The Prince, the Plot and a Long-Lost Reich

[dalton99a]

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/11/world/europe/germany-prince-heinrich-xiii.html
https://archive.ph/CJvbe

The Prince, the Plot and a Long-Lost Reich
Prince Heinrich XIII was arrested this week as the suspected ringleader of a plan to overthrow the German government. Nostalgic for an imperial past, he embraced far-right conspiracy theories.
By Erika Solomon and Katrin Bennhold
Dec. 11, 2022


Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss’s Waidmannsheil lodge in Bad Lobenstein, Germany. Credit.. Ingmar Nolting for The New York Times

The crenelated hunting lodge of Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss sits atop a steep hill, looking out over homes laced with snow and Christmas lights in Bad Lobenstein. Popular with the local mayor and many nearby villagers, the prince spent his weekends in the spa town, giving an aristocratic flair to this sleepy corner of rural eastern Germany.

Heinrich XIII, prosecutors and intelligence officials say, also used his lodge to host meetings where he and a band of co-conspirators plotted to overthrow of the German government and execute the chancellor. In the basement, the group stored weapons and explosives. In the forest that sloped beneath the lodge, they sometimes held target practice.

This week the Waidmannsheil lodge, a three-hour drive south of Berlin in the state of Thuringia, was one of 150 targets raided by security forces in one of postwar Germany’s biggest counterterrorist operations. By Friday, 23 members of the cell had been detained across 11 German states and another 31 placed under investigation. The police discovered troves of arms and military equipment as well as a list of 18 politicians and journalists deemed to be enemies.

Prince Heinrich XIII, 71, a well-off descendant of a 700-year-old noble family, may seem an unlikely ringleader of such a terrorist plot. But, prosecutors say, he was designated by his co-conspirators to become head of state in a post-coup regime.

[CrispyQ]

1. Whereas our ringleader walks free, plays golf, & is running for president again. -nt

[2naSalit]

2. +1

[dalton99a]

3. Indeed.

[Scrivener7]

4. Somehow they managed to search 150 sites. Very impressive. Wish we could do that.

[underpants]

5. crenelated

I learned a new word today.

[llashram]

6. democracy

is under attack worldwide. The German government nipped this coup in the bud, I hope.