interactive content teaching the next generation about environmental protection. using all channels available to inspire people to take action and we're determined to do something here for the next generation the idea is the environment series of global 3000 on d w and online. germany's 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 co-operation and development the o.e.c.d. . the press frequently reports on the country's high income inequality and low social mobility but little is known about the super rich the truth see it sure money attracts success and success attracts money as i do believe that i've

experienced myself you can suddenly connect with people previously out of reach for . germany's super wealthy how do they live and how do they see the country they live in. the way wealthy people in germany are talked about bothers me because it sensationalizing him sycophantic and in no way reflects what wealthy people have done and continue to do for this country for this long. only to creates this impression of rich people being like scrooge mcduck that they have these money bins in which they wallow in their coins. and scrooge mcduck wants more more more and that's not what world minded i like earning money for us but not swimming it because. we wanted to get closer to the discreet world of germany's. rich of company owners 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 1st to which the public is not invited but it's the annual hall of fame evening for the business monthly manager magazine partly any other occasion in germany draws as many wealthy business owners. there gets a lot out of steamed presenters dear jury members dear ladies and gentlemen welcome to manager magazine's hall of fact. 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. if we begin our nominations today with a moment here's a company united internet is valued at around 11000000000 and on our list of germany's richest people you ranks 25th with a personal wealth of 4500000000 euros for months once the midfield. electively the guests at this elegant evening are worth billions of euros. this is the face of wealth in germany main email and although we're close to the super rich here their world remains somehow also for each. and home to manage a magazine's parent company the speaker group hardly any publication keeps close a tabs on germany's ultra rich every year the magazine's team gathers information

on wealthy germans and using the forbes model makes a special edition with a list of germany's 1001 richest people. it's painstaking work. it is to them how many billionaires are video from a $481.00 the 190 last year was $136.00 right no verster it was around $17170.00 ok all that is someone who wants to get on our list of 1001 riches germans needs to have around 100000000 with a cache of cutters and have to be money in the bank most people have it is assets or is property but that's the ballpark we're looking for to be on our list of the richest germans the 1000 bison. contant to devise and dodge and. editing chiefs definiteness man has been around germany's ultra wealthy for years.

what does it take to get on the list. as one of the top i'd say that the top 150 spots on our list will always go to company owners and ass even if you're a chief physician you'll need to see a whole lot of patients to become a billionaire as many managers also have a hard time getting that high up here in germany there's a debate about whether the heads of dax companies 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 it's peanuts for the law and also tanya not an heena so that alone can't ever make you one of the truly ultra rich it's a problem dozens of nations. creating a list of the wealthiest people is especially difficult in germany they're not because there aren't enough of them. that's something you could shop he somehow managed to amass this huge empire and

fortune in just a few years it's offered for his wealth as estimated to be around 4000000000 he's the least known super rich germans in the homewood he let his interview him at home . they prefer to fly under the radar to avoid envy by means of the super rich don't like to help themselves so to speak clearly in the midst of this thought you know these are home stories here you can normally only get interviews inside the home so it's 2nd tier one there you always get guys who get a kick out of publicity. like mr marsh my. getting a good shot of mr marsh meyer is never a problem. but the real money keeps itself had to be guilty as this has to hurt. the super rich will try. and to go unnoticed sometimes i even try to hide there are no photos of several people on our list at least you won't find a single picture if you go online and google them because there hasn't been a photo of the hymen sites germany's richest family for decades and for so many

stay hidden because they want to live normal lives and think that they won't be able to do so if they're known to be multi-billionaire. and live in can. for months 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 city asset management company full come. on manages german business families fortunes. its chairman christan fanbase the time provided some insight as to why rich germans also shot. the scheuer a few many wealthy germans are reluctant about stepping out into the public eye because they're afraid they could be seen negatively. they ask themselves what do i get from showing myself to the public it doesn't 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 there's 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 publicity as if it were the play. but what are they so afraid of. the half of which one i asked a number of my friends whether they'd like to be interviewed for this film and each one said no they say it's. someone else can do that better than me because i can't do it right and i might come across wrong if they think they'd 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 michelle cottle is the chairman of the supervisory board of the auto group and one of the 10 richest germans. we asked him why not him and so reluctant to show off a well. if you do you prefer any wiring or doing so would lead to envy in the us achievements and wealth are 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 munches by few i think a lot of people find their own welfare little nauseating. i don't 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 hanifa his son had bigger plans in 1972 the

idea of opening the 1st self-service drug store in germany came to him today he's a multimillionaire why was he happy to step into the spotlight. and fancy even if not 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 to because i thought on the free publicity for my company or negated by the film. but i then 2 or 3 years ago i started to understand that this slightly flabby balding man who has teased aren't perfect but 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 do this. within 40 years became the most profitable drugstore chain in europe with stores in 6 countries. in

2018 a total of 56000 people working on the chain. osman is active in other business areas as well and he speculates on the stock market. my only couple of private equity investments the largest is valued at between $80.10 depending on the stock so it's a fair sum there are also shares in different industries it would definitely have produced a model of the board. you're still referred to as n s m e because small medium enterprises why do you think that's so. i don't really know as i think of them with 55000 employees you're not really a medium enterprise anymore you're in another league.

we're back at manager magazine in hand this with a special issue of being selected. a list of the richest germans includes a notably high number of company owners from the so-called medium sized businesses . it's a german peculiarity and it's not the only one. cover story for this current issue is that last year the money rained down on germany's super rich. but here we have the chef lose the matriarch and her son who now owns 80 percent mom has kept only 20 scheffler subpoena at the top of our list for many many years i would have to check exactly how much they're worth but around 20000000000 give or take a bit. down here we have. in the head of the henkel clan she's the 1st and so far only woman chairman of the supervisory board of one of the 30 dax companies.

germany's economy is still extremely male dominated what's 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 snapchat and so forth that have bubbled up to the top of the list we don't 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 consistently and usually that's americans russians chinese and so on once i hear you don't really show your money you might have various houses villas and such but there's likely to be a compact out front of them 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 estimating his fortunes are probably much bigger especially if we're talking about real estate where 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 you're likely to have 10 or 15000000000 today that's enough of them. 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. is the headline in the newspaper reads the rich are getting richer and richer which is true the rich are getting richer yes it's true but it's 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 probably they can dedicate much more time to increasing their wealth it's beautiful the ugly czar and cashed up 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 don't just take or i'm not a socialist. i can only do things because i have things. kenya novus 2 of us have. is one of the rich his wealth has increased he successfully transitioned his mail order business into a digital enterprise of the 20 companies now belong to the us or britain. we wanted to know how to see is the debates about rich and poor. do the rich understand the worries of the poor. in the good when people talk about those on top who

don't understand those at the bottom i wouldn't 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. that's why i absolutely do understand people living in poverty today. on the other hand i'd 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 who did build the business they now run then i think that's great. then that's a look because they're the people creating jobs for me that's what should matter in this debate we should focus on that and not rich versus poor right it is. ensuring that the wealth of rich families can increase despite current 0 interest rates is the mission of custom front company. with.

each day he and his employees send out investment opportunities from banks and other entities given exclusively to his wealthy clients and that this is a way to present an offer to just a handful of valued clients and focus. in this leaders and that. is a 3rd. and that rich germans are able to increase their wealth while the rest of the population gets left behind. the biggest thing is they think it's difficult to apply terms like equity and fairness to the distribution of wealth and i would say that here in germany we're 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 doesn't get too wide because we don't want social conflicts like in the us or latin america to happen here in america. times

company full come is a so-called multi-family 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 up would of 30000000 euros who can afford such a thing. as. this is causing well over a family office like ours and obviously can't discuss its clients so we have well known german business families that's our typical client profile so like also she came to you months someone who we were was a company owner thinks differently to someone who has spent their life as a whole you think you know. more they are families who have had money for a long time so wealth is so to speak in their genes. this is that. for me and then there are families who have just come into their well who are still pumping with entrepreneurial energy guys to still they're usually quite different

from errors in car i see it as a must for. us seems to have plenty of this entrepreneurial energy his company is max that europe's largest fitness studio chain. its head courses are in an all of the baking factory in berlin kind of started off small but today his wealth is valued at 250000000 euros. and they're from but i was born here 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 that's how i came to the fitness world for my son i went from secondary school to complete a 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 minutes 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. that was the initial idea and i had big goals i wanted to be number one in europe but that's all i had i didn't have financing. it was 997 when shall i opened his 1st fitness studio in this book close to his home village he made use of some unusual methods. it 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 so i gave it some thought. martin came up with the next marketing gag soon also in erlanger the thing that did the job and also put me on track to going from boats

blog to long and spend then it grew from there. 10 years they said hi michelle i have reached his goal he's number one in europe and still expanding. like that now owns 10 fitness companies as well as its own model agency. is getting ready to open fitness studios in the u.s. . do more and severe than that it's getting to be number one is 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. the investor would probably pick a brand and say ok that could work i like it although it's probably 2 steps too far for many. but if someone doesn't want to get involved with us because of it so what . so what you can do it so i. am convinced that you have an easier time if you want your way to the top and to success the clients feel it and so to

partners. i think that's 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 will have a much tougher time and money. as soon as. that there are plenty of eggs in germany huge fortunes and thousands of companies have been passed from one generation to the next that is who don't want to and others who shouldn't take over their parents' businesses succession is hugely important among germany's richest. and harry said the mail order company from his father and successfully managed it. for money can is this it will be harder for my children because now. the auto group has 123 companies in over 30 countries one of the lines francis 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 came up my children don't yet know the many companies the con. artist children have opted against direct succession of. beef industry status when i think it's important to give your children the option without pressuring them so you don't force them into a role i think that mistake is made often and i'd say it's bad for both the children and the company marty nemko put. his or her money so no we have one point of sale. are you a bit tired your house is on an exhausting couple of days in 10 minutes i'll be fine again it was just bam bam bam bam. did close one also spent a lot of time considering who his successor would be it's now decided hollows 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 it's not exactly part of the drugstores range the trend sort of over it was big in 2016 already fading in 2017 and it's been stagnating in 2018 but it's not the worst product we have and it still brings in some revenue. but it was a good. father had to show him the appeal of being in charge. of the news or when the boys got more engaged i thought oh now we can't look as if the drugstore business is only about making money so i showed them how we're also active in social issues in africa and so forth. and i've always showed my sons there what we do isn't just about making money it's also about being responsible for others i mean for mention. one. as a child i wanted to become a film director that was always my dream it still is today and how do you meet megadeth and then you might be thinking you know i don't want to be a director film oh my i want to run the company actually good 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. of this but wife asked if i am often asked whether i feel competitive toward my father and sure he built up this big company that i will only take over but it's really difficult to keep something going these days the founding period has its own challenges and just having the idea of founding a self-service drugstore was hugely innovative but the fight to survive has gotten tougher and that's the one i'm in. bought with everyone in my family wants to be good at sports you could my father and i battle each other in tennis. well we all compete with one another. and that's also shaped our view of life or mine at least depict as

a tremendous minor. despite their competitiveness the last month family reached a harmonious agreement with regard to succession. as playing against are all wipes me out are normally prefer playing doubles that's much more appropriate for men my age i miss him if i'm starting to worry a bit about you you worry about me but with your own arrogance i wouldn't be looking forward to it. selecting as and successes is usually not quite as amicable as at the hospice. to stand for time has seen many inheritance disputes in rich families it's his job to preserve the family's assets and protected from all sorts of changes. and for movements $100.00 maintaining a family fortune over several generations is incredibly difficult because it's under threat from being divvied up through inheritance from wealth just humans from

expropriation from wars or simply from stupidity and it's always 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 wouldn't go extinct. from based on some speaks from personal experience his own family's history dates back 900 years. i have a horribly long name at least on my birth certificate there's my 6 given names christiane. villa him and maria as a good catholic followed by malcolm hi i'm best was high but it work i'm normally called mr for investors time and at social events baron. or lord baron. then isn't based hard time isn't in direct success some of the focus the richest family in germany history. went as well to begin 3 years in

prison reserves if you're asking me at what point i consider someone to be a truly real is i would say over a 100 yards. i don't i still we're all in but. if you could definitely definitely not rich. people look good play but i'm comfortable you go in our family is comfortable because and i'm certainly not complaining in the long term view when you have a family history as long as i'm honest or with your family i've seen everything. near bankruptcy. years overflowing with money. and side and years when a lot was lost on the others. he takes us to the hunting lotsof the best time family in tilling and. it looked like the lodge had been lost for ever tearing the division of germany. this house was the author house was built

in 892 was a hunting lodge for my great great grandson calls. it's been in the family ever since except for a short interval. it was expropriated in 1952 and then restitute it in 1902 and since then i've owned mine and visits. the family's hunting lodge survived expropriation and socialism without much damage . today from vestas time also and hundreds of pictures of forest nearby and regularly invites business acquaintances for hunts. and calls total fame many of the trophies are more to get several also come from my father. i'm from my great grand uncle and leopard down there i didn't shoot him that was my great grand uncle who then my dog chewed off his ears so he no longer has this former beauty and

stickers for it but he's too precious not to keep it. as. a recurring topic in the special issues of the manager magazine of the superwealthy snecked works. there are larger and smaller networks and there are a lot of them and most even we journalists don't know about in high society there are certain typical hobbies that horse racing hockey but a tennis though that's almost old school you know it's cool what's with the hell meat in the box is it major football stadiums because of course they're all football fans fence info police huge. lots of networking happens there that's not their marketplace they mingle and made them more than it so-called parties for the rich as of zubin and i think part. of. that would.

have been a can do we always there are a lot of employees here and we have a lot of friends in the box christian pfeiffer's here today germany's most famous criminologist c.c. you might not it's sometimes you may lurk for someone from politics comes by because general from between are part of my close are called friends so there's always lots going on here i think it's something new to be. involved in that hina seana 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. that. i know you see that i. because listen this is true it's a close circle that's hard to get into and i'm sure money attracts success and success attracts money i do believe that. the 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 in the band. was. a lot to with a good definition of l.a. and san francisco. that's all this gets bored. by god was. declasse man 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 kind of in 96 his box is located on the other end of the exclusive v.i.p. area that i turn to we're going to do that why did you do you. know i told him that if we didn't win you could pay 10000000 that was the bet all right. there were no i

never said that yes they were here we have it to a halfway decent is sort of the given up by the death of governor. networks are important for business but do the rich also have political clout can political influence people in germany. will stimulate the best way available for richer or 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 let's say less maybe 15000 employees can go to business associations and say fine with me 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. but there are no super rich people who regularly call up the ministers or ms merkel and say what needs to happen next which tax laws that like and so on that's

not how things work here in germany france and it isn't much. to do the kind of extra state money you know it is not to sumatra $1.00 of it's a stand by it's technique classes this time the deadline for the special issue is approaching the heart of it is the ranking of the 1001 richest german the stores what do the rich think of this ranking. their rankings in those rankings are for entertainment or scrape together sometimes using stock market. but they aren't reliable in any real way and for. the giving of this interesting can also coughed position and you know i don't think much of these rankings and i didn't want to be included because it creates this impression of rich people being like scrooge mcduck because they have these money bins in which they wallow in their coins. with . the fact that i'm at the top of the rankings including of the wealthiest germans does make me feel proud and finish no truly please it's one of the i'll read

manager magazine every now and then but i've never read the ranking i don't know whether i'm in it i don't need that i have other goals. one of these is that hi michelle and now wants to open the world's largest fitness center in north rhine-westphalia. and let me write them a ra is japanese and means the future we think it's 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 world's business center for the center of the. sun i think he's found the perfect location to realize his vision in. his rented an. factory complex. at the moment this place is 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. had been the parades. the cause of the panic has still not been conclusively determined how does an entrepreneur in the fast lane deal with that kind of tragedy. an event 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 can't make it and you have to try to deal with what happened. last month has also seen setbacks and crises. in the ninety's he 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 don't joke around if you're highly indebted and then you come in with huge losses that was 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 was 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 the. money moves from that crisis stronger than ever he started

speculating again but so he shows us only with his private wealth it's called more guts form gets solid sewer gas promise. me that. i don't have a laptop by a normally good is fine and to be taxed to 54. here it says i just promise at $375.00 it's room for calm i could already sell those now to about 250000 of those so 250000 times $0.20 that would give me 50000 euros profit what i want so long it's going to rise to 4 euro sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't but i enjoy the us that's why i don't play the lottery because i find that boring but if it. can and large fortune also be a burden. i hope to see the night say that for most people

although they wouldn't voluntarily give away their money on the fact that they want to grow can be a burden. they are controlled by their own assets. for example they'll 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 that's absurd considering the conditions we currently have been terminated. 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 immigrate abroad. asacol 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.

if it is free 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 that's a given sufficient it mission to is one of germany's biggest stone is 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. otto like many wealthy germans donated millions for the construction of the ed for the money in hamburg in germany wealthy people like to donate and this makes important contributions to society and public life but generally they're against the proposal of redistributing wealth by a higher taxes for the rich who dorchin for i don't fault if the german businesses would yield to wall the demands of hard say mr barton cash to the left party when

millions of people would be happy and things would be good for a while 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 there's a lot of. stand for. higher taxes on the rich as dangerous as the fellows we're going to argue for i don't think much about the so-called rich tax for 2 reasons because firstly the terminology alone a stigmatizing and we in germany should avoid that and secondly the rich tax wouldn't 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 my hormones and. 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 country's 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 preferred to fly silently under the radar away from the public until the next awards ceremony. and.

thirsty for knowledge willing to experiment. and concerns about the environment. ecology students are coming to germany from india. the reason the universities are among the world's best when it comes to environmental science is the accompaniment . university students in meeting lives. next on d. w.

. be in good shape in modern society the pressure to perform seems on the present but sometimes the journey ever ready. for tests is a catastrophe for men and it's wrong to only you can all read it you should talk about the increasingly common incidence of erectile dysfunction our focus in this week's. 30 minutes on. william had a big gun goes up as well lions high you know if i had known that the boat would be about small i never would have gone on the trail of you i would not have put myself and my parents on without danger to the bot it's a game of the going to give us leave with. that one little bit of that is the one i

had serious problems on a personal level and i was unable to live there but what i'm going to. want to know their story the migrants terrified and reliable information for margaret's. in hong kong clashes have erupted between police and protesters at a rally against a proposed extradition or the planned legislation would allow suspects to be sent to mainland china to face trial hundreds of thousands of people to indict for the rally making it the biggest protest since hong kong was returned to china.