The car manufacturer Tesla in Germany was considered a success story: an exciting global company in the Brandenburg province. But star-Research shows how politics has surrendered itself to Elon Musk’s company. It even accepts serious violations of occupational safety and environmental regulations.
On the outskirts of Wolfsburg, a man wearing a black T-shirt walks excitedly back and forth in his small rented apartment. Tayfur Karaboga ponders the question of whether he hates or still loves his former boss Elon Musk and his global corporation. The lettering of the car manufacturer Tesla glows red on his shirt. Turkish harp music plays from speakers in the living room. She calmed him down as a child, says Karaboga. Unfortunately that no longer works. Because Tesla took away his job, his financial security and a little bit of his dignity. At least that’s how he sees it. He would still like to work there again.
In the clearing of a Brandenburg pine forest, André Bähler opens the massive metal lid of a well. Bähler, tall and gray-haired, is the head of the local water supplier. The shadows in his eye sockets tell of the restless nights he’s had more often recently. Because there is a groundwater well under the metal lid. On the way there, the water flows under Tesla’s first German factory. Bähler is therefore wondering how long he can guarantee the people in eastern Brandenburg clean drinking water.
Source: Stern
