Hannibal was the name of a network of far-right

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groups and individuals operating in

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Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, and

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, which coordinated via the chat service

Telegram Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas pi ...

in anticipation of the government's collapse on what they dubbed "Tag X" ("Day X"). Founded in 2015, the network was subject to an investigation by German authorities in 2017, at which time its founder ordered the deletion of the chat groups. However, government investigations into members of groups affiliated with "Hannibal" are ongoing.

History

The name stems from the online handle of André Schmitt, a

non-commissioned officer A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is an enlisted rank, enlisted leader, petty officer, or in some cases warrant officer, who does not hold a Commission (document), commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority b ...

in the

Kommando Spezialkräfte The Kommando Spezialkräfte (KSK) (, alternatively Special Operations Forces Command (SOFCOM)) is a unified combatant command and a large brigade-level unit of the German Army (Heer) designated to perform Covert operation, covert operations, ca ...

, who founded, administered, and coordinated the network beginning in autumn 2015. Schmitt supplied the network with confidential information about Germany's security situation. Some of the groups linked to the Hannibal network developed concrete plans for violent actions on "Day X", preparing safe houses, stockpiling arms and ammunition, and compiling lists of political enemies. Among the participants were army reservists, police officers, judges, members of SEK police tactical units, and other German security authorities. The German news media likened the group to

Organisation Consul Organisation Consul (O.C.) was an ultra-nationalist and anti-Semitic terrorist organization that operated in the Weimar Republic from 1920 to 1922. It was formed by members of the disbanded Freikorps group Marine Brigade Ehrhardt and was respons ...

and similar nationalist cells within the

Reichswehr ''Reichswehr'' (; ) was the official name of the German armed forces during the Weimar Republic and the first two years of Nazi Germany. After Germany was defeated in World War I, the Imperial German Army () was dissolved in order to be reshaped ...

that plotted to overthrow the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

during the 1920s and called Hannibal a "shadow army". Schmitt stated in 2016 that the network had around 2,000 members in total. The chat network was subdivided into four regional groups in Germany (north, south, west, and east), with the geographical division following the model of the former German . There were also separate groups for Switzerland and Austria.

Government investigation

According to its own statements, the

Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution ( or BfV, often ''Bundesverfassungsschutz'') is Germany's federal domestic intelligence agency. Together with the Landesämter für Verfassungsschutz (LfV) at the state level, the fed ...

already had knowledge of at least parts of the network at the end of 2016. Other German authorities started investigating "Hannibal" in 2017, in the course of an investigation into Franco Albrecht and the Day X plot. Albrecht, who is accused of having planned

false flag A false flag operation is an act committed with the intent of disguising the actual source of responsibility and pinning blame on another party. The term "false flag" originated in the 16th century as an expression meaning an intentional misrep ...

attacks, had been a member of the network. Once Schmitt learned of the investigation, he immediately ordered the deletion of the chat groups. The investigations into the network have led to a number of police raids, including raids of places that Schmitt had mentioned as potential "safe houses" in the "Hannibal" chat groups. One of these raids uncovered explosives and components of explosives, stashed in a cellar that belongs to Schmitt's parents. Schmitt was tried and sentenced to a fine of 1800 Euros. As of July 2020, investigations into a number of members of groups affiliated with "Hannibal" were still ongoing.

References

{{Authority control Right-wing terrorism Far-right movements in Europe Survivalism Paramilitary organizations based in Europe