Marlene Engelhorn is 29 years old and will one day receive an inheritance of millions. She wants to give up at least 90 percent of it. A conversation with the descendant of BASF founder Friedrich Engelhorn about wealth and power – and the reason why she doesn’t believe in donations.
Interview by
Caspar Busse and Valentina Reese
Two years ago, Marlene Engelhorn found out that her grandmother Traudl would bequeath her an amount in the double-digit million range. This is not surprising: the 29-year-old Viennese and German studies student is a descendant of BASF founder Friedrich Engelhorn. Her late grandfather Peter was a partner in the Boehringer Mannheim Group, which was sold to the pharmaceutical company Roche for several billion euros. Marlene Engelhorn was born into a family that has been wealthy for many generations. And yet it does something that very few wealthy heirs do: it goes public and does not want to keep the inheritance. What is it that drives you?