Before he drifted off, Maximilian Eder was a civil servant all his life: first as a soldier, then as a co-founder of the KSK. With these contacts, he makes it into the suspected terrorist group around Henry XIII. all the way up. When this is smashed in December, he can escape for the time being.
They were determined to overthrow the state, arrest members of the Bundestag and their leader, Henry XIII. Prince Reuss to elect Germany's new regent. But before the supporters of the right-wing extremist "Reichsbürger" group could start the big coup, the authorities got there first: after a major raid last December, 25 members of the suspected terrorist group were arrested. However, a suspect has still not sat before a German judge. And that, although he was in the group around Henry XIII. apparently played a key role.
Maximilian Eder from the Bavarian community of Eppenschlag fled to Italy before the search. The authorities there arrested the 63-year-old on the day of the big raid on the basis of an international arrest warrant in Perugia in central Italy - since then he has been in Italian prison on suspicion of anti-state activities. The man's extradition took an unusually long time. "We're still waiting," said the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office in Karlsruhe in mid-January. Now, around ten weeks after the raid, it has been successful: Eder will reportedly be extradited this Thursday and brought before a German magistrate.
The ex-Bundeswehr colonel is said to have pulled the military strings of the right-wing extremist secret society. His knowledge and his network from his time with the troops obviously stand him in good stead. So Eder, who over time drifted further and further into anti-conspiracy and anti-constitutional theories, was almost his entire life exactly the opposite: a civil servant. In 1999, following a decision by the German Bundestag, he led his armored infantry battalion to Kosovo and thus to the Bundeswehr's first military operation.
He is also a co-founder of the Special Forces Command - the elite unit of the Bundeswehr that repeatedly makes the headlines because of right-wing extremist incidents. "I was the third highest rank there," boasted the pensioner proudly at an event in Baden-Baden last year, as reported by the news portal "Badische Latest News". Eder, as becomes clear after a quick look at his CV, is an inveterate military man. Although he is no longer on duty, he still wears the uniform today - as a speaker he can often be seen with a red beret, the headgear worn by the Bundeswehr. However, the ex-soldier does not like to talk about one thing: the end of his military career.
Most recently, the grey-haired man with the narrow eyes and mustache is NATO's liaison officer in Georgia. According to the "Badische Latest News", however, he concentrates less on geopolitics and more on his own business. For example, Eder wants to import beer from Bavaria to the Georgian capital Tbilisi, but after several failed deals he has high rent debts. "Max has always done shady deals with shabby partners. As a representative of Western democracy, he left a disastrous impression," the newspaper quoted one of Eder's former business partners as saying. Finally, it was suggested that he take early retirement. From then on, the radicalization of the man who was once loyal to the state began.
This is getting more attention for the first time in the corona pandemic. Eder considers government measures, such as compulsory masks in schools or compulsory vaccination, to be a crime. At the time, he told ARD that his "freedom movement" was collecting supposed evidence against those responsible. Gradually, his hatred of "those responsible" increases: "You should send the KSK to Berlin and clean up here properly, then you can see what they can do," he rushed at a Corona protest in summer 2021. For security authorities, this speech is the crucial moment to observe the ex-officer.
However, this hardly prevents Eder from further radicalization. He quickly became the star of the "Querdenker" scene, in Ravensburg he was cheered by almost 2,000 supporters when he claimed that "a war was being waged with the people, with the state, who direct and harass us". Eder is also part of the conspiracy network that set up an alleged aid organization in a school after the flood disaster in Ahrweiler in summer 2021. According to ARD research, the pensioner acts as an officer in the flood area on behalf of Bodo Schiffmann, doctor and idol of the lateral thinker scene: in his former uniform, he commands veterans, issues orders and speaks - in military jargon - from his "staff". flood relief. Eder deliberately ignored the ban on wearing uniforms according to "Spiegel" - investigations against him for official presumption leave him unimpressed.
The off-duty colonel's speeches not only teem with anti-democracy, but also with conspiracy theories. In Baden-Baden, for example, Eder reports on elites and "satanic rituals on small children and young women who are tormented in underground catacombs in the German-Swiss border area". Eder thus forms the European counterpart to the US "QAnon" group, which spreads similar theses and considers ex-President Donald Trump to be the fighter of this elite. "It's a reality that I can prove," Eder said at the time.
Last winter, the ex-soldier's announcements finally came to a head. Eder announces - almost word for word - a coup d'état. "We will soon have a huge upheaval," he says in his Advent message, as the "Tagesspiegel" reports. He very much hopes that this will happen before Christmas 2022. Eder is already abroad when the video is recorded. Just a few days later, the dream of upheaval is said to be over - the handcuffs of the ex-soldier click. A post in the early morning of the same day on his Telegram channel, in which he announced "Nuremberg 2.0" for all heads of authorities in Germany, was to be his last.
Investigators also searched his house in Eppenschlag. However, the neighborhood is not surprised. Eder is highly intelligent, but uses this against the rule of law, the mayor told Bayerischer Rundfunk. In the community he was still considered helpful, albeit rather reserved. "For me, he is a person who has problems finding his way in civilian life," a neighbor told ZDF. Because: "He continues to think like a soldier."
This is exactly what the network around Henry XIII is doing. Advantage: Eder, along with two other soldiers, is part of the command staff of the group's "military arm". As a former high-ranking military man, he knows the structures of the security authorities and has contacts. Even the lateral thinker Schiffmann emphasized during the Corona protests to the ARD how valuable Eder's friends "from the military days" are.
The good connection to the security circles would be an explanation that the right-wing extremist knew about the upcoming raid last winter before it took place. He warned his neighbor a week earlier, as reported by the "Passauer Neue Presse". The former detective and member of the Bundestag Sebastian Fiedler thinks it is more likely on ZDF that Eder became aware of the close observation by investigators and suspected something.
Whether by chance or contacts, the German investigators managed to escape Eder in good time. Although a court in Perugia decided on December 19 to extradite the detainee, it suspended it again a little later. The reason: Eder is suing against the extradition - both in Italy and before the European Court of Justice, write the "Badische Latest News". He demands political asylum and thus manages to avoid the procedure in Germany for more than two months. Even Eder's lawyer considers such a long examination to be unusual, as he says on ZDF. Especially given the political importance of the case.
But now the Italian court has finally dismissed Eder's appeal - the ex-soldier will be deported. From today it is in the hands of the judges in Karlsruhe how things will continue with Eder. Until his trial, he could be released, probably subject to conditions. However, there is a good chance that Eder will continue his pre-trial detention in a German prison. For example, if the judge determines that there is a risk of escape or blackout.
