THE rIGHT EXISTS TO AMUSE NORMAL PEOPLE:

The biggest danger of political violence in Germany today comes from right-wing extremists. The group around Reuß was typical of the Reichsbürger in that many of its members had connections to the state security apparatus. There were enough current and former special forces, police officers and politicians that they might well have succeeded, for a while at least, in their plan to shut down large parts of Germany's power supply and storm the Bundestag. The death toll would almost certainly have been high.

The internal security services believe there to be as many as 23,000 Reichsbürger, but say that only around 5 per cent are right-wing extremists. This is baffling. How can there be a moderate version of the claim that the peace agreement signed after the Second World War was illegitimate? What would a centrist version be of the position that German democracy is prima facie invalid, and either the National Socialists or the monarchy should be restored to power? It may be true that only a small percentage of the Reichsbürger are potentially violent terrorists, but that doesn't mean they aren't all right-wing extremists.

As dangerous as they may be, however, we should keep laughing at the Reichsbürger. Reuß's beliefs are both so absurd and so terrifying that to argue against them is to grant them a dignity they don't deserve. What do you say to someone who believes that the Rothschilds and the Freemasons were responsible for the First World War, that the British assassinated Rasputin and the US financed Hitler's rise to power? How do you argue against someone who believes he is destined to rule because of his superior bloodline? How do you argue against people who believe they have found a legal technicality that invalidates the last seven decades of German political life?

Less criminally inclined segments of the German aristocracy (like their British counterparts) are funny too. 'For 850 years,' the head of the Reuß family told RTL, 'we were a tolerant and cosmopolitan dynasty in East Germany' - which can only be true if you overlook a couple of crusaders and a Nazi or two.

Or take the the Hohenzollern. The Franconian branch of the family has spent the last decade in a legal quest to see its property restored. The result has been a glut of historical research proving repeatedly that the family were instrumental in the Nazis' rise to power. The head of the Swabian line meanwhile is too busy playing jazz with his band Royal Groovin' - 'high-carat musicians' who provide 'entertainment with a royal warrant' - to concern himself with his relatives' lawsuits.

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