Highly in debt: The operator of the Bernstorf Castle Hospice in Mecklenburg used the corona pandemic to raise investor money
Photo: Ralf Udo Thiele / dpa / picture allianceBernstorf Castle, a manor house from the 19th century, stands in the midst of Mecklenburg meadows, fields and forests. The terminally ill have spent their retirement years there for six years. The "biohospice", halfway between Lübeck and Wismar, is "a refuge for the last phase of life", it says in a commercial.
Managing director Wolfgang Röhr (66) would like to welcome more sick people soon. He is planning an extension for an "intensive care residential community", and he has the money for it from the Internet: In spring, Röhr collected 1.2 million euros from 450 private investors on the online platform Zinsbaustein.de within a few weeks.
The pandemic helped: In April, Zinsbaustein advertised the hospice investment under the heading "Investing money in times of corona". According to the information, investors can look forward to a 5.25 percent return - a blessing in the era of low interest rates, especially since investors are allegedly supporting the fight against the corona pandemic. "Due to the current situation and an acute need for intensive care places in the region, the developer was urged by the public sector (including the Robert Koch Institute) to accelerate the project in order to be able to provide further ventilation places for patients in a timely manner", it says there. The press spokeswoman for the Robert Koch Institute, however, denies: "We did not issue such a request and asked the operator to stop."
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