The East Westphalian in itself is - so the cliché - an angular type. He goes through life upright and is extremely clever in business. Global companies in the area there are testimony to his constant success. One (positive) characteristic of the East Westphalian himself should not be concealed: To be more than appearances. But if you mix it up, you fail and are cut off in social life. Here too, the East Westphalian is consistent in itself.

Of course, the successful East Westphalian entrepreneur seeks proximity to politics; sometimes discreetly, where influence seems more effective, sometimes more publicly as proof of how much society recognizes him. Conversely, some politicians also seek proximity to successful entrepreneurs, perhaps in the belief that the mutual shine could be potentiated and converted into votes.

There was a picture in the media, how the (physically small) NRW Minister President Laschet smiles at the (physically large and therefore very present) meat and food mogul Tönnies. Sure, we know each other, we are familiar, we are increasing the gross national product. Is that why people don't look so closely when shouts are raised that politics and offices need to take a closer look? Because (alleged?) grievances in the East Westphalian town of Rheda-Wiedenbrück have been pointed out for years. Little came and comes out, a few fine proceedings, which are paid by the Tönnies holding rather from the petty cash. In modification of "The show must go on" one can say, the slaughterhouse continues, the immense creation of value of the entrepreneur likewise.

But he also gives back. Is a sponsor of the women's soccer club FSV Gütersloh, formerly part of FC Gütersloh, before the department became independent in 2009 and even made it into the first women's soccer Bundesliga for a year. Currently, the ambitious women play in the second division. Their club icon is certainly Lena Goeßling, 106-time national team player and long-time midfielder for the series champions VFL Wolfsburg. She played for Gütersloh until 2006, when she even became U19 world champion.

Oh yes, Tönnies and the women. The magazine "EMMA", repeatedly vilified by machos, painted a devastating picture in its last issue about the working conditions of women in slaughterhouses, especially when they come from Eastern Europe and are sold to East Westphalia via subcontractors.

This picture stands in strange contradiction to the self-portrayal of the Tönnies homepage - there "responsibility" is written - of course right at the top!

For Style PASS online Eckhard Britsch comments