[Inside Chodong] The Coup of a German Real Estate Grandpa

German police arrested and detained Heinrich XIII in Frankfurt on the 7th (local time) on charges of attempting a coup. Frankfurt=AP·Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] Recently, a coup conspiracy incident carried out by a far-right group in Germany called ‘Reichsbuerger’ became a global topic. With over 20,000 members, weapons, gold bars, and mercenaries composed of former soldiers, their meticulous plan was revealed, heightening security concerns both inside and outside Germany.

According to investigations by the German prosecution, this organization aimed to revive the German Empire that ruled Germany from 1871 to 1918. After overthrowing the government through a military coup, they had prepared to reestablish the imperial government and gain recognition from the international community. Notably, some of the group's leaders are known to be Russian nationals, raising suspicions of connections with Russia.

What further alarmed the German government was that the alleged ringleader of this rebellion, a man named Heinrich XIII, was an extremely ordinary elderly person. A 71-year-old retired real estate agent who occasionally made and sold wine at home, he was the leader of a massive rebellion despite being a common elderly man easily found in any German neighborhood.

He is known as a descendant of the historic House of Reuss, which ruled the Thuringia region in central Germany for over 700 years during the medieval period. However, after the defeat in World War I, the direct lineage of the House of Reuss had already died out, and Heinrich XIII, from a collateral branch, was regarded merely as an elderly person suffering from mental illness even within that family.

The Reichsbuerger group itself had been an organization ignored by German security authorities until now. It was dismissed as merely a social club of eccentric retired elderly people sharing various conspiracy theories commonly seen on YouTube. The members of this group were reportedly obsessed with baseless conspiracy theories claiming that tiny microchips embedded in COVID-19 vaccines would control the thoughts of all humanity.

Most of the Reichsbuerger leaders arrested along with Heinrich XIII were retired soldiers or elderly people from the former East Germany. These pensioners, who should have been enjoying a comfortable retirement, took up arms to overthrow the government.

Underlying this is the severe inflation problem in Europe triggered by COVID-19 and the Ukraine war. Inflation rates across Europe, including Germany, have reached the worst levels in 40 years since statistics began, and heating gas, heavily dependent on Russia, has surged more than tenfold in most countries.

No matter how much the government provides in living subsidies, prices have risen so sharply that they are unbearable. Elderly people, whose fixed income mostly comes from pensions, are inevitably suffering from severe anxiety and financial hardship.

Additionally, most elderly Germans who ran small businesses after retirement lost their workplaces during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the COVID-19 crisis was narrowly escaped due to unprecedented extreme lockdown measures across European countries, not all closed stores could be revived.

Ultimately, the path to the coup taken by Reichsbuerger was not simply due to conspiracy theories but the terrible hardship caused by inflation. If this is the case in Europe, where social safety nets are relatively well established, civil wars are inevitable in many Third World countries. This incident reconfirms that the foundation of national security lies in the economy and the livelihood of the people.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.