Olaf Scholz was on execution list in German coup, reports claim

A key figure in the so-called Reichsbürger coup plot in Germany allegedly made a list of people, including Olaf Scholz, the Chancellor, who could be tried and executed after the ringleaders seized power.

Peter Wörner, a former commando and one of the alleged coup plotters, is accused of creating a list of high-profile German figures who should be arrested and put to death, Bild, the German daily newspaper, reported.

Among the names on the list were Mr Scholz and Friedrich Merz, the opposition leader, the newspaper reported, citing details it had seen in a lengthy charge sheet related to the case.

The alleged coup was exposed in December 2022 when German police launched a string of raids on its alleged leaders. Among those arrested were Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss, a minor German aristocrat, and dozens of serving German soldiers.

The Reichsbürger – “Reich citizens” – movement consists largely of eccentrics who reject the legitimacy of the current German state and dream of replacing the Chancellor with a Kaiser.

Prosecutors say the group was planning to storm the national parliament with weapons and arrest those who were inside. They then intended to set up their own national council, led by Mr Reuss.

During the December raids – some of the largest in German history involving 3,000 officers – police seized more than 150 firearms, €150,000 (£130,000) in cash and a stash of gold and silver coins.

Bild described Mr Wörner, 54, as a former elite soldier and survival trainer who went under the codename “Wolf.” Also on his alleged list of names for military trials were the TV personalities Markus Lanz and Sandra Maischberger, it reported.

According to Bild, another coup plotter, Rüdiger von Pescatore, a former lieutenant colonel, considered the death of Queen Elizabeth II as an omen of an “allied” assault on Germany and the beginning of their revolution.

When approached for comment by Bild, a lawyer for Mr Reuss, Roman von Alvensleben, said: “In fact I cannot confirm, for us, that Prince Reuss posed a threat to the existence of the Federal Republic of Germany and that he joined in or approved of the exercise of violence.”

Trial due to start in May

Mr Wörner has reportedly denied being part of the movement. “I don’t belong to the network of weirdos,” he told the Nordbayerischen Kurier.

Frankfurt’s state court has said the trial of nine suspects in the alleged plot will begin next month, and it expects the proceedings will last until 2025.

Most of the suspects are charged with high treason and membership of a terrorist group.