Dieter Schwarz, richest German and man behind Kaufland

According to “Forbes” list, Dieter Schwarz is the richest German, his assets are estimated by the “Manager Magazin” to around 44 billion euros. In the 1960s, the Heilbronner got into his father’s food trade, today he looks at a trading empire with almost 600,000 employees, according to sales according to the largest in Europe. He had spent a year in the United States as a student. The Americans’ shopping habits seem to have influenced him: to take themselves out of the shelves instead of being served by employees. Dieter Schwarz founded Lidl, one of the world’s largest discounter, and also the Supermarket Chain Kaufland.

Today Dieter Schwarz is 85. He has long since withdrawn from the operating business of the Schwarz Group. Nevertheless, several contact persons report, he should continue to watch over the empire behind the scenes.

This empire, the black group, recently made sales of 167.2 billion euros. Most of it, about 95 percent, generate the Lidl and Kaufland supermarkets. But under what conditions?

A reporter team of star And RTL has researched for months. It examined 50 Kaufland branches all over Germany and uncovered considerable grievances: overloaded employees, mold, broken cooling systems and even in a branch. star And RTL spoke to several employees of the black group and reporters worked in two different Kaufland branches. Employees report on feeling a working atmosphere of fear. In the end, they tell it, especially the sales of sales.

star And RTL asked for an interview with a person responsible from Kaufland and sent dozens of questions to the company. The answer was rather short and general. Take the information from the research seriously and follow it, some of the defects described “definitely do not correspond to our specifications”. The quality of the products and the protection of customers, a spokeswoman writes, have “top priority for us”.

The profits from Lidl and Kaufland ensure that the black group continues to grow. It has long since passed into new business areas: artificial intelligence and cyber security. Heilbronn, the home of Dieter Schwarz, wants to become a city of knowledge – a kind of silicon valley for Europe?

Dieter Schwarz himself remains a phantom. There are hardly any photos of him, he does not give any interviews. Dieter Schwarz lives withdrawn. But it looks like he wanted to sit down with his hometown. “Who is Dieter Schwarz? Everything he built,” says a former manager of the black group.