Peter Fitzek, King of New Germany, photographed in 2016 in front of the former hospital in Wittenberg
Deep in the spruce forests of eastern Germany above the gate to a wooden-framed courtyard with a flag hanging.
At first glance, the sun-bleached banner could belong to the modern German Republic. But the rising sun is depicted on the gold, red and black stripes.
The flag marks the entrance to Königreich Deutschland (Kingdom of Germany), a pseudo-state that is attracting more and more Germans. with its promise of a quixotic mixture of self-sufficient agriculture, spiritual enlightenment and monarchy.
The state's ruler and founder is Peter Fitzek, a former chef who bought a 300-acre estate in Saxony this month for a listing price of €5.5m (£4.7m), making him boast that that «our kingdom now consists of two and one and a half times the size of the Vatican.»
«This is our sovereign territory. The German Republic has lost power here, they do not interfere in our affairs,” he tells The Telegraph in his administrative capital in a former meat processing plant on the outskirts of the town of Wittenberg.
Life under a king is “the natural state of the German people,” says Mr Fitzek, who himself was crowned king in a ceremony in 2012 in which he donned a scarlet robe and carried a sword and staff.
After his strange coronation 11 years ago, Peter Fitzek calls himself Peter I of the Kingdom of Germany
Several hundred people signed up to become citizenship of his kingdom, while while Mr. Fitzek also offers spiritual healing workshops to several thousand followers.
But he hasn't finished yet.
By right, the kingdom's territory «goes beyond the borders of modern Germany and includes everything that belonged to the German Empire in 1913,» he says, before adding that it would only expand to countries like Poland «if the people there want.»
One of the most influential figures in Germany's growing Citizens of the Reich movement — a decrepit movement that rejects the post-war German state — Mr. Fitzek is seen as a threat by the German authorities, describing him as a fanatic and a fraudster.
The German domestic intelligence agency BfV has said that Mr. Fitzek's claims of establishing an independent state are pure fantasy.
What's more, he can generate funds to acquire land through a simple trick: people who become subjects in his kingdom , is invited to exchange his euro savings for his fantastic currency, the Engelmark, giving him «money for nothing».
Over the past year, Germany has become unsettled by potentially violent conspiracies inside the «Citizens of the Reich» scene.
The group centered around a 75-year-old former teacher, known to her inner circle as «The Countess». planned to kidnap the German Minister of Health and are currently on trial.Meanwhile, a man of small aristocratic origin named Henry XIII Prince Reuss is in prison on suspicion of leading a group plotting a violent assault on the German Parliament.
Masked police officers arrest Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss during a raid against far-right so-called 'Citizens of the Reich' in Frankfurt last December. Photo: DPA
Mr Fitzek distances himself from these people and says his intentions are peaceful.
German authorities also say they have no evidence that his movement planned violence.< /p>
The son of an excavator raised in communist East Germany, Fitzek, 57, is self-taught and claims to know German constitutional law by heart. as an interim constitution in 1949, but never replaced.
As long as the Germans continue to live under the Basic Law, they continue to live under the yoke of American occupation, he says.
However, it is clear that his higher calling. “I am an instrument of God,” he says.
“The inspiration for the state constitution came from God, I just dictated it,” he says, looking at the telegraph with his bright blue eyes.
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On the other hand, he implies that he is a reborn Babylonian king and has the power of prophecy. He warns that Germany has only three years to save itself from a satanist takeover.
At the end of the conversation, he says that “he has great respect for the Jews as people of the book, but, unfortunately, very many Satanists disguise themselves as Jews.”
In Fitzek's country, people can open Reichsbank accounts, insure with a health insurance company, and even work for a state-owned company that sells emission-free heating systems.
In the shop inside the building, you can buy esoteric literature, Königreich Deutschland towels, and organic toiletries. There is no cow's milk for sale. Pasteurization is unhealthy «because it kills all bacteria,» explains one of Mr. Fitzek's assistants.
The people who have joined his pseudo-kingdom deny that there is anything about it that worries the German authorities. They also insist they don't see Mr. Fitzek as an all-powerful ruler.
Mark, a former aeronautical engineer who gave up his career to join the kingdom, says he is confident Mr. on Fitzek is safer than the euro.
“The currency is pegged to property with a hard value, which makes it stable,” he says, explaining that his motive for joining was “the promise of an interest-free financial system.”< /p
“This is not about the cult of Peter, but about the idea,” says one young woman who calls herself a spiritual healer. «He's just someone who came to lead the way.»
A woman says she became interested in the movement during the pandemic, citing mandatory vaccines for healthcare workers as one example of what she describes as «persistent violations our rights.”
“People are cornered there,” she says.
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