the new german theater

At the beginning of December 2022, one of the most extravagant and mysterious episodes of the year occurred in Germany: 3,000 police elements, some belonging to the elite unit GSG 9, arrested twenty-five people from the “Patriotic Union” in different parts of the country. accused of planning a coup to restore the monarchy. The images speak for themselves: helicopters, patrol cars, hooded men and a 71-year-old Thuringian aristocrat – Henry XIII of Reuss – handcuffed outside his mansion in Frankfurt. Among the detainees are also a star chef from Munich –Frank Heppner–; a member of the Army Special Forces; a former member of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party with esoteric leanings –Birgit Malsack-Winkemann– and several supporters of an organization loyal to the German Empire of 1871 –“Citizens of the Reich”–. The coup leaders were also said to have spread conspiracy theories, recruited members to form an army, possessed a large arsenal and had made contact with Russia. It is not Chile in 1973, Argentina in 1976 or Turkey in 2016: it is Germany in 2022.

The authorities will have their reasons for orchestrating one of the most spectacular anti-terrorist operations of the postwar period. According to Nancy Faeser, Minister of the Interior and who recently wore the multicolored “One Love” bracelet in a Qatari stadium, the threat was quite serious. And she told the Bild newspaper that the number involved with the “Citizens of the Reich” had increased, compared to the previous year, from 21,000 to 23,000.

In 2021, the minister continued, 239 violent acts were registered. It is more complicated to suppose that the seizure of the Reichstag with pistol shots would suffice to blow up German democracy and cause an earthquake in the European Union. In addition, according to the president of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Thomas Haldenwang, the authorities had been informed since the beginning of the year about the plans of the coup leaders. But perhaps it is possible to better understand the logic of the police show-off by thinking of it as a staging intended to cultivate the fantasy of the State as a group of people separated from the rest of society. On the other hand, although in practice the authorities cannot put an end to the extreme right, it is important to show that they are fought vigorously to consolidate the democratic order. There is nothing to say about the differences between those nostalgic for National Socialism, critics of migration policy and monarchists, and neither about the contradictions of liberal democracy: why bother if with the powerful images of the raid one can demand arms regulation, reforming the Army, engaging in partisan politics or discouraging voting for uncomfortable parties?

The function has been liked so much that critics unanimously demand to integrate it into the repertoire forever. Great headline of the weekly Der Spiegel: “Operation coup d’état”. In a tweed jacket, his face surly, his gaze penetrating, almost Bismarck, Reuss appears in front of a red and black flag of the German Empire. On the first few pages, recent “far-right attacks” are listed, including the 2020 Hanau shooting. Terrorism expert Peter R. Neumann told Redaktionsnetzwerk (RND) that “the far-right represents the biggest terrorist threat in Germany”. Sebastian Hartmann, Social Democrat deputy, in an angry speech, thanked the police for defending democratic order, accused the AfD of “minimizing the terror of the radical right” and reminded them that Paul Von Hindenburg destroyed the Weimar Republic at the age of 77 , while promising to “disarm all ‘Citizens of the Reich’”. The leader of the Christian Democratic party, Friedrich Merz, for his part, added that it was not a “cabaret or a joke”. On the Internet, more than one was grateful that the police had saved Germany from “a new Hitler.” The Viennese playwright Hugo Von Hofmannsthal well said that the “magical powers” ​​of politics obeyed whoever knew how to conjure them.