background
In the most recent nationwide raid on the Reich Citizens’ milieu around the “Reuss Group”, two suspects were the focus of attention. According to research by WDR and ndr Both have a long history with one of the main suspects.
Tuesday in Althengstett near Calw: An explosion shook the neighborhood. Officers from a special task force blew open a door and searched a house. The raid was another search measure in the investigation into the “Reuss Group,” a suspected terrorist group whose leaders have recently been on trial in Frankfurt.
A total of 700 officers were deployed, searching apartments and old ammunition facilities, bunkers and a farmstead in various places around Calw in Baden-Württemberg. There were also searches in Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein, partly in a forest near Todesfelde, on an old military site.
A 63-year-old woman and her 73-year-old partner have come under the investigators’ scrutiny. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office suspects the two of being supporters of a terrorist organization: The woman is said to have made her car available to one of the defendants for a long time. The man is said to have let the group use premises on an estate in Saxony.
Research by WDR and ndr show: The accused are long-time companions of one of the main accused of the “Reuss Group”: Rüdiger von Pescatore, a man with a powerful stature and great aura.
First penal order in 1994
In 1994, he had himself flown by army helicopter to his wife in Bad Teinach, very close to his barracks, so that he could have a coffee with her. This is evident from a penal order from 1994.
In the 1990s, Pescatore was still commander of a paratrooper battalion in Calw, where the Special Forces Command is now based. He was then discharged from the German army and convicted in 1999 of embezzling weapons from German army stocks and giving them away. A court also found this at the time – and sentenced him to a two-year suspended prison sentence.
Accused as alleged ringleader
Today, more than 20 years later, the former commander is once again in the dock: before the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt, he is accused of being the ringleader of a terrorist organization, the alleged head of a “military wing”, the “Reuss Group”, which was said to have been prepared to capture and eliminate political opponents and undesirable politicians, according to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office. He himself denies this.
But investigators closely followed him and found out that Pescatore, together with a soldier from the Special Forces Command (KSK) in Calw, was apparently planning to set up so-called “homeland security companies.” Many other suspects also come from the area around Calw.
While Pescatore is already facing trial, two new people, apparently long-time companions, have now come under the investigators’ scrutiny. But who are the two accused against whom the Federal Prosecutor’s Office took such great action this week?
The story of the 73-year-old accused leads into a scandal that has repeatedly occupied the investigative authorities since the 1990s. At the center of the case back then: Pescatore and missing weapons. Even then, the current accused from Bad Teinach played a role – and even then, police had searched his apartment.
Old weapons scandal
After a long investigation, the judges finally found it proven in 1999 that Pescatore was responsible for the disappearance of 44 Makarov pistols. A witness had last seen the weapons at Pescatore’s. It also remained unclear at the time what had happened to a total of 165 weapons that had probably gone missing under Pescatore’s responsibility.
When investigators finally came across Pescatore again more than 20 years later in the course of their investigations into the “Reuss Group” and located him in a network of terror suspects, these old questions apparently came up again.
Accused helped Pescatore even then
Research by WDR and ndr show: The man whose property was searched on Tuesday and who had once been a paratrooper himself in the 1970s and is said to have known Pescatore since then, was apparently involved with the missing Makarov pistols at the time.
In the spring of 2000, the Tübingen District Court found at the time, he had left 20 of the pistols he had been looking for in a forest. He then allegedly called the police anonymously using false information in order to divert suspicion from Pescatore. The other Makarov pistols are still missing today.
Even later, the man whose property was now being searched apparently remained loyal to Pescatore. Documents show that in 2003 he helped Pescatore to fulfill his probation requirements – and to pay the fines that Pescatore had to pay to two charitable organizations as part of his probation. The 73-year-old accused could not be reached for comment when asked.
The accused, whose property was searched on Tuesday, was also involved at the time. At the beginning of 2003, she transferred 3,750 euros in Pescatore’s name to an aid organization, and a few months later the same amount to another aid organization – this is evident from the relevant transfer forms. Pescatore had previously been required to pay the fines as part of his probation.
A in need of repair VW Golf
The fact that Pescatore was apparently able to use her car for months while he was allegedly networking with suspected co-conspirators of the “Reuss Group” at clandestine meetings across the country could now prove to be a problem for the woman in the current investigation.
Observation protocols that ndr and WDR They were able to view the documents that Pescatore was repeatedly seen behind the wheel of the silver-grey VW Golf – while shadows from the Federal Criminal Police Office followed him and observed his meetings. Finally, they also found the invoice for a repair order for the Golf – specifically addressed to Rüdiger von Pescatore and a company belonging to the accused woman, who is also the owner of the vehicle.
When asked, the woman said on the phone: “The allegations as they appear in the newspaper are not true.” Otherwise, she did not want to comment on the allegations. According to information from investigators, both suspects were cooperative during the searches. Neither was arrested.
Search for weapons and ammunition
During the renewed searches this week, the investigators were prepared to come across illegal ammunition and weapons depots. Among other things, the investigations led to former ammunition depots and bunkers, some of which are said to have been managed by the accused.
The search for old weapons from the Bundeswehr scandal of the 1990s has been keeping investigators looking into the Reuss complex busy for some time. Among other things, they had the files from the old proceedings sent to them for their investigations. Informants also repeatedly turned to the security authorities with information about suspected weapons caches.
In 2023, investigators visited the Bundeswehr base in Calw several times to search for possible underground depots containing weapons and ammunition – using drones, metal detectors and a shovel excavator. However, they have not yet found anything there.