The founder of the drugstore chain dm, Götz Werner, is dead. He died on Tuesday at the age of 78, as the company announced in Karlsruhe.
His family said his strength had steadily declined over the past few months. The CEO, Christoph Werner, said his father died peacefully. He was born in Heidelberg on February 5, 1944.
When Werner was in his late 20s, he founded his first drugstore discounter. His concept caught on. But Werner, once German junior rowing champion, was never satisfied with mere doing business and haggling over a few cents per care product. He tried to understand the connections in the world. What was particularly important to him: that people should be paid so that they have the opportunity to work, so that they can develop freely and contribute.
Werner thought of money and earnings the other way around, so to speak. “1000 euros for everyone. Freedom, equality, basic income” is the title of his first non-fiction book. Since then, Werner has been considered a pioneer of the unconditional basic income. “The principle is: First something is new, at some point it becomes natural. 100 years ago, some people publicly claimed that women are not allowed to vote because they cannot think. Anyone who is exposed to the adversities of life sooner or later recognizes what is trendy is,” he said in a 2016 interview with the SZ. “I soon realized that if society gave all citizens a stable basis, everyone would live more dignified and work more freely or do what is good for them,” he said about the idea of a basic income.
In his commitment to the unconditional basic income, Werner saw an important social contribution to giving people the freedom to take their own initiative and participate in the life of free civil society, even in times of increasing globalization, digitization and automation. “He was always aware that he would not live to see the completion of this idea,” says the statement about his death. Nevertheless, he committed himself to it with great energy because he recognized it as right and sensible for himself. Werner also gained a foothold in the academic world. In May 2005, the University of Karlsruhe commissioned him to head the Institute for Entrepreneurship and awarded him the title of professor.
The drugstore chain dm is active in 14 European countries. More than 66,000 people work there. According to the company, sales amounted to 12.3 billion euros. In 2008 Werner withdrew from operational responsibility.