Switzerland’s financial watchdog investigates group of German state deniers

The self-proclaimed independent state "Königreich Deutschland" (Kingdom of Germany), a group of German Reich revivalists, is under investigation by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA).
An investigation by Swiss public television, SRF, has warned of the scams perpetrated by this group, which is attempting to expand its presence in Switzerland.
Do you want to read our weekly top stories? Subscribe here.
The Königreich Deutschland (KRD) is on a watch list that can be consulted on the FINMA website, as reported by SRF on Saturday. The companies and individuals on this list are being monitored for various illegal activities.
Representatives of the German-based group are alleged to have offered unauthorised banking and insurance services at events in Switzerland and to have intensified their efforts to gain a foothold in the country.

More
Secret meeting of state deniers in canton Basel
On the radar of German authorities
This movement and its leader, the self-proclaimed “Emperor of Germany” Peter Fitzek, have been under surveillance by the German authorities for several years. According to FINMA’s German counterpart, KRD is suspected of carrying out banking and insurance activities without the necessary authorisations. Investors must therefore be warned about these dubious providers.
When questioned by SRF, FINMA would not provide any information on the status of the investigation.
A well-established movement in Switzerland
The KRD is one of the largest groups of “Citizens of the Reich”, with a total of around 6,000 supporters. Its leader propagates an anti-Semitic view of the world, and its members reject states such as Germany and Switzerland. They also claim that the German Empire (1871-1918, 1933-1945) continues to exist and call for the overthrow of the “system”. This ideology is reminiscent of the “sovereign citizen” or QAnon conspiracy movements from the United States.
After an opening event in Basel in November 2023, several meetings and events followed in various parts of Switzerland. An investigation by SRF Investigativ revealed that the “Citizens of the Reich” movement is already more firmly rooted in Switzerland than previously thought, with several dozen supporters. In addition, Swiss citizens have already purchased KRD products such as fictitious driving licences and identity cards.
Translated from French by DeepL/sp
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.

In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.