PLEASE RISE for the KING of GERMANY

PETER FITZEK WAS A LEADING LIGHT IN THE REICHSBÜRGER MOVEMENT, WHICH DENIES GERMANY’S VERY EXISTENCE. HE FOUNDED A KINGDOM AND OPENED A BANK—THEN THE GERMAN GOVERNMENT STARTED ASKING WHERE THE MONEY WENT

- DAVID GAUVEY HERBERT

PETER FITZEK IS THE KING OF GERMANY. AT 54, HE HAS THE ponytail and square jaw of an ’80s-movie terrorist—or perhaps a karate instructor, which in fact he was before ascending to the throne. Like other monarchs, Peter tends to be identified by his first name. His dominion offers its own passport, currency, and health-care plan, and it boasts more than 1,300 subjects, some of whom lived, until recently, in a sprawling compound in Wittenberg, 60 miles southwest of Berlin. Most important, he rose alongside a woman tabloids called his queen: Annett Ullmann, a model and waitress who was brunette and beautiful and wore lavender silk shirts to his court appearances.

When he meets journalists, Peter brings a binder of legal documents to support his claim to the throne. It’s smaller than the meter-high stack he typically lugs to court, where he’s found himself for violations such as speeding and the illegal possession of nunchucks. He records his conversations with reporters, a habit developed after a comedy troupe catfished him into a confrontation in the lobby of a Frankfurt hotel. (He ended up in a fistfight before stunned tourists.) His microphone has a sticker proclaiming that it’s owned by one of his followers, placed there so German tax authorities wouldn’t seize it to compensate some once-loyal subjects from whom he was accused of embezzling more than €1.3 million ($1.4 million).