Prince Reuss denies violent intentions and Nazi ties

For Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss, the day of the trial before the State Security Senate of the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court began very emotionally on Friday – and it continued that way for the next three hours. The court had allowed him to greet his disabled daughter, who was in the audience, before the trial began – but only through a thick wall of safety glass that separates the courtroom from the audience. At this point, one of the main defendants in the so-called Reich Citizens’ Trial was already in tears. They would not be the last.

Public prosecutor sees Reuss as a ringleader

In Frankfurt, the trial is being held against Prince Reuss and nine other defendants, whom the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office accuses of membership or support of a terrorist organization. The accused are said to have planned a coup in Germany, even if they were prepared to accept the risk of death. Another trial is underway in Stuttgart and Munich against the alleged “military arm” of the group and other alleged accomplices.

A good month after the trial began, Prince Reuss spoke for the first time, not on the matter, but only on his career and personal circumstances. According to the public prosecutor’s office, Reuss was, together with Rüdiger von Pescatore, one of two ringleaders of the two dozen defendants in the three ongoing trials. Both are currently incarcerated in Frankfurt am Main I correctional facility.

While his statement was being read out, the 72-year-old was visibly upset and had to collect himself several times. Compared to pictures of his arrest, Prince Reuss appeared visibly emaciated and aged. During his statements, he asserted that he “naturally rejects violence”, even if that is what the indictment alleges.

Purchase of hunting lodge Waidmannsheil in Thuringia

He had previously described how his parents had fled from their home in Thuringia to Hesse during the Second World War to escape the Russian army, and that the animals from a Shetland pony breeding farm had been a great help to the family. Reuss was born in Büdingen in 1951 as the fifth of six children. According to his statements, the expulsion has always played a major role in the family. Prince Reuss probably wanted to use this to show that he “rejects war and the violence that comes with it.”

Most of his statements concerned times that were decades ago. There were hardly any statements about the past five years. At the end, however, Prince Reuss emphasized that shortly before his arrest he had decided to move back from Frankfurt to Thuringia. There he owns the former family estate, Schloss Waidmannsheil, which he bought at the beginning of the century with a 100 percent bank loan. His voice kept faltering. He apologized to the court several times for this and said that his condition was unstable and that he could not say what was wrong with him.

Reuss stressed that he was not born with a silver spoon, which was apparently often assumed in his youth because of his noble title. Most of his clothing came from his older siblings. Reuss finished school with a university entrance qualification, had a penchant for repairing pony carriages and motor vehicles, completed a degree in automotive engineering in Hamburg and dropped out of another in business administration in Munich. He was discharged from the German army, partly because of the consequences of a serious traffic accident in which he threatened to have his leg amputated due to sepsis.

Reuss denies proximity to National Socialism

Another serious motorcycle accident, his marriage, the birth of a daughter with Down syndrome and a son, disputes within the family dynasty and the fight for property rights in East Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall were other focal points of his statements. He denied any affinity with National Socialism that the media had accused him of, presumably in order to increase sales.

At the end of the trial day, he was allowed to say goodbye to his daughter again through the glass wall. Next Tuesday, the defendant will answer questions from the court about his statements.