World Succession Deed 1400/98
State Succession Charter 1400/98
Podcast Show - Season 1
(only in English)

00:01 

All right, so get ready. 

 

00:03 

Because we're diving into a story that honestly sounds like it's straight out of a movie. 

 

00:08 

OK, so we're talking about a real estate deal, but like not just any real estate deal. 

 

00:12 

A 19-year-old kid ends up claiming that he basically owns the entire world. 

 

00:20 

The whole world is a bold claim, to say the least. 

 

00:23 

Absolutely. Yeah. So we've got excerpts from the alleged buyer's upcoming memoir and some supporting documents. So we're going to try to sift through all that. 

 

00:31 

Yeah, it lays out a well, it's a fascinating path, although it's pretty convoluted to how this could have even happened. 

 

00:37 

OK, so to understand all this, we've got to rewind a bit back to 1995, Germany. So the Cold War is over. American military bases are closing left and right. And you've got this sudden scramble to buy up all this newly available property. Right. 

 

00:51 

Yeah. And it's super important to remember the geopolitical context here. 

 

00:55 

It's a time of major realignment and global power. 

 

00:58 

And these former military bases, they were strategically positioned, often with a lot of significant infrastructure. 

 

01:04 

So they represent a lot of potential value, but to the right buyer. 

 

01:07 

Right, exactly. So that's where our protagonist, a 19-year-old high school dropout, enters the scene. He sees the opportunity here, right, to make some money in this whole real estate frenzy. 

 

01:20 

So he and his mother, they start working with the Oberfinanzdirektion, or OFD Koblenz, which is the authority in charge of selling these former military properties. 

 

01:30 

And what's really interesting is that this young man, I mean, he's got no real experience in international law or real estate. 

 

01:37 

And he stumbles into the situation that could have like massive global implications. 

 

01:42 

really highlights how these seemingly small actions can have, you know, just unforeseen and dramatic consequences. 

 

01:49 

Yeah, absolutely. So they zero in on the Kreuzberg Kazern. It's a former U.S. military base in xxx. 

 

01:55 

But, and here's a catch, part of it's still occupied by Dutch forces under a NATO agreement. 

 

02:01 

Which complicates things a bit. 

 

02:03 

That's where it gets complicated. Yeah. You've got this intersection of international agreements, military strategy and these local real estate transactions. 

 

02:12 

It's all colliding in this way that creates a very unique set of circumstances. 

 

02:19 

Yeah, yeah. And as they're searching for investors, a potential buyer pops up, expresses interest in the entire Kreuzberg concern. 

 

02:28 

The whole thing. 

 

02:29 

including the part occupied by the Dutch forces. 

 

02:33 

So the OFD, they initially push back. 

 

02:35 

They say, well, selling property under NATO jurisdiction, 

 

02:38 

that would require a whole international treaty. 

 

02:42 

And that's when our 19-year-old protagonist, completely oblivious to, you know, the legal stuff, just casually suggests, well, why don't we just make a treaty then? 

 

02:50 

Oh boy, that's where it all begins. 

 

02:53 

That seemingly harmless comment, it's the, well, it sets everything in motion. 

 

02:57 

It's like a domino, right. 

 

02:58 

Exactly. It's just a perfect example of how, you know, not really understanding the complexities can lead to these unintended consequences. 

 

03:05 

Okay, now fast forward three years to 1998. 

 

03:09 

Out of the blue, the OFD informs the protagonist's mother 

 

03:13 

that the deal has to close within six weeks. 

 

03:20 

And they drop another bomb. 

 

03:22 

They can't work with real estate agents anymore. It's against the rules or something. 

 

03:27 

That's a crazy time crunch. 

 

03:29 

And it, well, the whole thing about excluding real estate agents raises some questions. 

 

03:33 

Yeah, like what's the rush all of a sudden? 

 

03:34 

Exactly. Was there some kind of pressure to get this deal done? And why the change about the agents? It just adds another layer to the story. 

 

03:43 

Definitely does. So to work around this, the OFD, they propose a solution. Instead of a commission, the protagonist, he should just become the owner of some of the properties. 

 

03:53 

Remember, he's still just a young guy kind of caught up in the excitement of this whole thing. 

 

03:56 

So he agrees. 

 

03:57 

He becomes the official buyer, but without really grasping what he's getting himself into. 

 

04:02 

Right. And this is where it starts to get a little absurd, right? 

 

04:05 

You have this young man just through a series of, you know, what seem like totally normal decisions. 

 

04:11 

He finds himself at the center of a transaction that could potentially, I mean, reshape global power dynamics. 

 

04:19 

So October 6, 1998, he signs this document. 

 

04:22 

It's called the Staatensukzessionsurkunde Nummer 1400/98, which translates to State Succession Document 1400/98. 

 

04:33 

State Succession Document. 

 

04:34 

He thinks it's just standard real estate paperwork, you know, just another form. 

 

04:41 

That's where things get really interesting. 

 

04:42 

I mean, the term state succession itself, it implies something way beyond just a typical real estate deal. 

 

04:48 

Yeah, it suggests a transfer of sovereignty, which is a concept that we usually associate with, you know, entire nations, not individuals. 

 

04:55 

Yeah, no kidding. So how does a real estate contract, even one with a fancy name like state succession document, how does that potentially transfer ownership of the entire world? 

 

05:01 

How does 

 

05:04 

Okay, so the argument that's presented in the source material hinges on a couple of key factors. 

 

05:10 

First, the document, it references an existing utility contract for the Kreuzberg Kazern. 

 

05:16 

Second, it specifies the sale of the complete development of the property as a unit. 

 

05:22 

So we're not just talking about the buildings on the base. 

 

05:23 

We're talking about the entire network of infrastructure connected to it. 

 

05:27 

Exactly. And this is where this domino effect theory comes into play. 

 

05:31 

The utility networks, power grids, water systems, telecommunications, they extend way beyond the boundaries of just the Kreuzberg Kaserne. 

 

05:41 

They connect to other military installations and then to the towns and cities around them. 

 

05:46 

Ultimately, they form this like web that spans across, you know, NATO and UN nations. 

 

05:51 

Wait a minute. Hold on. So are you saying that just because these utility lines cross borders, whoever owns the base, they technically own all the countries those utilities run through? 

 

06:00 

Well, that's the claim. 

 

06:01 

That sounds a little far-fetched, to be honest. 

 

06:03 

It's definitely a bold claim. It requires a very specific interpretation of international law. 

 

06:09 

The argument is that by acquiring the complete development of the property, which includes these interconnected utilities, the buyer effectively gains control over the territories that those utilities service. 

 

06:22 

wow okay so we've got this 19 year old kid he thinks he's just buying some property but 

 

06:27 

according to this document and this domino effect he might actually be acquiring the world 

 

06:34 

Definitely one of those aha moments. 

 

06:36 

But hold on, because he could seem stranger. 

 

06:37 

The protagonist, he claims that sometime after signing this document, he was pressured by Germany to transfer the utility infrastructure to the city of Zweibrucken. 

 

06:49 

Wait, so if Germany believed they already acquired the world through this whole deal, 

 

06:53 

why would they need to pressure him into transferring the utilities? 

 

06:56 

It almost suggests that maybe they realized what the document really meant. 

 

07:00 

And now they're trying to like solidify their control. 

 

07:04 

And to make it even more complicated, he says this transfer was done through a completely 

 

07:09 

different contract, one that he thinks was completely made up. 

 

07:13 

He calls it the imaginary contract. 

 

07:15 

An imaginary contract. 

 

07:16 

OK, so if that really exists, it suggests someone's trying to deceive, well, maybe the buyer, maybe the international community. 

 

07:23 

It raises questions about who's behind this whole thing and what they're trying to accomplish. 

 

07:27 

Yeah, for sure. So we've got this whole chain of events, a real estate deal gone wrong, a document that could change the entire world, and now possibly a cover up involving a fake contract. It feels like we're just getting started with this story. 

 

07:41 

Oh, absolutely. There's so much more to unpack here. We'll dive into all of that in part two of this deep dive. 

 

07:46 

OK, so before we took a break, we're trying to get our heads around how this real estate deal could possibly lead to someone basically owning the whole world. 

 

07:56 

But the story doesn't end there. 

 

07:58 

Our protagonist, he says, things took a pretty dark. 

​

​.. .