of German
authorities. In 2013, he cited Germany's Basic Law and the 1993 Montevideo
Convention on the Rights and Duties of States and declared his kingdom a
sovereign state. His argument for the declaration was that under Montevideo,
the only requirements for his claim were a permanent population, a defined
territory, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations. Although, he
went up a notch with that by launching his own currency, 'inflation-proof' silver coins 'Neue Deutsche
Marks' and even a central bank Königliche Reichsbank that offers free customer
accounts.
He claimed that it was "safer than any other bank"
because it does not answer to the German Law or the European Union, and also
promised refuge from the possible collapse of the Euro and investment returns
from two to nine percent. the bank operated between 2009 and 2013, and around
600 people banked with him, entrusting him with deposits worth about $1.8
million.
While Fitzek rejects being a Reichsbürger, the ideals with
which he founded Königsreich Deutschland are similar to that of the far-right
group, who believed that the Federal Republic of Germany does not exist. So, a
concern that has risen among the German police and the security officials is
gun ownership and their penchant for weaponry.
Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the
Constitution or BfV estimates at least seven percent of the Reichsbürger have
gun licenses. For years, they were viewed as a small group that posed no threat
to the government. However, that changed when in 2016, a Reichsbürgeropened
fire on police officers killing one and injuring another three.
In 2016, he got into trouble with the authorities for
driving around with a fake driving license and was sentenced to three months in
prison for traffic offenses.
“I've purposefully driven over the speed limit — radically
over the speed limit — so someone will finally take me to court,” he said,
according to a report by Global Post. “The court must decide whether I have
this authority or not.”
His premises were searched by police over a financial
regulation investigation, and in 2017 he was sentenced to 3 years and 8 months
in prison illegal operation of a bank and embezzling at least $1.4 million of
his clients' money for his personal use. The Federal Financial Supervisory
Authority of Germany stated that his bank and health fund have violated the
law, and had repeatedly demanded he repay all depositors. However, Fitzer
argued that he had spent the missing funds for the good of his community.
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