German Family Businesses - DVD

Content: In times of globalization, economic crises and multinational corporations, they are still THE backbone of the German economy: the family businesses. The new series "Mein Deutschland" of Deutsche Welle portrays in its first issue 42 of these German family businesses, which often stand between tradition and modernity and can always stand up to crises and other adversities. In short reports, each lasting between four and six minutes, the series presents the companies, their philosophy, history and of course the people at the top. For example, viewers can watch the head of Ritter Sport passionately test new varieties while he tells us how the square, practical, good chocolate got its name and shape. Or there is the opportunity to take a look at the archives of the Langenscheidt publishing house and at the same time risk a glimpse into the future of the company. There is a visit to the museum of Niederegger Marzipan, a look at the executive floor of the Frankfurt banking house Metzler and valuable tips on buying the right Dirndl, of course from Tostmann Dirndl. Why the legendary circus family Sarrasani has said goodbye to the classical circus and now has great success with Variete or what the corporate philosophy of the DuMont publishing house looks like, these are just a few of the questions that this series explores.

Surely, the portraits are simply far too short to offer a truly in-depth insight into the history and work of the respective companies. This is a shame in that some of the short documentaries really leave you wanting more. But to get an overview of family-owned companies like Miele, Villeroy & Boch, Heraeus Metalle, Mustang Textilien and many more, this double DVD is definitely recommended.

Picture + Sound: The quality of picture and sound is at a good TV level and more than meets the demands that can be placed on documentary material such as this. The sound is, contrary to what is stated on the covers, not only in German, but optionally also in English. There aren't really any qualitative differences between the two soundtracks, though. Overall, there is a deserved here: good!

Extras: Except for trailers for other DVDs of the provider, no other bonus material is included on the two discs.

Conclusion: Even if the individual contributions have sometimes turned out a little too short, this double DVD offers a good insight behind the scenes of German traditional companies. Anyone interested in our economic history, these 42 short portraits can certainly be put to the heart.

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp