“It depends on how a person adjusts to an unchangeable destiny.” – Dietrich Mateschitz liked to read the books of Viktor Frankl, the founder of logotherapy and existential analysis. He also acted accordingly when the signs of his illness became more noticeable.
We are in Fuschl am See. The headquarters of Red Bull. The 14 bronze bulls storm the landscape like lava, and at lunchtime hundreds of employees swarm out and eat in the local inns. “A blessing for us!” It’s like a standard sentence that we hear at all of the Group’s locations in Austria.Loved down-to-earth innsDietrich Mateschitz preferred noble, small, fine and yet simple and, above all, down-to-earth restaurants. Summer 2022. The hotel terrace on the Fuschl promenade seems to merge with the water. Fisherman Johannes fetched his wild catch from the cold depths. Reinanke only thrives there. Unnoticed by the other guests, Dietrich Mateschitz and his partner Marion are sitting a little apart, right by the lake. The landlady always ensures discretion. To the left you can see the filbling at dusk. Mateschitz only bought the mountain, including the forests and the small lake, because he didn’t want another quarry to cut a deep wound into the wonderful landscape. From the terrace, the view goes to the other side to a spacious hotel complex. A Ukrainian family has been spending their holidays here since 2005 at the personal invitation of Dietrich Mateschitz. The cop had learned about the blood disease of the then 13-year-old son of a pilot. He had the very rare, life-saving drug, which is only available in Austria, brought to the hospital in Ukraine in a refrigerated van. He then provided for the education of the healed young man and had a workshop built for him, which he successfully runs. The father can no longer come to Fuschl, his jet crashed during the war. Boundless charity really makes you rich. Not millions or billions. DM helps quietly. The only condition: nobody is allowed to tell anything about it. He pays the entire debt of a farming family whose father crashed with his tractor. He finances school and college for the four children of a single mother who was killed on a zebra crossing. He sends a special prosthesis to a boy whose lower leg has to be amputated. The happy child can swim again.Mateschitz loves water and makes far-reaching decisions in every situation in his life. Red Bull enters the American Cup of Sailors. Port facilities on the Adriatic go to his foundation, just like the structural jewels in the Ausseerland, DM has them renovated carefully and down to the last detail. The best lawyers and economists on his executive team review every line of the agreements. DM only wants very brief information. Then he signs. A contract seems like a legacy, there has never been anything like it in Europe: 70 million DM donated to the Medical University of Salzburg. The last five of these will follow in 2023. “He declined all the honors offered because they didn’t suit his style,” says the first rector, Herbert Resch. He once operated on Mateschitz when he was injured after a motorcycle accident in the African desert. Resch knows it: “During meetings with the scientists and doctors, the highly educated Dietrich astounded with targeted and to the point questions.” Mateschitz accepts fate and moves to Auhof am Wolfgangsee, which he bought years ago. A long lake shore, dense forest all around, a magnificent view of the waves and the mountains around the Bleckwand. The Landhaus zu Appesbach next door has been renovated true to its style. The food comes from there. Doctors take care of the patient.Verstappen visit and the last instructionsMax Verstappen is invited to a last visit, for Mateschitz the Formula 1 world champion is part of the family, he always hugged him warmly after the victories on the racetracks. Everything is done in strict secrecy, because riot media are already speculating about the disease. The last instructions from DM come from Lake Wolfgang: the rescue of a dilapidated hotel on the idyllic Preber in Lungau, and yes no commemorations, no black flags. Everything should go on. The work he has been building up since 1984 calls for happiness and daring. DM dies on Lake Wolfgang. There, where in summer the best cliff divers in the world threw themselves off the steep Falkensteinwand, where the Alpha Jets drew vapor trails in the sky, where helicopters performed somersaults in front of thousands of spectators, where he landed in his small seaplane or by boat to his loved ones small taverns right on the shore. Hans Peter Hasenöhrl The final part of the Mateschitz series (about his son Mark) will appear on Tuesday (All Saints’ Day) in your Kronen Zeitung.
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