The man with the suitcase full of money: in January 1998, Union found a prominent supporter in media entrepreneur Dr Michael Kölmel of Kinowelt, who made it his business to help financially leaking traditional clubs. Generous or merely shrewd? Opinions differ.
In total he invested 65 million euros across various clubs; Union were his first patient. When he and club president Heiner Bertram announced Union’s rescue, Bertram had tears in his eyes. Union became debt free, assigned their television rights to Kölmel and started an image transformation.
But did exactly what Nina Hagen’s anthem denied ever happen after all? “Who refuses to be bought by the West? Eisern Union!” Or perhaps not entirely?