Several Bundeswehr soldiers and reservists are among the right-wing extremists and "Reich citizens" allegedly involved in the coup plans. The head of the reservists' association is certain that these are isolated cases. Nevertheless, he sees a need for action by the security authorities.
After the raid on the so-called Reichsbürger scene, the Association of Bundeswehr reservists spoke out against placing members of the security authorities and armed forces under general suspicion. "There is no structural extremism problem among the reservists or active soldiers in the Bundeswehr," said association head Patrick Sensburg of the "Rheinische Post". A general suspicion is completely inappropriate.
However, the raid showed two things, Sensburg said: First, a "much more consistent crackdown" was needed against people like a retired Bundeswehr colonel, who was among those arrested. He was known for his attitudes, and criminal proceedings were underway against him - "and yet he continues to walk around the country in uniform and spread his crude theories and this with full pension payments," criticized the president of the Association of Reservists in the German Armed Forces. This cannot be.
"Secondly, we need more awareness-raising measures in the robust units of the Bundeswehr, police and other security agencies," Sensburg demanded. "The members of the Bundeswehr's special forces command and of the police's special task forces have a tough job, are heavily armed and rightly see themselves as the elite. But that can lead to them taking off and believing they are something better than the usual rules." This must not happen. "We need better structures within the security authorities to prevent such forces from becoming radicalized," said Sensburg.
On Wednesday, the federal prosecutor's office had 25 people arrested in one of the largest police actions in the history of the Federal Republic. She accuses 22 of them of being a member of a terrorist organization that wanted to overthrow the political system in Germany. Three are considered supporters. "Reich citizens" are people who do not recognize the Federal Republic and its democratic structures.
