The death of Germany's richest man creates one of Europe's biggest foundations

https://www.euronews.com/business/2026/09/01/the-death-of-germanys-richest-man-creates-one-of-europes-biggest-foundations

Klaus-Michael Kühne had no children and lived in a Swiss canton with zero inheritance tax. When he died, his €42.2bn fortune passed tax-free into a decades-old charity, instantly making it one of the wealthiest foundations in Europe.

58 points · 15 comments · view on lemmy.world

15 Comments

schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works · 64 pts · 2d

*Into a decades-old charity this guy started with his parents.

Abolish foundations. Tax the rich.

mustbe3to20signs@feddit.org · 63 pts · 2d (7 replies)

BTW his/his company's money originally stems from collecting, transporting and selling killed Jews belongings. He fought all his life to make people forget this.

lath@piefed.social · 10 pts · 2d (1 reply)

Hmm. Would be fun to have those funds used for rebuilding Palestine.

nimisnimi@lemmy.ca · -9 pts · 2d

You have a very weird understanding of "fun".

And your suggestion is quite self-denouncing too, imo.

cryptTurtle@piefed.social · -5 pts · 2d (4 replies)

At least some good came out of it

distal@lemmy.ml · 8 pts · 2d (3 replies)

How?

cryptTurtle@piefed.social · -1 pts · 9h (2 replies)

The article is about how is fortune is being sent to a charity

distal@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 41m

Charities are famously reliable and that unkills the people who were killed by Nazi Germany for businesses like his

gedfromgont@piefed.ca · 1 pts · 32m

It moved, as planned decades in advance, into the Kühne Foundation, a charity he set up with his parents about 50 years ago.

If you think that charity was going to feed the poor or something, this does not sound too promising.

TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com · 20 pts · 2d (3 replies)

ühne made no secret of his frustration with Germany's tax and economic system. In a 2022 interview with German broadcaster NDR, he said plainly that the state "cannot manage the economy properly".

That needs decoded.

DrakeAlbrecht@lemmy.world · 28 pts · 2d (2 replies)

"I hate poor people but I love their money."

brotundspiele@feddit.org · 20 pts · 2d

He used his money very charitable, by building Opera houses and paying other millionaires for running behind a ball. The politicians and newspapers in his home town couldn't stop talking about how generous he was. Up to a point where I had a taste of puke in my mouth, from listening to them.

God forbid this money would have been spent on something for the filthy poor people, like musical instruments for elementary schools, or new changing rooms for a small village sports club. That's why you don't want to pay taxes.

TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com · 17 pts · 2d

He basically removed 20 billion++ euros from their economy to show Germany that he loved the country too much.

UpperBroccoli@feddit.org · 19 pts · 2d (1 reply)

"Charity" really has lost all meaning.

Maeve@kbin.earth · 1 pts · 8h

It was always weregild.