Old Money Luxury
In the shadows of Germany’s history, the Quandt family, the German “old money” family known for their ownership of BMW, represents a complex saga of immense wealth entwined with a controversial past.
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The $50 Billion Family Who Got Kidnapped: Aldi and The Albrecht Brothers:
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The German “Old Money” Family That Owns Bavaria (NOT The Habsburgs):
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TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 Introduction
1:09 Chapter 1: The Quality of Being A Quandt
5:26 Chapter 2: Beaming A Light on The Beamer Origins
10:55 Chapter 3: Getting Bigger After The War
14:32 Chapter 4: The Third Generation
17:03 Chapter 5: The Documentary and The Future of The Family
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The family’s story unfolds with Stefan Quandt at the helm, inheriting significant stakes in BMW, which under his leadership, continued to dominate the global automotive market with prestigious subsidiaries like Mini and Rolls-Royce.
Despite the economic upheavals, such as the pandemic, BMW’s operations flourished, particularly in the U.S., reflecting Stefan’s robust management since 1997.
Beyond the gleaming showrooms and sleek designs of BMW cars, Stefan Quandt’s influence extends into Delton AG, a conglomerate that manages a diverse portfolio from pharmaceuticals to tech products, illustrating the breadth of the Quandt family’s business acumen.
However, Stefan remains a reclusive figure, his public appearances scarce, his life details guarded, choosing instead to exert his influence through substantial political donations, ensuring the Quandt family remains a potent yet hidden force in German politics.
Parallel to Stefan’s narrative is his sister, Susanne Klatten, the wealthiest woman in Germany as of 2022.
Her fortune was initially anchored in a significant stake in Altana, a pharmaceutical giant, which has expanded under her leadership.
Like her brother, Susanne maintains a low profile, yet her influence is profound, not only within BMW’s boardroom but also through significant contributions to the Christian Democratic Union, echoing the family’s longstanding engagement with political processes.
However, the Quandt dynasty is also shadowed by a dark historical chapter that traces back to World War II.
The family’s patriarch, Günther Quandt, and his son Herbert were implicated in using forced labor in their factories during the Nazi era.
This unsettling aspect of their history was thrust into the public eye with the release of “The Silence of the Quandts,” a documentary that prompted a significant backlash and led the family to commission an independent study to investigate their Nazi-era activities.
The investigation, completed in 2011, confirmed the family’s involvement with the Nazi regime, casting a long shadow over their legacy.
Despite this, the Quandt family has not made reparations or set up memorials at the former factory sites, a decision that continues to draw criticism and scrutiny.
As the Quandt family moves forward, they embody a dual legacy—on one side, innovators and leaders in the global automotive industry, and on the other, bearers of a burdensome history.
Their story is a potent reminder of the complexities of “old money” in Europe, where immense wealth and power are often juxtaposed with ethical and historical dilemmas.
The ongoing public and scholarly examination of their past ensures that the Quandt family’s story is not just about luxury cars and business success but also about remembering and understanding the darker chapters of history.
The enigmatic Quandt dynasty, therefore, continues to be both celebrated for their business achievements and scrutinized for their historical actions, embodying the challenging legacy of Germany’s industrial icons.
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COMMENT: Which wealthy family with a mysterious past would you like us to feature next on this channel?
The Cumberbatchs, from which Benedict comes. BC’s ancentors seem to be implicated in slave trade. This great actor is not responsible at all for what his family did in the past, though.
Sassoon family
This made me remember how many Russians, urged on by Putin, went to Berlin to commemorate the end of WWII which they call their victory while driving their German cars, many of the BMWs… No problem there and still no forks are given, and they love their BMWs while pretending to fight the “Nazis” in Ukraine.
For example, China’s communist regime throughout its history has become directly responsible for countless deaths, probably by now more than the number of victims of WWII, but instead of cancelling Chinese good, on the contrary, the world is depending on them.
By no means, I’m not trying to defend WWII atrocities, however, by now it starts to seem kind of sloppy (for lack of a better word) to keep pinning all the guilt on the Germans, while we conveniently turn a blind eye on others (because, well, the Germans make it so easy).
Stop with the complete nonsense, the Chinese Communist Party pulled out of chaos and continued the rebuilding of China to what it is today. Those steps are part of what is required to restore a nation to order and remove obstacles to its development. The Chinese Communist party did not invade, enslaved, and exploit other countries, as the West did. And for the record neither did the Soviet union. This is what western apologist for Empire seem to forget when they want to point the finger at communism, the people who suffered under communism are the people who also saw the benefits. The same most certainly cannot be said for the millions of people in Africa, asia, and the americas, who were worked to death for the benefit of European empire.
their uniforms, tho. Mao jackets just don’t compare.
It’s a new time and a new generation.
Get over it!
You wonder why the Jewish people haven’t asked BMW for reparations due to their crimes against the Jewish people. That the BMW used them for slave labor and profited from “crimes against humanity” against the Jewish people.
My favorite car manufacture, Porsche, also has a similar shameful origin story. With that being said, the Porsche 911 Turbo S is my dream car.
It just highlights the inherent danger of corporations becoming too closely aligned with the state which was Mussolini’s definition of Fascism or Corporatism. The same danger is present in the W.E.F.’s public and private partnerships (PPP) or as they call it Stakeholder Capitalism. I wouldn’t single out the Quandts, they were – for a time – part of the Fascist system in Germany – like many others. You could do an episode on the Bush family who had a “mysterious” past” including during WWII – maybe a bit too controversial tho’.
Please do videos on the Fugger and Krupp families.
Also please do videos on the Thyssen and Welser families. Have you done the Siemens family already? I don’t recall right off.
Please do a documentary on the Dantata and Dangote Family in Nigeria and West Africa. @oldmoneyluxury
Good video. It should also be noted that BMW also supply engines to other car brands as well. As for the Quandt’s past affiliations with the nazi regime. I think 🤔 there’s lots of families who decided to join them out of fear of retaliation from their mob, rather than to be in their way. They got off lightly in comparison to the likes of Porsche though. Needless to say Günther Quandt was put on trial for his role in the war and was released. You could argue that his and his family’s actions afterwards went a long way towards rebuilding West Germany into the success it became after the war.
Excellent video.
i would never buy a BMW product.
The Packer Family Australia
Title is slanderous, malicious and vile. This family has nothing to do with the decisions of that generation of the past.
Funny how the spoils of the blood soaked english empire are never a topic.
Look…squirrel!
We have numerous videos about British aristocrats and their pasts
Excellent video. How about Bayer, I.G. Farben, and the Mengele family dynasties?
Being super decent and honest will never get you into the worlds wealthiest club. It just doesn’t work that way.
Those are AC Cobras in the beginning.
I guess the quants are billionaires and they say you can stick it😄
You forgot one important detail in chapter three about the post war era: in order to save BMW, they forced their main competitor Borgward into bankruptcy. Borgward was one of Germany’s largest car manufacturers in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. And they were the ones that invented the upper middle class premium saloon cars that made BMW famous in later years. After Borgward was gone, BMW copied many of their designs and technologies to create their own range of cars