How much influence do the super rich have? | DW Documentary

How much influence do the super rich have? | DW Documentary

At the end of this pier stands a gift an Asian style Tea House a generous donation by a local millionaire to the Tim andorfer strand municipality are you pleased with this gift no absolutely not Municipal leaders and the millionaire donor don’t see eye to eye on the tea house if I’m gifting

Something to you you don’t have any say in how it’s done either it’s built the way I want it or you can say no you don’t want it at all how much power do the German Super Rich wield in their hometowns and cities who decides what happens in our

Communities I never like committing myself longterm I always like to reserve the right to make new decisions it’s a new feudalism and not democracy as we know It Municipal representative yoran eard was skeptical from the beginning was the Gift Giver acting in the interest of the community now his doubts have been confirmed the building materials and the workmanship were poor and now the windows have to be replaced we’re the ones left holding the bag the original

Costs were around €800,000 I’m estimating there’ll be another 30% on top that’s over a million EUR to repair the damage now the back and forth Over The Tea House started about a decade ago at the time we visited Jurgen hunka the donor at his home a self-described self-made

Man he said he was a fan of the art of the Far East and he told us he had worked for every cent of his fortune for 40 years I’ve been getting up at 5:00 a.m. then I exercise for 2 hours I allow myself that I feel good

About it then for 35 years I’ve treated myself to 2 hours of massage every morning there are a 100 unemployed masss in Lubec and they’re happy to be able to come to me and give me a massage for a good price the tea house was his big

Vision it only exists as a model back then what would you like to have there just art exhibitions readings and the like all in glass and that’s all white gleaming over the whole of the Bay of Lubec just like his own white houses gleaming behind the dunes on the

Beach at the time the Woodby benefactor had already poured at least a million euros into the tea house which is named after his Publishing Company critics slammed it as a form of advertisement but Hunker was Dismissive people with no argument say this sort of thing I think Mardo is better than naming it yugan hunka the important thing is it’s being built he got his way today The Tea House shines over the Bay of lupc just like he wanted as far as the follow-up costs are

Concerned hunka rejects responsibility and accuses his critics of slander for the local Council the building is a permanent headache has the council learned its lesson yes absolutely all of yuren huna’s subsequent proposals have been gracefully rejected by the municipality donations are a good thing generally speaking but who decides where a Tea

House University or opera house should be built Democratic bodies or millionaires cash from the wealthy can end up making waves we traveled to Keel where a soccer Patron’s big plans got too big in the end this is the story of the Holstein Stadium home to local soccer club holin Keel wealthy holin fan Gart Lucha wanted to build a new stadium the 81-year-old entrepreneurs motto was no half measures the new Arena carf friendly with an event and Congress Center sports store bedding office and five-story parking garage garden allotments and a Sports Hall would have to

Go does Gard Lucha know how his plans might affect the people expected to make way for them we can’t say he turned down our request for an interview as one of ke’s largest entrepreneurs he exerts a tangible influence on the state capital locals know him as the founder of city park

Malls on the outskirts of the city car friendly shopping large parking lots that’s his thing he used the same Architects for the stadium design on Match days residential areas near the stadium are already jammed with fan buses and cars people worry that when the Congress Center opens there’ll be even more

Traffic earlier this year neighboring Garden allotments were leveled to make way for the new Access Road else want know watch out you don’t slip down there residents and environmental activists founded a civil initiative to fight back there’s a sense that everything’s been decided whether or not we register

Ouros it feels like we’re not being listened to at all it’s not that we’re against the expansion of the stadium per se but the dimensions shouldn’t be so extreme the plans include a Congress Center which is just completely out of place here and a huge Road for a thousand cars it’s just too

Much and in the case of holin in particular there’s another Factor at play with the investor I think this is some sort of vanity project that he wants to establish a kind ofor to himself here whenever her Lucha presents his wish list it gets ticked off no one seems interested in publicizing alternate

Suggestions these people are calling for a complete rethink of The Stadium expansion in an era of climate change it could be smaller carfree perhaps even made of wood geart Lucha’s plan looked very different and acquired €30 million of taxpayers money Alloys Alman from the taxpayers association doesn’t

Approve Hera is a generous supporter of the club it’s very altruistic but it’s not only altruistic what’s not altruistic about it well it’s a way for him to buff up his image so that he can earn money with the city brand but he’s not contributing all that much to the overall

Project the investor wants his plans executed but if the city and the state don’t play along with plans of this scale then the plans might need to be made more modest that’s not my job to say I’m the guardian of taxpayers money and it’s my job to say be careful you

Can’t throw cash around like there’s no tomorrow professional soccer is a wash with cash and the earnings aren’t bad either we’ve got another club in ke they’re the Bayern Munich of handball they don’t get any public money I approve of that public money belongs in school sports and popular sports not in professional

Sports how does the club see it the German Football League or dfl earns around € 1.1 billion EUR from TV rights alone players and managers earn Millions so how come there’s no money for the expansion of a stadium on the day we’re filming the first rumors emerged that Gart Lucha

Wants to pull out due to skyrocketing construction costs holin Club president Stefan schn is on Edge the fact is that if the Stadium expansion is to go ahead it’ll require 30 million of taxpayers money why do you need the money if you’re getting 6 million in TV rights every year and doing very well I can’t answer that you’re mixing everything up and you’ve absolutely no you haven’t done

Your homework I’ve got nothing to say he cuts the interview short the media spokesperson intervenes but doesn’t want to speak to us on camera questions about money aren’t welcome here evidently questioning the idea of using tax money for soccer is viewed as outrageous our cameraman tries Again who’s making money from it now the investor or the club so if you’re involved in soccer I can’t earn any money with soccer okay so you can’t earn any money with soccer yes yes that’s interesting no one earns money yeah I’ll happily explain it to you please do

Explain so with soccer you but not in front of the camera why not I can’t but why can’t I don’t understand of course you can earn money with soccer the question your colleague asked was who who will benefit from the expansion if it goes ahead as planned in the ideal

Scenario yes of course the club benefits as I said from a much needed new stadium with modern infrastructure improving our national standing also places National focus on ke which is most definitely a contributing factor in boosting The Fortunes of the state capital so when investors put in so much

Money are they just passionate about sports you could say that the day we have an appointment scheduled at City Hall Gart Lucha’s expansion plans are still on track the development is about to be approved by the city’s mayor U ker is aware of residents complaints regarding traffic and environmental

Damage what we want to know to what extent can a patron put pressure on a city where funds are tight so how does it work what goes on behind the scenes do you say perhaps we can put in 20 million in tax money then he says

No that’s not enough we need 30 is that how it works M well I’m speaking in general terms of course oh please be specific no no it’s always the same procedure of course there’s always a tussle no one can force the city to plan a stadium just by offering to develop and

Subsidize it conversely the city can’t force anyone to spend Millions on building a stadium in other words you need the wrangling to agree on a joint solution where both sides can say yes this is how the project can work critics say the city is giving too much

Mhm for me I’m happy if a stadium corporation which is likely to be made up of a variety of different partners relieves us of this burden if I want to make all the decisions then I have to build it myself and then I have to tell the people of

Keel the city won’t manage with the 10 million we’re giving now we’d have to spend much much more then we build the stadium exactly the way we wanted but that also means the taxpayer has to spend much much more and we’d bear the Financial Risk

A day later the news hits Gart Lucha has put his plans on Ice due to spiraling construction costs but his office also tells us that the development scheme has been overwhelmingly approved by the city who’s picking up the tab now no one knows success or failure patrons often

Hold the cards what motivates them the city state of Hamburg has Germany’s High EST concentration of millionaires today we’re meeting one of the country’s richest men Claus Mel kuna Haag Lloyd’s major shareholder the shipping company is celebrating its 175th birthday at Hamburg City Hall for hamburg’s High Society patronage is

Dur kuna’s own charitable Foundation distributes some 30 million Swiss Franks every year [Applause] the billionaire agrees to give us an interview we meet along the aler river in a luxury hotel that he owns whenever he visits his native City he stays here his father transferred the German family’s residence to Switzerland a tax

Haven long ago the kunos haven’t paid taxes in Germany since Claus Mel kuna Keeps Us waiting 2 hours leaving us ample time to think about his foundation the 30 million Swiss Franks are channeled into projects that reflect his interests and inclinations he owes his fortune to Logistics in hamburg’s hen City he set

Up kuna Logistics University dedicated to educating Professionals in the sector a dieh hard soccer fan kuna sponsors his home te team hamburger SV the El philharmony benefits from his love of classical music critical reports about kuna do surface most recently concerning his Company Kuna and Nagel stonewalling over its Nazi era

Activities we’re only granted an interview because he wants to talk to us about his patronage activities sorry about the you could just enjoy your retirement but you’re still very active why yeah because I have a lot of interests it keeps me young physically but mentally first and foremost and at the

Same time it’s a duty so to speak if you’ve been successful then you should allow others to share in that success cuz on Farm I think it’s a very healthy way to invest money instead of just just paying taxes or spending the money on unnecessary things a major beneficiary of the kuna

Empire the elb filani the billionaire sponsors the world famous concert hall and donated over a million EUR toward its construction anyone who’s anyone in Hamburg donates money to the Elfie on the wall listing the names of donors the Swiss National kuna keeps company with other illustrious Hamburg Families of the names along the top are mostly individuals and organizations who donated more than a million some private donors and companies prefer to remain anonymous we’ve got some very well-known companies supporting us but it’s not publicized the kuna Foundation is among the six main sponsors his name

Unmissable also part of the agreement the Christine and Claus Mel kuna Sky Lounge he can entertain friends or business partners on the exclusive roof Terrace for sure no one gives money like this for nothing he’s doing it for a reason it could be his great love of Music it could also be his status okay does he decide what’s in the program decide that’s going too far I’d say he has a firm opinion he doesn’t

Like everything that happens here he has very specific preferences You’re a major donor and if you say contemporary music isn’t my thing I don’t really like it do you think that makes them nervous no no no unless I’d stop the sponsorship of course but I won’t go that far I will give my opinion I’m always very very open and

Straightforward but that’s a possibility you might say I don’t like it I quit if something really displeased me if the nature of the performances there were to change completely then it’s not out of the question I don’t like to make long-term commitments I’ve just reconfirmed this music festival for the next three years

But that’s the longest period I’ll commit to I always like to reserve the right to make new decisions do good and exert influence Claus Mich kuna Reg regularly surprises Hamburg with new cash gifts but not all of them are gratefully received fans use salty language to condemn a planned 120 million euro Donation another unwanted gift his recent proposal for a new Opera House the Lord mayor said no thanks the city already has One kuna has a lot of money to give away that’s not surprising hapag Lloyd’s profits are huge some 6.2 billion EUR in 2021 alone Claus meluna collected around 1.9 billion euros in dividends due to a special regulation for shipping companies known as the tonnage tax company profits were taxed

At a rate of just 0.65% critics say it’s an obscenely small amount going into the tax coffers given haak Lloyd’s current earnings that’s absolutely right so you have a problem with these earnings yes correct it’s too much it’s too much much too much I didn’t come up

With the idea when I first realized how this tonnage tax is calculated I was surprised it’s an anachronism since it doesn’t exist in any other industry to be honest find it rather strange the tonnage tax is the purview of the Hamburg Senate deputies recently voted against abolishing these tax benefits for shipping

Companies the motion was brought by Norbert hawbush a representative of the left party in Hamburg the left-wing politician is critical of the shipping magnet he well his patriotic Duty would to actually pay taxes in Hamburg if he really feels like a citizen of Hamburg but he doesn’t in our interview he said he

Likes to give something back to society he’s doing good things why aren’t you happy about that because he’s behaving like the lord of the manner he’s acquired his wealth for reasons we could discuss at length and he doesn’t even have the grace to say I’ll just give it to you with it

What you will because I’ve received too much no he wants to call the shots so he’s always trying to dictate his tastes that’s a new feudalism not democracy as we know it the private wealth of the rich is growing steadily and more and more of them are putting their cash into

Foundations charitable foundations don’t pay any tax critics say the money would be better off in the tax coffers than in foundations that it’s better if the state and Democratic institutions get to decide how the money is spent rather than individuals what’s your view well I don’t see it that way at all

Because it’s well known that the state is incapable of running itself properly firstly a great deal is suffocated by bureaucracy secondly State organizations may not act and think commercially in my view the private sector should be given plenty of scope to ensure that things work much better the billionaire thinks the

State’s role should be diminished others disagree we are on our way to mes to a political Youth Festival focusing on tax Justice Stephanie bramer comes from a rich family she uses games to explain that inheritance is a matter of luck and that wealthy people like herself don’t pay enough in

Taxes along with other millionaires she’s involved in the initiative tax me now not something you hear very often it’s not as though by giving something away I’d be left with nothing not at all but if I give something away then the state can invest a little more in Environmental protction in

Functioning education and health systems and so on Stephanie bramer could just lead a quiet and comfortable life I’m wondering why are you doing this unfortunately we’ve seen that when wealthy people who benefit from these tax advantages speak out against them people sit up and listen when we say I

Benefit but I’m nevertheless in favor of change so that everyone fares better not just me other people who aren’t rich but say the same thing are often accused of being envious of the wealthy and I can’t be accused of that many people don’t want charity we can’t try to solve social

Problems with a trickle of cash or a Band-Aid in the form of philanthropy and yes the state isn’t perf to distribution but I think it does a very competent job of fulfilling many tasks together with the tax Justice Network tax me now calculated how much additional Revenue could flow into

Public coffers if higher taxes were levied on income from the super rich looking at inheritance Capital assets and other resources they arrived at an annual figure of 80 billion The good thing is that in Germany rich people are in the minority and in a democracy if the majority decides on something the minority has to go along with It in the German city of hon one man’s shadow looms particularly large currently the wealthiest person in Germany local man Da Schatz heads up the Schatz group which owns the discount supermarket chains leele and caland do you know the name d yes of course everyone knows

Him that’s the guy from caland and Le but not personally you don’t see him about no one’s allowed to publish a photo of him only when he dies does he influence life in the city sure he owns pretty much everything here what do you think of that yeah

I’m pleased he wants to invest his money here he could move it to Switzerland we’re lucky to have H if we didn’t have him the city center wouldn’t look so good he’s a role model for you as well yeah for me too although it’s good that he does so

Much it’s a double-edged sword we also need room for people who maybe don’t have money but do have great ideas that’s not the case dvat omnipresent yet invisible doesn’t give interviews no one here knows his face but everyone is familiar with his interests namely Education and Research he even founded an educational

Campus here where 16 buildings house five institutions for higher education the main focus trade and business everyone in hpon knows experimenta with Le’s distinctive I critics of the local benefactor are too afraid to go on camera they say Schatz wields too much power that his dealings with City authorities are too

Opaque hard to grasp just like his company structure the Leal company structure is complex it includes seven foundations and four nonprofit limited liability Enterprises some profits might be channeled in this direction tax-free and at the disposal of the generous son of hbr DJ shatz the Billionaire’s recent coup was

Impressive hbr won the contract for Germany’s new artificial intelligence Innovation Park the five locations in the competition included fryberg Carl’s R and stutgart so why hbr that’s a question bothering the free Democratic party parliamentarian hanser the min hisory of economic Affairs indicated that hbr won the

Contract because the park will be in a spot where there’s a campus and that the financing is secured namely that the dvad foundation has pledged to make up for the shortfall in funds so in a nutshell a cynic might say it was bought that conclusion could be drawn who bought what from wh

DZ said I’ll Finance it for you and the committee said if we’ve got someone who’s paying for it wonderful and they ignored any other options you weren’t able to evaluate the criteria used no not at all I checked again this afternoon The Minister’s response is that it’s

Confidential and she won’t tell us we’d simply like to see the criteria the scaling that led to this decision and I think we owe it to our citizens even if it’s just one Euro of taxpayers money being spent I believe we’re Accountable the ministry of economic Affairs insists that a high caliber Committee of experts made its decision in a transparent competitive process but details of the financing are secret confidentiality is important the detes vads foundation in forms us we’re at City Hall for an appointment with the mayor of hon surprisingly he cancels at

The last minute and sends his media spokesperson instead but it’s soon clear she’s not going to tell us anything substantial so we insist on our pre-arranged interview with the mayor and suddenly he does have time for us D Schatz supported mayor haki marle in his election campaign there are rumors

That the two men are friends and that they meet at the liance club it feels as if we’ve entered a murky world people say there’s so much secrecy and Dees vat’s relationship with politics is such a close one and so on can you understand how that looks to people on the outside AB

Certainly we’re an open book you’re doing your job and seeing if there’s anything that needs to be uncovered and shared with the general public and stories like this they arise I don’t think there’s anything you can do about that and as I said we’ve already had a certain amount of experience there and

We can live with that then I’ll just ask the question directly what’s the nature of your connection with dwat what is your relationship and we have a good relationship are you friends have you known each other long you’re both from hbr if you have a good relationship with

Someone and you want it to stay that way then you don’t say much about it so what will happen when DZ dies he’s pretty old we’ll see he’s in such good health I hope he’s got many many good years ahead of him I wholeheartedly wish him the same but

Still he must be well over 80 what happens when a donor like him can’t be active anymore I’m sure he’s taken that all into account and made all the necessary arrangements so the tap isn’t suddenly turned off that too you hope or you know it’s been now like you now I just

Believe you believe that yeah yes it was worth a shot we decide to try another Tack and meet with someone from the transparency initiative frag denat or ask the state Max coner and his colleagues approach authorities with specific inquiries citing the Freedom of Information Act often they’re able to break through the

Silence but in h pron Max croner encountered some unusual hurdles right away a skipped um state level fee regulations stipulate inquiries can cost a maximum of €500 hbr hasn’t capped the rate at500 but at 10,000 slight difference interesting so what does that mean it’s disastrous of course no one can afford

That precisely no one can afford it so it’s not used effective nullifying the law that’s okay the city of hbr informs us that state legislation allows for these maximum fees today Max coner looks over the minutes of the municipal Council meetings the city sold the land for the educational campus to the dvat

Foundation why the mayor told us everything was transparent and recorded in the minutes max croner disagrees the truly relevant points we can’t see them I want to know how projects come about and how they’re realized at what cost what are the contributions from City and Foundation which opinions are

Considered is there any citizen involvement all questions these documents can’t answer meanwhile we’ve made seven separate inquiries to the city the district Authority and the state with no success one of the reasons given the detes Ratz Foundation hasn’t agreed to share the [Applause] information we look for a donor who will give us a peek behind the scenes and find him in Lubec the town has 122 foundations Mel H started one of them this year he donated some €400,000 to Local Schools again he likes to check in in person hello hello can we come

In he donated a 5-day team building trip to this class how was the food and accommodation it was actually pretty okay we had to build a boat ourselves and survive on it any other comments I thought it was good that when one person struggled to do something the class motivated

Him we used to have more disagreements but because each of us interacted a little with people we don’t normally talk to it helped us to get along better I’m interacting a lot more with the whole class now super that’s excellent I’m pleased you’ve done it and pleased to hear your

Positive reports thanks a lot thanks very much herzman thank you this is it’s real it’s direct you can ask questions it’s ideal why do you like doing it this way we set up the foundation because we don’t have children and I’d say we have quite a few now we live for this

That’s at the heart of it sitting at a desk getting an application and saying yes we’ll do it that’s no fun that is Just sh principal yorg Halterman can count himself lucky thanks to benefactor H his school has a lot to offer anti-bullying programs conflict mediators a photography project school trips

Foundations Finance more than 30 projects here we can be happy whether it’s in Lubec keil or Noster if there are donors or foundations that support schools when budgets are squeezed actually it would be fairer if we received funding from the central government if all schools were equally equipped and

Funded so where you go to school ends up being a bit of a lottery precisely Mel H personally selects the schools his foundation works with the chemistry between donor and school leadership team has to be right he says the school’s annual budget planning meeting is taking place

Today the city has come to rely on the foundation’s generosity the way it’s worked for years now is that we receive a proposal from you at the end of the school year about the projects you’d like to do in the next school year to improve your students social skills

Let’s start with MarBorg concentration training we’d really like to carry on with that we offered it last year already exactly we did it in our school last year and it worked out well the new year five class trip they want to swim is that something you’d

Help with with a focus on swimming and the kids who haven’t learned yet we’re open to that idea my wife in particular everyone in Lubec needs to be able to swim with all the water here I’ll go out on a limb for my management board you’ll have to back me up but my

Wife’s on my Side a total of 14 projects are discussed at the meeting some costs have gone up now it’s time to do the Math is the benefactor on board now we’ve got to get down to the nitty-gritty Mr How so that’s 3 4 + 2 plus another 9 I’m just adding it up roughly and another 2.2 right so that makes 20,000 what did we do last year 16,000 16,000 that’s more than a schnaps the parents Association contributed to healthy amount last time about

€3,000 if we could agree on a figure I know the School Association would go along with it okay that puts us in the same ballpark as last year so we can sign off on that fantastic brilliant we can keep the entire wish list what a relief that’s amazing so we the

House I noticed everyone fell a bit silent just waiting is he going to say yes or no whether the cash flows or not depends on his vote doesn’t that seem oldfashioned to you like something out of another Century well I have to say I’m very grateful that this is the case other

Specialists will have much more to say about the free market economy about taxpayers money flowing into public purse but I think it’s difficult to strike a good balance between what’s needed and what ordinary citizens can raise themselves and we’re basically thankful that there are people who say

I’m going to donate my company profits to good causes m al H inherited a real estate Empire selling it made him Rich more than 20 years ago he and his wife decided to put their money into a foundation in the years since philanthropic boundaries have become increasingly blurred what should the

State be paying for and where should foundations be stepping in it used to be foundations took the view that they shouldn’t be funding anything that was the job of the state but that changed 17 years ago when the posel foundation funded an upgrade of the heating systems in Lubec schools and

Everyone said that’s unbelievable the state isn’t in a position to heat schools properly that’s not something a foundation should be doing we don’t say things like that anymore do you think that’s right to a certain extent no we’re sometimes appalled that the state doesn’t take certain things into its own

Hands for example to this day it still hasn’t got a handle on digitalization there isn’t Wi-Fi everywhere and the list goes on also say okay if we can help we’ll do it things the state just can’t manage the school kids need tablets now not in three months

Time I actually think it’s a good thing to have a certain amount of competition between State and private funding if it’s something completely new and the state isn’t willing to assume responsibility foundations can try it out that’s Their donations do good but even the hols can’t escape the Patron’s dilemma in the end deciding who receives help and who goes empty-handed is entirely up to Them

What does it mean for democracy when rich citizens can change an entire city? Do the interests of big donors always serve the common good? This film delves into the world of the super-rich and takes a hard look at how much influence they exert.

In Kiel, a dispute has flared up over the Holstein stadium. Soccer patron Gerhard Lütje, founder of the CITTI trading company, wants to modernize the stadium — and turn it into a car-friendly business center at the same time. Critics find this approach environmentally unsustainable. But they are being ignored, they say. Kiel’s mayor Ulf Kämpfer (SPD) is in a tight spot: He must negotiate without scaring off financial backers.

The film team meets billionaire Klaus-Michael Kühne, one of Germany’s richest men, at his luxury hotel on Hamburg’s Alster. The 85-year-old donates generously: He supports the HSV soccer club, runs a university in Hamburg’s HafenCity, wants to build an opera house and is a sponsor of the Elbphilharmonie concert hall. But Kühne does not pay any tax in Germany. That’s because his official residence is Switzerland. “It’s a well-known fact that the state can’t do business properly,” says Kühne, who believes he can distribute his money better himself.

Lidl founder Dieter Schwarz donated a gigantic education campus to the city of Heilbronn. Still, does that mean that the interests of big donors always serve the common good? No, says the daughter of a rich family involved in the “Taxmenow” initiative: Around 50 millionaires are demanding that they finally be taxed fairly.

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