A strategic rural land grab by rightwing extremists is taking place across Germany with the concerted aim of creating communities independent of the state, according to the domestic intelligence agency and government ministries.

Authorities and NGOs monitoring far-right groups say the members of the Reichsbürger movement who reject the post-1945 German state are making a targeted effort to establish parallel societies and infiltrate existing structures including schools, clubs and public offices.

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The snug and secluded village of Rutenberg, a 90-minute drive north of Berlin in the state of Brandenburg, has become one of the latest targets of the KRD’s attempts to establish an autonomous community, or what its leader, the self-styled “King” Peter Fitzek, has labelled a Gemeinwohldorf (common good village).

The KRD first bought up a derelict farm grange in the centre of the village, named the Naturscheune or “nature barn”, with a view to it becoming a “public enterprise” to provide the KRD with organic food. According to the BfV domestic intelligence agency , it has plans to expand on to an adjoining 44 hectares (108 acres) of land on the edge of the village.

The self-governing KRD was established in 2012 by Fitzek, a former cook and karate teacher, on the grounds of an old hospital in Wittenberg, Saxony Anhalt. Fitzek had himself crowned “Peter I” in a ceremony complete with sceptre, orb, ermine gown and crown.

Never trust cooks.

He and his followers – estimated to number between 2,000 and 5,000 – openly reject the modern German state and dream of taking it over and replacing it with their own realm. To this end the KRD already issues its own passports and has its own currency, the Engelgeld (angel money), and bank.

something something dedollarization (deeuroization?)

At almost exactly the same time that Rutenbergers were reeling from the discovery about their new neighbours, an altogether bigger revelation was making headlines around the world. German authorities announced that a separate armed rightwing extremist Reichsbürger group headed by the self-appointed Heinrich XIII, Prince Reuss, had planned a putsch, intending to storm the Bundestag, kidnap MPs and topple the state. In December, German prosecutors filed terrorism charges against more than two dozen people in connection with the plot, including Heinrich XIII and a former far-right lawmaker.

Authorities estimate there are about 25,000 Reichsbürger and supporters of self-governance in Germany, and that numbers are steadily growing. “What drives someone to overthrow a democracy? How is it possible in the middle of Germany, that a state within a state can emerge?” said Berckner.

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But Brandenburg’s state premier, Dietmar Woidke admitted that authorities had been too hesitant to clamp down on the far-right. “Brandenburg was too sluggish and tardy in openly confronting right-wing extremism. The attitude in the 90s (after the collapse of communism) when they first started settling, was that these were just a few wayward youths with an attitude wanting to pick a fight,” he told the Guardian. But now he said, the far-right, including the populist AfD, was recognisably damaging the reputation of the state, and “poses a bigger threat to our economic development than anything else”.