Manfred Roeder (6 February 1929 – 30 July 2014) was a German lawyer and

Neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and racial supremacy (often white supremacy), attack r ...

terrorist. Roeder was a prominent

Holocaust denier Holocaust denial is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that falsely asserts that the Nazi genocide of Jews, known as the Holocaust, is a myth, fabrication, or exaggeration. Holocaust deniers make one or more of the following false statements: ...

. He has also been described as an early representative of the ''Reichsbürger'' movement.

Life

Born in Berlin, Roeder attended the National Political Institute of Education in

Plön Plön (; Holsatian: ''Plöön'') is the district seat of the Plön district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, and has about 8,700 inhabitants. It lies right on the shores of Schleswig-Holstein's biggest lake, the Great Plön Lake, as well as on ...

.„Porno-Anwalt“ als Größe der Neonazis
''Bergsträßer Anzeiger'', 7 July 2007. (Large pdf) As a teenage soldier, he participated in the

Battle of Berlin The Battle of Berlin, designated as the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, and also known as the Fall of Berlin, was one of the last major offensives of the European theatre of World War II. After the Vistula– ...

in 1945. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

he was for a time a member of Germany's CDU party. After leaving the party, he forged ties with the

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of bein ...

political scene in Germany and abroad, including the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and Ca ...

. By 1974, Roeder had begun to believe in the conspiracy theory that

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princip ...

was invalid, as the German Reich had allegedly never ceased to exist. To affirm his belief, he contacted

Karl Dönitz Karl Dönitz (sometimes spelled Doenitz; ; 16 September 1891 24 December 1980) was a Nazi Germany, German admiral who briefly succeeded Adolf Hitler as head of state in May 1945, holding the position until the dissolution of the Flensburg Gov ...

, the last leader of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. Dönitz regarded Roeder's ideas as ridiculous, and firmly stated that he no longer considered himself President of Germany. However, Roeder saw this as a resignation declaration; thus, he declared himself Dönitz's successor as the "Reichsverweser" (i.e. new German head of state) and announced a new government in form of the "Freiheitsbewegung Deutsches Reich" (Freedom Movement German Reich). Researcher Tobias Ginsburg argued that this move probably made Roeder the first ''Reichsbürger'' to claim a high-ranking title for himself. His activities as conspiracy theorist ultimately led Roeder to become a militant activist and eventually outright terrorist. Roeder's career was marked by an abundance of criminal charges, including resistance against state authority, and

battery Battery most often refers to: * Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power * Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact Battery may also refer to: Energy source *Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...

. In 1980 the ' ("German Action Groups"), a

neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and racial supremacy (often white supremacy), attack r ...

organisation founded by Roeder, carried out attacks against buildings that housed foreign workers and

asylum seeker An asylum seeker is a person who leaves their country of residence, enters another country and applies for asylum (i.e., international protection) in that other country. An asylum seeker is an immigrant who has been forcibly displaced and m ...

s. Two people were murdered in these attacks. Roeder was classified as a terrorist by German legal authorities as a result of these activities.Bundeswehr will im Fall Roeder hart durchgreifen
''

Die Welt ''Die Welt'' ("The World") is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE. ''Die Welt'' is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group. Its leading competitors are the ''Frankfurter Allg ...

'', 8 December 1997. In 1997, the British current affairs program ''

Panorama A panorama (formed from Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography, film, seismic images, or 3D modeling. The word was originally coined in ...

'' said that in 1995, Roeder had appeared, by invitation, as a speaker at the

German military The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...

's officer training academy in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

. This scandal, as well as the fact that Roeder had received financial donations from the military, led to the sacking of the academy's commanderRühe zieht Konsequenzen im Fall Roeder
Rüdiger Moniac, ''

'', 9 December 1997. and the instatement of

Rear-Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star " admiral" rank. It is often regar ...

Rudolf Lange as his replacement, with the goal of restoring the good reputation of the academy. In 1997, Roeder stood as the candidate of the far-right NPD in

Stralsund Stralsund (; Swedish: ''Strålsund''), officially the Hanseatic City of Stralsund ( German: ''Hansestadt Stralsund''), is the fifth-largest city in the northeastern German federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin, ...

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; nds, Mäkelborg-Vörpommern), also known by its anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ranks 14th in pop ...

during the parliamentary elections, promoting himself as "

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

alternative 1998", but was unsuccessful. Roeder died on 30 July 2014 at the age of 85.

Criminal record

Because of his integral role in a terrorist organisation Roeder was sentenced to 13 years in prison in 1982. . He had planned a fire bomb attack which killed two Vietnamese refugees in August 1980. He was released in 1990, after serving two-thirds of his sentence, for good behaviour and a perceived social rehabilitation. In 1996 Roeder, together with other far-right extremists, perpetrated an attack on an exhibition in

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits ...

detailing the role of the ''

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previou ...

'' in Nazi Germany, for which he was charged with

property damage Property damage (or cf. criminal damage in England and Wales) is damage or destruction of real or tangible personal property, caused by negligence, willful destruction, or act of nature. It is similar to vandalism and arson (destroying prope ...

and fined DM-4,500. After being sentenced to prison by the state courts of

Schwerin Schwerin (; Mecklenburgian Low German: ''Swerin''; Latin: ''Suerina'', ''Suerinum'') is the capital and second-largest city of the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern as well as of the region of Mecklenburg, after Rostock. ...

and

Rostock Rostock (), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (german: link=no, Hanse- und Universitätsstadt Rostock), is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state, ...

under Germany's ''

Volksverhetzung , in English "incitement to hatred" (used also in the official English translation of the German Criminal Code), "incitement of popular hatred", "incitement of the masses", or "instigation of the people", is a concept in German criminal law that ...

'' law (incitement to hatred), and for other crimes, he was given a further ten months in September 2004 by the state court of

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its ...

for contempt of the state. In February 2005, a further sentencing for the same crime was passed by the court of

Schwalmstadt Schwalmstadt is the largest town in the Schwalm-Eder district, in northern Hesse, Germany. It was established only in 1970 with the amalgamation of the towns of Treysa and Ziegenhain together with some outlying villages to form the town of Schw ...

.Die "KRR"-FAQ - Archiv 2005 (Januar bis März)
(German) On 12 May 2005, he began a prison sentence in

Gießen Giessen, spelled Gießen in German (), is a town in the German state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of both the district of Giessen and the administrative region of Giessen. The population is approximately 90,000, with roughly 37,000 univer ...

, but he was released shortly after on health grounds.Bewährung wegen schlechter Gesundheit
, 13 November 2009

References

Works cited

* :''Much of this article is translated from the German Wikipedia article of 5 March 2007''.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Roeder, Manfred 1929 births 2014 deaths Politicians from Berlin Christian Democratic Union of Germany politicians German people convicted of Holocaust denial German prisoners and detainees National Democratic Party of Germany politicians convicted of crimes Neo-Nazi propagandists People convicted on terrorism charges Prisoners and detainees of Germany Volkssturm personnel