The Self-Proclaimed ‘King of Germany’ Just Got Arrested for Trying To Overthrow the Government

German authorities this week arrested Peter Fitzek. You may not know the name, nor should you. But Peter sure as hell thinks he should be much more well-known.

Peter views himself as more than the Karate instructor and medieval cosplay enthusiast that he is. He thinks he’s the “King of Germany,” and he has assembled a sizable group of followers who were plotting to overthrow the German government and replace it with a monarchy.

The 59-year-old Fitzek was nabbed in coordinated raids involving 800 security personnel across seven states after it was found that he and his followers, who call themselves the Reichsbürger, which ominously translates to “Citizens of the Reich,” were trying to replace the German government with their DIY monarchy that was already up and running.

Self-Proclaimed ‘King of Germany’ Arrested in Plot To Overthrow Government

The Reichsbürger have their own currency, ID cards, and want to set up their own alternative healthcare and banking systems. They are a little nation functioning within a nation. At the center of it is Fitzek, who crowned himself the King of Germany in 2012 with ermine robes and a sword.

Since then, he’s amassed followers—”subjects,” if you’re buying what he’s selling—and land, using a structure the German Interior Ministry says is funded through criminal activity. What that criminal activity is, exactly, has not been made clear, though Germany has classified the Reichsbürger as a criminal organization.

It all sounds extremely goofy, even laughable, but the German government is taking it seriously. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt accused the group of “undermining the rule of law” and spreading antisemitic conspiracy theories. Officials are now treating Reichsbürger not as fringe eccentrics but as a serious threat.

The numbers back it up: there are about 25,000 Reichsbürger in Germany, 2,500 of whom are considered potentially violent. In 2022, dozens were arrested for plotting a coup, which included plans to kidnap government officials and ignite “civil war conditions.”

Fitzek’s personal beef with German law includes returning his driver’s license in protest and then getting jailed for, unsurprisingly, driving without it. Repeatedly.

The Reichsbürger represents a growing far-right movement built on historical revisionism, conspiracy culture, and political instability. Certainly sounds like a deluded maniac who has rather easily convinced a bunch of other deluded maniacs of his own Majesty despite all evidence to the contrary, namely the karate instructor bit.

Sounds like he’d be right at home alongside some other deeply mediocre men who somehow failed their way into global leadership positions despite all evidence suggesting they are subpar at best.

We live in the era of sad, pathetic dudes convincing themselves and a passionate group of followers that they are the Alpha and Omega, the end all be all, the one true leader that will guide us through the darkness, even though they are complete and utter morons.