Transcripts For DW DocFilm 20240713

Super rich no other european country has as many billionaires and while their fortunes are growing more and more germans are living under the poverty line set by the organization for Economic Cooperation and development the o. E. C. D. The press frequently reports on the countrys high income inequality and low social mobility but little is known about the super rich the truth sure money attracts success and success attracts money that i do believe that ive experienced myself how you can suddenly connect with people previously out of reach for the how to. Germanys super wealthy how do they live and how do they see the country they live in. As the way wealthy people in germany are talked about bothers me because it since ational is likely sycophantic and and in no way reflects what wealthy people have done and continue to do. For this country produce low blows. But the only creates this impression of rich people being like Scrooge Mcduck that they have these money bins in which they wallow in their coins you know the women from the book Scrooge Mcduck wants more more more and thats not what world minded i like earning money for us but not swimming and we thought. We wanted to get closer to the discreet world of germanys ultra rich of company own is and as with millions we wanted to find out what makes those on top of the world take. Every year an exclusive event takes place in the Schlosser Ted Kord back me a friend for which the public is not invited. Its the annual hall of fame evening for the business monthly manager magazine partly any other occasion in germany joins as many wealthy business as this. Theyre going adds a lot of steam to presenters did jury members deal ladies and gentlemen welcome to manager magazines whole of fagot. When we 1st founded the hall of fame in 1902 we wanted to take a stand for excellence and unconditional entrepreneurship and against faint hearted ness and averageness. We begin our nominations today with a moment and his Company United internet is valued at around 11000000000 and on our list of germanys richest people you ranks 25th with a personal wealth of 4500000000 euros for months once they hit feel like. Electively the guests at this elegant evening are worth billions of euros. This is the face of wealth in germany main email and although were close to the super rich here their world remains somehow out of reach. Hamburg home to manage a magazines Parent Company the Speaker Group hardly any publication keeps close a tabs on germanys ultra rich every year the magazines team gathers information on wealthy germans and using the forbes model makes a special edition with a list of germanys 1001 richest people. Its painstaking work. Closely how many billionaires are video from a 48190 last year was 136 right no verster it was around 17170 ok on that is someone who wants to get on our list of 1001 riches germans needs to have around 100000000 with the cache of present have to be money in the bank most people have it is asset property but thats the ballpark were looking for to be on our list of the richest germans the 1000 bison. Continent to devise and dodge and. Editing chief stephan close one has been around germanys ultra wealthy for years. What does it take to get on the list. As the top id say that the top 150 spots on our list will always go to Company Owners and asses even if youre a chief physician youll need to see a whole lot of patients to become a billionaire many managers also have a hard time getting that high up here in germany theres a debate about whether the head dax company is too much of an index but if you compare it to what people in similar posts in the u. S. The u. K. Or china its peanuts for that are also tiny and what and he know so that alone cant ever make you one of the truly ultra rich. Doesnt. Creating a list of the wealthiest people is especially difficult in germany theyre not because there arent enough of them. Thats when you can show he somehow managed to amass this huge empire and fortune in just a few years its over his wealth is estimated to be around 4000000000 hes the least known super rich germans in the home to get his interview him at home. They prefer to fly under the radar to avoid envy by any means the super rich dont like to help themselves so to speak in the midst of this thought you know these are home stories here you can normally only get interviews inside the home so its a 2nd tier one there you always get guys who get a kick out of publicity. Like mr marsh. Getting a good shot of mr marsh myer is never a problem. But the real money keeps itself had to be guilty as this has to stick to the super rich will try. To go unnoticed sometimes i even try to hide there are no photos of several people on our list at least you wont find a single picture if you go online and google them because there hasnt been a photo of her hymen sites germanys richest family for decades and so many stay hidden because they want to live normal lives and think that they wont be able to do so if theyre known to be multibillionaire yeah. Nice living can. For months oh interview requests were rejected agreed film sheets were cancelled last minute none of the rich wanted to talk to us about money. Finally we got lucky and the financial help frank face here in a prime location tucked behind the bank teller as sits the Asset Management company full come full can manage his german business families fortunes. Its chairman kristin fanbase the time provided some insight as to why rich germans also shine. Detroit you know many wealthy germans are reluctant about stepping out into the public eye because theyre afraid they could be seen negatively. They ask themselves what do i get from showing myself to the public it doesnt give me anything on the contrary it could lead to some crazy person taking notice and breaking into my home or kidnapping one of my children. And those fears are not unwarranted. But then theres also the fact that many errors are inheriting fortunes that are somehow tainted by or related to the 3rd reich. The upper tier of rich germans avoids the blisses he as if it were the play. But what are they so afraid of. The argument for to give i asked a number of my friends whether theyd like to be interviewed for this film and each one said no they say its. Someone else can do that better than me because i cant do it right and i might come across wrong if they think theyd have much more to lose than to gain the 1st few courses this was given come. After a loss of back and forth with this press team one ultra rich german did agree to meet us bottle is the chairman of the Supervisory Board of the auto group and one of the 10 richest germans. We asked him why and germans are reluctant to show off their wealth. If you do you prefer any wiring or doing so would lead to envy in the us achievement and wealth or seen in a highly positive way. But here they carry a bitter aftertaste where does his fortune come from or how did he get his wealth that scares some off to the shore and once you buy fuel i think a lot of people find their own welfare little nauseating. I dont know at all i like it mr scott when he. Did cost money grew up poor his mother ran a small drug store and postal had after his son had bigger plans in 1972 the idea of opening the 1st selfservice drug store in germany came to him today hes a multimillionaire why was he happy to step into the spotlight. And fans young is that today in the early years it was just about getting the name rossman on their. Way so when i was invited to a talk show i want to small regional channel i like going because i thought on the free publicity for my company or negated by the film. But then 2 or 3 years ago i started to understand that this slightly flabby balding man has teeth that arent perfect but he was hungry for recognition himself. Back then i thought i was stepping into the limelight to promote the company but everyone rationalizes their motives. And i didnt just. Within 40 years became the most profitable drugstore chain in europe with stores in 6 countries. In 2018 a total of 56000 people were working on the chain. Osman is active in other business areas as well and he speculates on the stock market. My i was couple of private Equity Investments the largest as there are you know between 80 and 100000000 depending on the great so its a fair sun there are also shares in Different Industries it would just. Be boring. Youre still referred to as n s m e because small Medium Enterprise why do you think thats so. I dont really know. With 55000 employees youre not really a Medium Enterprise anymore youre in another league. Were back at manager magazine in hand this with a special issue of being selected. A list of the richest germans includes a no see behind number of companies from the socalled medium sized businesses. Its a german peculiarity and its not the only one. Cover story for this Current Issue is that last year money rained down on germanys super rich. Up here we have the chef loves the matriarch and her son who now owns 80 percent mom has kept only 20 scheffler supreme at the top of our list for many many years i would have to check exactly how much theyre worth but around 20000000000 give or take a bit. Down here we have missed partial task in the head of the henkel clan shes the 1st and so far only woman chairman of the Supervisory Board of one of the 30 dax companies. Germanys economy is still extremely male dominated whats interesting is if you compare our list here with a list of the ultra rich in the us if we have a lot of old money Old Companies that have been around for decades in the us you have all those lands from Facebook Google snap chat and so forth that have bubbled up to the top of the list we dont have that type of thing here. And compared with other countries germans are very reticent about showing their wealth. Very few germans sail around in boats like this. Than it usually thats americans who russians chinese and so on once i hear you dont really show your money you might have various houses villas and such but theres likely to be a spark and parked out front of it im plugging folks. It seems the average ultra wealthy german israeli conspicuous unlike in the u. S. Athletes actors and t. V. Personalities rarely make it onto the german list. Even though we put a great deal of love and sweat into estimated his fortune probably much bigger especially if were talking about real estate prices have exploded over the past 10 years a lot of people have doubled their Property Assets so if you started with 5000000000 in that market youre likely to have 10 or 15000000000 today its in often. Money makes money but will rich germans fortunes have exploded since the financial crisis due to the increase in value of real estate stocks and assets those with average incomes have had to swallow losses. Even liberal economics institutes are concerned about social inequality in germany how do the super rich see this disparity. Erosion of the type of. Headline in the newspaper reads the rich are getting richer and richer which is true the rich are getting richer yes thats true but its also false. There are 20000000 citizens in germany who have assets worth between 100001 1000000. So millions of people are getting richer. Now the rich are getting richer even faster because one factor is probable they can dedicate much more time to increasing their wealth its beautiful the ugly. Question of the left party would likely say split up your wealth but my response is i also do things for the world which i live and i dont just take or im not a socialist. I can only do things because i have things. Kenya novus 2 of us have a. Mission is one of the great whose wealth has increased he successfully transitioned his mail order business into a Digital Enterprise and the 20 companies now belong to the us a group. We wanted to know how to see is the debates about rich and poor. Do the rich understand the worries of the poor. And good when people talk about those on top who dont understand those at the bottom i wouldnt say that applies to me. Because i was not born rich i came to hamburg as a refugee from west pressure and my father had to start from scratch on my father out of. Thats why i absolutely do understand People Living in poverty today. On the other hand id also say that if germany is getting more and more millionaires many people with small or medium sized businesses because generally the millionaires in question did go into business they now run then i think thats great. Then thats a look because theyre the people creating jobs for me thats what should matter in this debate we should focus on that and not rich versus poor right it is good. Ensuring that the wealth of rich families can increase despite current 0 Interest Rates is the mission of christan fund company. You know to let. You know each day he and his employees send out Investment Opportunities from banks and other entities given exclusively to his wealthy clients and that death this is a way to present an offer to just a handful of valued clients and focus on the industry this. Is a 3rd. And that rich germans are able to increase their wealth while the rest of the population gets left behind. The big you figure they think its difficult to apply terms like equity and fairness to the distribution of wealth and i would say that here in germany were better off than ever before and people here living above average circumstances like nonetheless we have to make sure the gap between rich and poor doesnt get too wide because we dont want social conflicts like in the us or latin america to happen here in america. From best of Times Company full come is a socalled multifamily Office Family office has take care of the needs of very wealthy families managing and increasing their assets it only makes sense to use Family Offices if your wealth is upward of 30000000 euros who can afford such a thing. As. This is. A Family Office like ours and obviously cant discuss its clients so we have well known german business families thats our typical client profile. Someone who was a Company Owner thinks differently to someone who has spent their life as a whole unit. More they are families who have had money for a long time so wealth is so to speak in their genes. Is that. Good for me and then there are families who have just come into their wealth who are still pumping with Entrepreneurial Energy theyre usually quite different from errors in car i see it as a must for. The national seems to have plenty of this Entrepreneurial Energy his company is not fit europes largest Fitness Studio chain. Its head courses are in an old baking factory in berlin kind of started off small but today his wealth is valued at 200. 1000000 euros. And then from by i was born near bombay and your grew up in a small village normally in villages you do the sports available and when i was around 1516 my role models were Arnold Schwarzenegger and stallone so i came to the fitness world. Sun i went from 2nd to school to computer salesman apprenticeship and became the many tales 3 supermarkets then he decided to start something new. For the for me to move through when i was 25 this but i decided to switch to the Fitness Industry my idea was to open a gym where anyone could train no matter his or her income god that was the initial idea and i had big goals i wanted to be number one in europe but thats all i had i didnt have financing. It was 997 when shall i opened his 1st Fitness Studio inverts book close to his home village he made use of some unusual methods. On the monetary book was a big step for me i opened my 1st business studio there under the slogan now also inverts book which people saw through as a marketing gag because customers came to me and asked where else we had studios in common if so i gave it some thought and came up with the next marketing gag soon also in alan anything that did the job and also put me on track to going from boats blog to spend then it grew from there. 10 years later and i shall have reached his goal hes number one in europe and still expanding. Like that now owns 10 Fitness Companies as well as its own model agency. Meanwhile china is getting ready to open Fitness Studios in the u. S. And suburban is getting to be number one. Its much easier than staying number one i think if you want to be successful you need to be a bit of an alpha animal inside all. The investor would probably pick a brand and say ok that could work i like it although its probably 2 steps too far for many. But if someone doesnt want to get involved with us because of it so what. So what you can do it so i. Can events that you have an easier time if you want your way to the top and to success. Clients feel it and so to partners. I think thats our situation over distance but which is why i can also imagine that someone who inherits something or takes over or even has to take over a company in the 2nd or 3rd generation so well have a much tougher time and. A serious. But there are plenty of areas in germany huge fortunes and thousands of companies have been passed from one generation to the next. Their heirs who dont want to and others who shouldnt take over their parents businesses succession is hugely important among germanys richest. Harry said the Mail Order Company from his father and successfully managed it. For money can there is this it will be harder for my children though because now the auto group has 123. 00 companies in over 30 countries one of the lines once as i know every Single Company either because i was involved when it was founded or because i let the take of a negotiation for money can not my children dont yet know the Many Companies because. Us has children have opted against direct succession. Between a species just when i think its important to give your children the option without pressuring them so you dont force them into a wrong i think that mistake is made often and id say its bad for both the children and the company. Under an income. It. Is organizing a so now we have one point of sale. Are you a bit tired yes is there an exhausting couple of days a week in 10 minutes ill be fine again it was just Bam Bam Bam Bam boom boom boom. Did close man also spent a lot of time considering who his successor would be its now decided collars last month the younger of his 2 sons will take over as manager of the drugstore chain. Called rock do we actually sell much yarn its not exactly part of the drugstores range the trend sort of over it was big in 2016 already fading in 2017 and its been stagnating in 2018 but its not the worst product we have and it still brings in some revenue thats one of the money. Father had to show him the appeal of being in charge. At the end user when the boys got more engaged i thought oh no we cant look as if the drugstore business is only about making money so i showed them i were also active in social issues in africa and so forth. And ive always showed my sons there what we do isnt just about making money its also about being responsible for others i mean for mention. Has a child i wanted to become a film director that was always my dream it still is today you know how do you mean my good and then he might be thinking you know i dont want to be a director phil moment i want to run the company act like it so i said i want to go ahead and become a director but being a director of such a big company is also exciting and i did manipulate him a bit. Is that why fish profile im often asked whether i feel competitive toward my father and sure he built up this big company that ill only take over but its really difficult to keep something going these days as the founding period has its own challenges and just having. The idea of founding a selfservice drugstore was hugely innovative much to come but the fight to survive has gotten tougher and thats the one im in it. Because most of the bought me everyone in my family wants to be good at sports you could my father and i battle each other in tennis. But we all compete with one another. And thats also shaped our view of life or mine at least depict as a tremendous mine. Despite the competitiveness the last month family reached home only is agreement with regard to succession. As should i just like playing against robin wipes me out are normally prefer playing doubles thats much more appropriate for men my age i miss you start to worry a bit about you you worry about me going wrong with your inheritance i wouldnt be looking forward to it. Selecting as an successes is usually not quite as amicable as that the hostile. To stand for time has seen many inheritance disputes in rich families its his job to preserve the familys assets and protected from all sorts of dangers. And from movements 100. 00 maintaining a family fortune over several generations is incredibly difficult because its under threat from being divvied up through inheritance from well just humans from expropriation from wars or simply from stupidity in the most families will have one or all of these happen to them and only a handful of families have managed to stay more or less afloat over centuries but those right on top have been switched out again and again. These would mean we go. From best as time speaks from personal experience his own familys history dates back 900 years. I have a horribly long name at least to my birth certificate theres my 6 given names christiane. Villa him and maria as a good catholic followed by horn fun malcolm hi im best was high but it work im normally called mr for investors hein and at social events baron or lord baron. Then. Time isnt in direct success some of the focus the richest family in germany history. Winters wealth the beacon for years received if youre asking me at what point i consider someone to be truly really is i would say over 100. 00. I dont i still eat were all in but. If you could definitely definitely not rich. People are good play but im comfortable you go in our family is comfortable because and im certainly not complaining theres no longer when you have a Family History as long as im honest or with your family ive seen everything. Near bankruptcy. Years overflowing with money. And years when a lot was lost on the others. He takes us to the Hunting Lodge stuff the best time family in tilling and. It looks like the laws have been lost for ever tearing the division of gemini. Halls where the author house was built in 8092 was a Hunting Lodge for my great great grandson calls. Its been in the family ever since you can except for a short interval. It was expropriated in 1952 and then restitute it in 1902 and since then ive owned it in mine and visits. The familys Hunting Lodge survived expropriation and socialism without much damage. Today from french toast time also and hundreds of pages of forest nearby and regularly invites business acquaintances for hunts. And horse title for many of the trophies or more i was allowed to get several also come from my father. And some from my great grand uncle. Leo pot leopard. And there i didnt shoot him was that was my great grand uncle and then my dog chewed off his ears so he no longer has this former beauty is to go for it but hes too precious not to keep it. As. A recurring topic in the special issues of the manager magazine the superwealthy snecked works. Of Course Online there are larger and Smaller Networks and there are a lot of them and most even we journalists dont know about in high society there are certain typical hobbies that a horse racing hockey but a tennis though thats almost old school you know its cool but whats the hell meets in a box is it major football stadiums because of course theyre all football fan but since info police huge. Lots of networking happens there thats not their marketplace they mingle and meet them more than at socalled parties for the rich as of zubin and i think part. Of. That. Have come out and we always are a lot of employees here and we have a lot of friends in the box Christian Pfeiffers here today germanys most famous criminologist speak in manassas its sometimes you may live for someone from politics comes by because john boehner from between are part of my close are called friends so theres always lots going on here is something new to be. Involved in a kind of shana is opening a new club a new branch of his fitness empire. Also has become a member in the network of important people from the sports business and intertainment industries. The only kind of visit that. I know you see that i skipped because listen this is true its a close circle thats hard to get into. Sure money attracts success and success attracts money i do believe that order 5 experienced myself how you can suddenly connect with people previously out of reach. I am in a different position the 2 to shun future and the plan. Was. To fix the one i have any all i want to with a good definition of l. A. And san francisco. Thats all this gets bored. I was. Tipped last one is ready to leave his box he wants to celebrate the victory with his friend the billionaire and hearing aid Company Owner martin kindt. Kent is also current owner and president of one evan 96. 00 he spots is located on the other end of the exclusive v. I. P. Area and now i want to do it with today is that all i could give yeah yeah yeah ill be off you know i told him that if we didnt win youd pay 10000000 that was the bet right. There would have never said that yet here we have it into a halfway decent 3rd thing given up by the draft never. Networks are important for business but do the rich also have political clout can political influence be bought in germany. Will stimulate the best way available for retro super rich people in germany to exert influence is the number of employees working in a company as what is often happen of someone who runs a company with 100000 employees or lets say last maybe 15000 employees can go to Business Associations and say fine any go ahead and pass that law that will cost me or an even better argument is that will cost you 2000 jobs in that area and jobs in the in by but there are no super rich people who regularly call up the ministers. Ms merkel and say what needs to happen next which tax laws that like and so on thats not how things work here in germany france and it is unfortunate. That this is somewhat of a statement you know it is not a sumatra when i stand by this technique classes this time the deadline for the special issue is approaching the heart of it is the ranking of the 1001 richest germans what do the rich think of this ranking. Their rankings in those rankings are for entertainment all of their scraped together sometimes using stock market court ations but they arent reliable in any real way and for. The giving of this interrupt you can also get cuffed position and you know i dont think much of these rankings and i didnt want to be included because it creates this impression of rich people being like Scrooge Mcduck you know they have these money bins in which they wallow in their coins. The fact that im at the top of the ranking saying including of the wealthiest germans does make me feel proud and finish no truly please its more of an ill read manager magazine every now and then but ive never read the ranking i dont know whether im in it i dont need that my brother goals. One of these is that High National and now wants to open the Worlds Largest Fitness Center in north rhinewestphalia. Then arise japanese and means the future we think its a perfect fit for the whole concept and vision because what we want to create here is truly unique and has never been done before our goal is to become the worlds Fitness Center for the sense. Of things hes found the perfect location to realize his vision in our house and. His rented an old factory complex. At the moment the spaces. Still being used to make steel pots. But before long thousands of customers will be exercising here. Magine c. X. Its path will be here and the officers on top. Experienced his most traumatic experience to date in the area. 21 people died and 54 were injured in a stampede at the love parade in. Help in the parade. Because of the panic has still not been conclusively determined how does an entrepreneur. Deal with that kind of tragedy. And then a bit like that will haunt you always for the rest of your life i got a moral responsibility i was the organizer if i could turn back time i would do it immediately for the scale of what happened but you cant make it and you have to try to deal with what happened. Last month has also seen setbacks and crises. In the ninetys really expanded dramatically into the Czech Republic congregant poland it was also speculating on the stock markets a little too much and neglecting the company then in 1996 we suddenly had a loss of 12000000. 00 marks the banks dont joke around if youre highly indebted and then you come in with huge losses numbers critical and then i had a heart attack in 96. 00. But everyone knows that life can get tough and things got very tough back then. Dialed back a bit including stock speculations i sold them all and thought the only thing on my table now is pulling the last month drugstore business through and up and it was the right move to focus on one thing and not do so many different things. So for she goes on to my. Money moves from that crisis stronger than ever he started speculating again but so he shows us only with his private wealth its called moral guess from gets so lets see were gods promise. To make a. Kind that i dont have a laptop by i normally do this by and be taxed to 54. 00. Here it says i just promise at 375. 00 its true for column i could already sell those now i bought 250000 of those so 250000 times 0. 20 that would give me 50000 euros profit but i wont so when its going to rise to 4 euro sometimes it works sometimes it doesnt but i enjoy the us does not try to play the lottery because i find that boring but if it. Can and launch fortune also be a burden. The hope so it might say that for most people although they wouldnt voluntarily give away their money all the fact that they want to grow can be a burden. They are controlled by their own assets. For example the move to switzerland or somewhere to save on taxes and give up their entire circle of friends and basically become a slave to their fortune. In my opinion thats absurd considering the conditions we currently have and there are many. Conditions in germany are currently more favorable than ever for the rich they pay significantly less tax than they did 25 years ago. Only a minority still feels compelled to immigration brought. Possible 14 of the german constitution states. Entails obligations its use should also serve the public good do the rich in germany live up to this responsibility. I think it is important if you are successful if you are lucky enough to have reached a certain level of prosperity and wealth to give Something Back to society for me thats a given for simply michaud the 2 as one of germanys biggest donors his money helps fund the environmental cultural and social sectors like most rich people he prefers to decide himself what he spends his money on rather than leave that to the state. Also like many wealthy germans donated millions for the construction of the ed for money in hamburg in germany wealthy people like to donate and this makes important contributions to society and public life that generally theyre against the proposal of redistributing wealth by a higher taxes for the rich. I dont fault if the german businesses would yield to wall the demands of hard same is rotten cash to the left party when millions of people would be happy and things would be good for a while yes that is because millions of people would have more money. But in truth redistribution of wealth has never lead to more social justice in the long term not in any of the political systems that tried it it led to the impoverishment of these countries. To stand for. Higher taxes on the rich as dangerous as. I dont think much about the socalled rich tax for 2 reasons because firstly the terminology alone is stigmatizing and we in germany should avoid that and secondly the rich tax wouldnt do any good on the contrary it would cut into the backbone of the German Economy because the typical german rich person is a medium sized Business Owner they make up the backbone of the German Economy and if we want to destroy that we have no one to blame but ourselves. Or should. The special issue is ready things have basically stayed the same the rich have a few 1000000000 a mole the richest one percent of germans now has personal wealth was a quarter of the countrys assets while a quarter of adults have no wealth or are in debt. For this report we never really got access to the world of the wealthiest germans they prefer to fly silently under the radar away from the public only until the next award ceremony. In. The camel pits the perfect recipe for success in the desert hindu money against the fence in every 7 if you take. The edge of the Western Sahara hit severe and enterprising spirit of a kind of. Camel. Is a simple idea thats bringing hope to many. Global 3000. 30 minutes on. A cold or cold. The rain forests in ivory coast are threatened by illegal logging to make room for lucrative cocoa plantations in new orleans but a new has the potential to resolve the conflict its allowed to set up of conservation areas and distributing. Little mind to find a good. 90 minutes on t w. Unity and justice and freedom the 1st words of the German National land. And the 3 central values that the foundation of this country. These values developed in postwar germany. Is it to live by and defend the principles of Union Justice and freedom in our everyday lives. Our german our series starts october 21st t. W. This is e w news these are all top stories the head of the European Parliament davis says so he says theres been no progress in braggs it talks after meeting with british Prime Minister Boris Johnson this only wound the only options now appear to be a no deal braggs it all postponement