NDR - Pioneers Turned Millionaires (2010)

The legendary Levi's jeans, Heinz Tomato Ketchup, Boeing planes, precious Steinway pianos and the legendary Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York - they are all achievements from the land of opportunity. But they have another thing in common: their creators emigrated from Germany to the New World.
What do jeans, ketchup, planes, pianos, and furs have in common? Each is the product of an American dream come true. "Pioneers Turned Millionaires" is a five-part series that delves deep into the stories of five German entrepreneurs who redefined American economy and left a major imprint on American culture.
Five visionary entrepreneurs from the old world redefined the economy of the new world and left a major imprint on American culture. Levi Strauss, Henry E. Steinway, William E. Boeing, John Jacob Astor and Henry J. Heinz changed the way the world eats, dresses, plays and travels - one can hardly ignore their names or products anywhere in the world today. Innovation, courage, persistency and hard work were the attributes that made them succeed in a strange new country.
We visit the companies of Levi Strauss & Co., Steinway & Sons, Heinz and Boeing. We see how each of their founders had a novel and brilliant idea, used it to established a company and gained fame, honour and wealth. With the help of high-end reconstructions and exquisite archive material, this series presents one of the most fascinating and exciting eras of American economic history. How did these five men, who all started out as immigrants, become archetypical self-made millionaires that even now epitomize success?
These biographies are the definitive portraits of these five entrepreneneurial giants: businessmen who have their homeland in common and their place in history secured. They had left for economic, social, political or religious reasons but all to find a better life in the United States of America. Relive the tragedies and the triumphs that made them millions while leaving a major imprint on American culture.

A GBF Gebrueder Beetz Co-Production with NDR in Collaboration with ARTE and Smithsonian Networks

Part 1: Henry J. Heinz: Ketchup King
He revolutionized America's eating habits with a simple recipe for success: "Do a common thing, uncommonly well." From horseradish salesman to multi-millionaire: Henry John Heinz, the son of German immigrants, forever changed the way food is packaged, sold and eaten. With simple ingredients, closely guarded family recipes, plus revolutionary branding methods, Heinz made a fortune on everyday products like gherkins, sauerkraut and, of course, his famous ketchup. Travel back in time to the Steel Capital of the World, circa the 1800s, and see how the King of Condiments began his empire, one vegetable at a time. With everyday products like pickles, sauerkraut, and the now-legendary ketchup, Henry John Heinz changed the way Americans eat—if not the world. Born in Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) in 1844, the son of German emigrants from Kallstadt in the Rhineland-Palatinate is an attentive observer of his time. The railroad connects all of America, more and more people are flocking from the country to the cities, where a large clientele for ready meals is rapidly growing. Heinz uses all technical innovations to open up these promising markets. He becomes one of the most peculiar factory owners in the USA: his employees are manicured daily, and the company provides its employees with medical care and numerous leisure activities. Henry John Heinz may not become the richest, but he is one of the most popular entrepreneurs in America with his workers and customers. The man who made ketchup what it is today had many talents. He withstood great defeats and founded a company empire that is still one of the big brands in the world today.


Part 2: Henry E. Steinway: Birth of a Legend
It began when a man named Henry Steinway created a piano for his wife as a wedding gift. Years later, he would share his gift with the world. His name is synonymous with quality and excellence, but Henry Steinway's life was full of tragedy and loss. By the time he was 15, he was forced to make it on his own…which he did in style. Follow the high and low notes of Steinway's life, from his brave actions in the Battle of Waterloo to his arduous trek to America, where he built a musical instrument empire, one piano at a time. His business made him wealthy, but family made him rich, and though tragedy would again strike, Steinway and Sons kept making music. Steinway & Sons concert grand pianos are still considered by pianists to be the best in the world and can be found in 98 percent of all major concert halls. They are still mostly made by hand in the factories in New York and Hamburg – from over 12,000 individual parts. The father of this success story was Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg, who emigrated from Seesen in the Harz Mountains to America in the mid-19th century and rose to become the most famous piano maker of all time in New York. The documentary traces the unusual life of Steinweg, who worked his way up from the proverbial dishwasher to a millionaire. Steinweg came from the humblest circumstances. By the age of 15 he had already lost his entire family. Orphaned, he enlisted in the military in Braunschweig and fought against Napoleon's army in the Battle of Waterloo. In Seesen he started out as a furniture maker, eventually became an instrument maker and a successful businessman and emigrated to the New World. He Americanized his name to Henry E. Steinway and just a few years later founded Steinway & Sons with his sons. With re-enacted scenes, archive material and interviews with historians and descendants of Henry Steinway, the film paints an exciting picture of the struggle for survival in New York in the 19th century and sheds light on the rapid rise of the family business to become the most renowned piano brand in the world.


Part 3: John Jacob Astor: America's Richest Man
His name means luxury and elegance, but his rise to prominence was rife with struggle and turmoil. Step into a world of adventure and danger as we explore the life of America's first multi-millionaire, John Jacob Astor. From his early years, hiding from his abusive father, to his perilous journey across the Atlantic, to a series of personal and professional tragedies, his life was anything but opulent. Yet, John Jacob Astor routinely turned his life of uncertainties into opportunities, amassing an unprecedented fortune along the way. Witness it all, via dramatic re-enactments and interviews with biographers, historians and descendants of the Astor family. It is the adventurous story of a poor boy from Germany who becomes a multi-millionaire in New York in the early 19th century. Born in Walldorf near Heidelberg in 1763, Johann Jakob Astor emigrated to America as a young man. New York is still a village, the United States has just become independent. Astor roams the vast country and exchanges cheap goods with the Indian tribes for valuable hides and furs. With unscrupulous methods, Astor soon rises to become America's most important fur trader. Astor also acquires land in steadily growing New York, becoming Manhattan's largest real estate owner. When he died in 1846, he left behind a fortune that would be equivalent to eight billion euros in today's money. His unimaginable wealth and sense of style make Astor's name shimmer to this day. But the search for clues reveals an ambiguous personality that provoked both admiration and contempt. The documentary gives an insight into the power circles of young America, the network of Freemasons and the moneyed nobility of New York. But it also testifies to Astor's complicity in the genocide of the Indians by unscrupulously using alcohol as a medium of exchange for furs.


Part 4: Levi Strauss: Blue Jeans Billionaire
Discover the rags-to-riches story behind one the largest and most legendary fashion labels in the world. Denim is literally the fabric of America, and all because of the vision and perseverance of Levi Strauss. After immigrating from Buttenheim, Germany, Strauss headed west during the Gold Rush to sell his dry goods. His San Francisco fortune came not from gold, but from a small copper rivet and a patent that would soon bring him fortunes he had only dreamed of before. See how his dedication and vision transformed his simple work pants into the most popular clothing product in the world. All over the world people wear jeans. The countless myths and legends that have grown up around the invention of blue jeans and that were deliberately spread by PR strategists at Levi Strauss & Co. at the beginning of the 20th century also contributed to this. The life story of Loeb Strauss, who called himself Levi in ​​America, is one of the most exciting stories in German emigration history, even without these legends. Thanks to his assertiveness, his inventiveness and his feel for the market, he mastered the steep path from the poor Jewish peddler's son from Franconia to the most influential and also most popular businessman in San Francisco. The documentary takes the viewer on a journey back in time by following the arduous path of the young Loeb Strauss from Buttenheim via Bremerhaven and New York to San Francisco. It draws an exciting picture of the struggle for survival of the German-Jewish immigrants in America in the 19th century and sheds light on the rapid rise of the haberdashery merchant Levi Strauss, who became a millionaire with the invention of blue jeans and with his Levi's created a cult object of the "American way of life".


Part 5: William E. Boeing: Ace of Aircraft
In his day, aviation was a curiosity, but William Boeing had the vision and purpose to turn it into a soaring industry. His path was a continual journey into the unknown, but William Boeing's life story is one of amazing ascent, from a trouble-making child shipped off to a Swiss boarding school to a starry-eyed adult who reached for the skies when few others dared. Boeing's journey was marked by turbulence and triumphs on his long path to creating a global enterprise. Take your seat as we follow the seminal moments of a life driven by passion, not profits, and a career that influenced the events of World War I, the Prohibition-era, and the Great Depression. The name "Boeing" stands like no other for the dynamic world of aviation, for huge airplanes, for global air traffic as well as for success and economic power. But hardly anyone suspects that the powerful "global player" was once a family business, and few know that the family originally came from Germany. In 1868, 22-year-old Wilhelm Boeing decided to leave his hometown of Hohenlimburg, now part of the city of Hagen, forever. Like many before him, he is drawn to the still young USA: a huge country full of unlimited opportunities on the other side of the Atlantic. The young Boeing went to Michigan, where a veritable timber boom broke out at the time. Boeing was soon able to establish himself as a lumber dealer and quickly became rich - a storybook career, from sawmill worker to lumber baron. In the winter of 1889/90, Wilhelm Boeing died unexpectedly as a result of a rampant flu epidemic. A bitter loss for his son Wilhelm jr. First the boy is sent to boarding school in Switzerland, then to the elite Yale University before following in his father's footsteps as a lumber dealer near Seattle. The big turning point came in 1910: Wilhelm Boeing, who now calls himself William Boeing, attended the first international air show in the USA and went to Los Angeles especially for it. There he was caught by the flying virus, which would not let go of him for the rest of his life. Only Black Friday, the stock market crash of 1929 that was to paralyze the world economy for years, ended the Boeing family's flight in the USA. The company founder bitterly turns away from the gigantic company empire and retires to his yacht.