Fantasy pass
A fantasy pass is an ID card that only gives the impression that it is a passport . Issued personally, it seems to be suitable for identification and legitimation vis-à-vis government authorities. However, since it was not issued by a recognized state , but by an individual, private organization or interest group, it is generally neither a passport nor any other form of identification in legal transactions or when crossing borders.
Fantasy passes are issued for a variety of reasons. Usually, however, the focus is on political or commercial interests.
Legal evaluation
The fantasy pass is not a pass in the strict sense. The exhibitor lacks recognition under international law , often not even the fundamental characteristics of a state under international law are recognizable. Cross-border travel is not possible with these papers alone, as a valid identification document is usually required to enter and leave recognized countries. Anyone who is only found with a fantasy passport by the authorities within a country can be punished for the lack of valid identification documents, depending on whether the legal situation of the country prescribes an identification requirement or an obligation to carry one . The production , possession and keeping of a fantasy pass is permitted.
A fantasy passport is genuine and not a fake from a legal perspective. In the event of a fake, the exhibitor would claim to be someone else. That would be the case if someone forged passports from a state recognized under international law. The issuer of a fantasy pass, however, does not claim to be one of the recognized states.
Often other crimes are only committed in connection with the fantasy document . It is particularly punishable to use this document to acquire a title (in Germany according to § 132a StGB ).
The possession or presentation of a fantasy passport can be associated with a political statement which, depending on the situation, may cause difficulties with the authorities for the wearer. A state within whose borders a separatist movement exists might see it as a provocation if someone shows a fantasy passport of the separatist movement when crossing the border.
Well-known fantasy passes
"World Pass" or "World Pass"
This pass is issued by the World Service Authority (WSA). This is one of a whole series of similar organizations that advocate the goal of abolishing all individual states and establishing a large common world state .
The WSA goes back to Garry Davis , a former US bomber pilot of the Second World War, who publicly renounced his US citizenship on May 25, 1948 in Paris and declared himself a citizen of the world . The persistence with which he sought recognition of his status as a “citizen of the world” from the United Nations or the French authorities soon attracted media attention and the support of the general public. Not only for himself, but also worldwide among stateless persons, refugees or supporters of the idea of a world state, he believed he recognized a great need for identity papers for a new world government . Therefore, in 1954, he founded the World Service Authority (WSA) as its administrative body. According to the company, world passports have been issued to over a million “world citizens” so far.
"Sealand Pass" or "Sealand Identity Card"
Sealand goes back to the former British Major Paddy Roy Bates . On September 2, 1967, he occupied the Roughs Tower station , which was formerly used by the British military and was located off the English coast, but was already in international waters, and declared its independence as a separate state called Sealand . In the following years he actually managed to evade the British authorities. A court case in Great Britain in 1968 ended in his favor with the finding that the British judiciary was not competent.
When there were disputes at Sealand over the German Alexander Achenbach , who had initially been appointed Foreign Minister and Head of Government for life, but was held captive on Sealand after an attempted coup, the Federal Republic of Germany sent a diplomat to mediate. Prince Roy saw this as de facto recognition of his state.
In addition to a number of missing or at least extremely questionable criteria for classification as a state, Sealand also has a number of typical features: a constitution, a flag, a national anthem, its own postage stamps, a currency (one Sealand dollar corresponds to one US dollar ) as well as your own passports. The “government” of Prince Roy and the “government in exile” later founded by Alexander Achenbach in Germany accuse each other of forging passports and selling them on a large scale. In fact, around 150,000 such passports are said to have come into circulation. These passports or their carriers have already been involved in criminal cases several times, such as B. the murder of Gianni Versace .
Since around 2012, Sealand passes have been linked to entry into the military order of the Knights of the Souvereign Military Order of Sealand or document the purchase of a letter of nobility as a count or countess. In addition, the Sealand Identity Card was introduced as a simpler document of affiliation .
"Wendland Pass" or "Wenden Pass"
Passport of the Free Republic of Wendland . On the occasion of their resistance to further deep drilling for the construction of the Gorleben nuclear waste storage facility , opponents of nuclear power built a hut village on May 3, 1980 in a forest clearing near the planned drilling site 1004 . There they proclaimed the "Free Republic of Wendland". A core group of up to 500 people lived there for about four weeks. On the weekends, the village filled with up to 5000 supporters and onlookers. For 10 DM you could get a Wenden pass with an entry stamp at the turnpike , above which the flag of the Wenden Republic hung in green and yellow . It was noted to be valid "as long as its owner can still laugh".
On June 4, 1980, the hut village was cleared by the police and bulldozed. In addition to numerous other regulations, the authorities also pointed out that the Federal Registration Act had been violated. None of the residents had registered with the police at the responsible municipality of Trebel within the prescribed eight days .
In the period that followed , people who carried such a “Wenden pass” turned up again and again during demonstrations against nuclear power or blockade actions against Castor transports . Opponents of nuclear power then tried several times to identify themselves with this paper alone. In fact, the “Wenden pass” is said to have already been accepted by the police. If only the personal details of the persons concerned were to be ascertained, the authorities apparently saw no compelling need to insist on an official ID . After all, the “Wenden pass” also contains a photo and detailed truthful information about the person carrying it.
Since 2015, the citizens' initiative Lüchow-Dannenberg eV has been producing and selling a new edition of the passports in addition to other promotional items, in the same design as the original from the 1980s. Since then, the association has also been handing out honorary passports for advertising purposes and as part of political activities. Elke Mundhenk, the green mayor of Dannenberg and herself the holder of a Wendenpass, first presented such a document to the Bundestag member Konstantin von Notz in January 2015 after he had campaigned for the questioning of the whistleblower Edward Snowden as chairman of the NSA investigation committee . Shortly thereafter, the association published pictures of a Wenden pass issued on Edward Snowden with the request to grant him asylum in Germany.
"Passport of the German Reich" or "Reichspersonenausweis"
Several groups of the Reich Citizens ' Movement issue so-called "Reich Passes" for a fee. In the argumentation patterns typical for them, supporters of these groups claim that the mere fact that the Federal German authorities do not withdraw these "Reich passports" and also do not initiate criminal proceedings is evidence of the illegitimacy and incompetence of these authorities. However, there is no legal reason for litigation or forfeiture. This is true despite the fact that the “Reich Passes” use official names from the Weimar Republic or the Third Reich. The use of such “imperial passports” for travel succeeds, as with other fancy passports, at most because of negligence on the part of employees of the foreign immigration authorities.
"Hutt River Pass"
A wheat farm in Australia declared secession from the Australian state in 1970 and sells passports through several liaison offices abroad or to interested parties who visit the farm as tourists. Initially under the name of Hutt River Province , since 2006 Principality of Hutt River , according to the company, more than 18,000 passports have been distributed to “new citizens” all over the world.
"Seborga Pass"
Pass of the so-called Ancient Principality of Seborga . A small village in Liguria , Italy claims it was never effectively subordinated to Italian state power and in 1993 proclaimed the ancient principality of Seborga . However, the legal and administrative claims of Italy have never been seriously opposed, so that citizenship of Seborga always also means Italian. Anyone can also purchase a passport by applying for asylum on the Principality's website or by visiting the Prince's Palace on site. For a time, presumably completely independently of this, an Internet offer called “Invisible Embassy of Seborga” also sold passes of the ancient principality.
"Conch Republic Pass" or "Conch Republic Diplomatic Pass"
The city of Key West , Florida declared itself independent from the United States on April 23, 1982 and proclaimed the Conch Republic . This was preceded by an administrative dispute with the federal border authority over a checkpoint on the highway to the mainland. The republic declared war on the United States, surrendered just a minute later and asked for a billion US dollars in development aid. At no time has she really taken herself or the secession seriously. Nevertheless, the identification of the residents is quite high and the independence day is celebrated as a tourist attraction for one week every year. The website, which was set up in 1996, offers simple passports, but also diplomatic papers in different price levels, right up to the Ambassador of the Republic. On this website you can read further that a passport of the Republic saved the life of an American citizen when he fell into the hands of militant subversives in Guatemala. Since he was supposedly able to identify himself as a citizen of the Republic of Conch, he was not shot.
Web links
- Recognized travel documents and as an attachment the non-exhaustive list of known fancy and camouflage passports of the Council of the European Union , August 18, 2015
- Image of a Sealand diplomatic passport
Individual evidence
- ↑ Katja Kullmann: World Citizen Number One . In: Tages-Anzeiger , December 30, 2012, accessed December 25, 2015
- ↑ Citizens' Initiative Lüchow-Dannenberg eV: Wendenpass , accessed on June 3, 2020
- ^ German passport for Edward Snowden ( memento from December 26, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), in: Norddeutscher Rundfunk , January 27, 2015, accessed on December 25, 2015
- ↑ See judgment of the OLG Koblenz of October 10, 2007, 1 Ss 267/07
- ↑ See decision of the OLG Stuttgart of April 25, 2006, 4 Ws 98/06
