Theo Albrecht

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Theodor Paul "Theo" Albrecht (born March 28, 1922 in Essen ; † July 24, 2010 there ) was a German entrepreneur and founder of Aldi Nord.

Life

Origin and education

"Original Aldi" on Huestraße 89 in Essen-Schonnebeck

Theo and his older brother Karl Albrecht (1920–2014) grew up in a modest, conservative-Catholic family. Karl Albrecht Sr. (1886–1943), Theo and Karl's father, was a trained baker until he had to give up this job for health reasons. In the spring of 1913, Karl Albrecht sen. self-employed as a bread trader, and his wife Anna Albrecht (née Siepmann) opened a corner shop on April 10, 1913 under the name of her husband on Huestraße 89 in Essen-Schonnebeck .

After Theo Albrecht had completed the eighth grade of the Catholic Glückaufschule (then: elementary school) on Immelmannstrasse in Essen-Schonnebeck, he learned the trade of salesman in his mother's shop from 1936 to 1938.

Soldier in World War II

Theo Albrecht took part in the Africa campaign as a member of a supply unit and was later captured by the Americans in Italy .

post war period

After the end of the Second World War , Theo and Karl Albrecht took over their parents' grocery store in 1946 and soon opened a larger branch. By 1950 they had already become a small grocery chain of 31 traditional shops. In 1960 there were already 300 stores, which together had a turnover of 90 million German marks .

Since the Albrecht brothers lived very secluded, little is known about Theo Albrecht. Both brothers were considered very frugal. Theo, like his brother, played golf and collected typewriters. He owned a house in the center of Nieblum on Föhr , where the Albrecht couple often stayed. Theo Albrecht's last published photo is from 1971 - one day after his abduction ended. The reporter Franz Ruch succeeded again in 1987 in photographing the two Albrecht brothers.

Theo Albrecht was married to Cäcilie "Cilly" Albrecht († 2018) and had two sons with her, Theo Albrecht junior (* 1950) and Berthold Albrecht (1954–2012), who also work or worked at Aldi Nord. Theo Albrecht junior has one child and Berthold Albrecht and his wife Babette had five children. Berthold Albrecht was chairman of the board of the family foundations and member of the board of directors of Aldi Nord.

Aldi Nord is founded

In 1960, the brothers renamed the company Albrechts Discount (short: 'Aldi') and divided it up: From then on, Karl took over Aldi Süd and Theo Aldi Nord, which comprised the German area north of the Ruhr area. In 1962 they opened the first Aldi store with the new discount concept in Dortmund. Completely independent of the Aldi concept and the US Aldi Süd branches of his brother, Theo Albrecht also ran the US supermarket chain Trader Joe’s from 1979 .

Theo Albrecht withdrew from the operative business in 1993 and brought his fortune into the Markus Foundation based in Nortorf . Until 2006 he could be found in his office in Essen almost every day. On July 24, 2010, he succumbed to the long-term effects of a fall in the Alfried Krupp Hospital in Essen , which he suffered in 2009 and which had made him nursing care. Hartmuth Wiesemann , who has been with the company for over 50 years, has been responsible for the Aldi Nord company as a member of the board of directors and general representative for several years .

Abduction in 1971

On November 29, 1971 Theo Albrecht was kidnapped by Heinz Joachim Ollenburg and Paul Kron , who had chosen him as a victim through the book The Rich and Super-Rich in Germany . At first they had planned to kidnap Theo's older brother Karl Albrecht . However, when they learned of his poor health, they chose Theo as a victim.

Ollenburg and Kron lay in wait for Theo Albrecht in front of the then corporate headquarters in Herten . When he was the last to leave the building, the two are said to have initially thought they were wrong: Albrecht, who appeared very modest throughout his life, seemed too badly dressed for a multimillionaire and owner of a large chain of stores. They therefore approached him and had his identity card shown to make sure.

The kidnapping lasted 17 days and ended with the payment of seven million marks in ransom  - the highest amount of ransom that had been paid in the Federal Republic until then. The Bishop of Essen, Franz Hengsbach, brought the money, which was attributed to the fact that the two brothers were members of the Catholic Church. Kron was caught on December 20, 1971 and Ollenburg on December 30, 1971, both were sentenced by the Essen regional court in 1973 to imprisonment of eight and a half years each. Around half of the ransom was never found.

In 1979, Theo Albrecht sued the Münster Finance Court, unsuccessfully, for the ransom to be used as a business expense . The judges declared the kidnapping a private matter, so that only the undetectable ransom could be shown as an extraordinary burden on the income tax return.

Billions in fortunes

Like his brother Karl, According to Forbes , Theo was one of the richest people in the world with an estimated fortune of around 16.7 billion US dollars until his death ; he was most recently ranked 31st in the Forbes rankings in 2010. In October 2009, the manager magazine Theo Albrecht ranked second among the richest Germans behind his brother Karl Albrecht. His assets are tied up in the non-dissolvable Markus Foundation . In 2011 the Forbes list led the sons Berthold and Theo jr. With combined assets of 14.4 billion US dollars, it ranks 48th among the richest people in the world and 4th among the richest Germans.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Aldi founder Theo Albrecht has died
  2. ^ Ruhr families: The Albrecht brothers at derwesten.de, accessed on July 28, 2010
  3. Consumer goods and retail »Industry news | Handelsblatt. Retrieved February 12, 2018 .
  4. Der Spiegel No. 31/2010, August 2, 2010, pp. 64–74: Secrets of a Clan, p. 68 (based on the quotation from Karl Albrecht junior, * 1947, mentioned there)
  5. Theo Albrecht Munziger biography
  6. The quiet celebrity paradises. In: www.shz.de. April 29, 2015, accessed May 2, 2019 .
  7. ^ Theo Albrecht on the right, Karl on the left
  8. spiegel.de: Cäcilie Albrecht is dead
  9. a b Sören Jensen: Obituary for Theo Albrecht - father of pure discount theory In: Spiegel Online , July 28, 2010. Accessed on July 28, 2010.
  10. ^ Ruhr families: The Albrecht brothers . In: Ruhrrevue , September 12, 2009
  11. ^ Aldi founder Theo Albrecht has died
  12. manager magazin of March 7, 2006: Aldi: The inventory
  13. http://www.stock-world.de/board/forum_haben/95955/thread.m?a=all stock-world.de of January 3, 2001: ALDI (summary)
  14. cio.de of August 3, 2009: Rivals Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd - The global Aldi strategy
  15. Wolfgang Berke / Jan Zweyer : Really criminal. The spectacular falls from the Ruhr area . Klartext Verlag, Essen 2012, ISBN 978-3-8375-0705-8 , p. 22 f.
  16. https://texte.volare.vorarlberg.at/viewer/fulltext/VorarlbergerNachrichten1972Q1/3
  17. Calendar sheet : November 29, 1971: Diamond Paul's great coup. From: Spiegel Online , November 29, 2007. Retrieved July 28, 2010.
  18. ^ Judgment - Theo Albrecht . In: Der Spiegel , No. 43/1979, October 22, 1979, accessed on September 8, 2015.
  19. ^ FG Münster, judgment of October 5, 1979 - X-II 3122/77 F, juris
  20. heute.de of July 28, 2010: Aldi founder Theo Albrecht is dead - entrepreneurs have apparently been ill for a long time ( memento of the original from April 3, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.heute.de
  21. ^ Forbes Ranking 2010. In: Spiegel Online , accessed on March 11, 2010
  22. K. Boldt: Aldi brothers remain richest Germans. In: Manager Magazin , October 6, 2009
  23. Mourning for Aldi founder - news.de on the death of Theo Albrecht ( Memento from July 31, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  24. The World's Billionaires 2017. Retrieved February 12, 2018 .