Theo Albrecht | How Aldi's Founder Got Kidnapped

Things I Learned Last Night

Space Tim Media

Comedy, Education, History

4.6 • 673 Ratings

🗓️ 14 October 2025

⏱️ 81 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 1971, the unthinkable happened. Theo Albrecht was kidnapped outside his office in Germany. The crime was led by Heinz Joachim Ollenburg, a dishonest lawyer with a gambling problem, and an accomplice named Paul Kron, a former safe-cracker. Their motivation was simple: money. They knew Theo Albrecht and Aldi were worth billions and believed ransom would make them rich. The plan, however, was a disaster. The kidnappers even called Theo’s wife the day before, warning her not to call the police because they planned to take him. Amazingly, she didn’t report it. The next day, they grabbed Theo Albrecht, stuffed him into his own car, and hid him inside a closet at Ollenburg’s law office. Things I Learned Last Night is an educational comedy podcast where best friends Jaron Myers and Tim Stone talk about random topics and have fun all along the way. If you like learning, and laughing a whole lot while you do, then you’ll love TILLN. Watch or listen to this episode today! Become a Patron and Get Early Access to Ad-Free Episodes: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://tilln.com/support⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Episode link: https://tilln.com/theoalbrecht Support TILLN & Join The Mailing List: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/tillnpodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Watch The Gardner Museum Heist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=age4maB_ifo Text TILLN to 66866 to become a patron and gain access to ad-free episodes, the exclusive discord, and earn discounts on TILLN Merch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:35.3	Join us at the Huntington Convention Center. Register today at maycon. That's m-a-i-c-on-a-i. Hey man. What's up? Have you ever heard of Teo Albrecht? Pretty sure it's pronounced Theo. I thought it was Theo, too, but I don't know. No, Theo Al-T, Teo, Teo. Teo, Teo, Albrecht. Probably Teo. Teo Albrecht. He is a German. He was born in 1922, March, 1922. Okay. Him and his brother. His brother, his name is Carl. Let me see. I don't know when Carl was born. I don't know if they're twins or if they're just brothers. No, he's the older brother. He's born in 1920, which makes some sense, actually. Now that I think about it, that makes sense. Think about the story? Yeah, that does make a little bit of sense. Yeah, I agree. Yeah. You know what I did yesterday? No. You don't get to roll in, start this late of our recording and then be like, you know what I did yesterday? I don't know. I want to know what you did this morning because it's on. Now it is the afternoon. We were supposed to start recording. We were supposed to start recording an hour ago. We were not supposed to start recording an hour ago.
1:46.1	Okay.
1:47.0	Me and Alex disagree.
1:50.3	So what did you do yesterday?
1:52.5	Oh, yeah.
1:53.2	Last night, Bree and I, we watched...
1:57.0	Who's free?
1:57.9	We watched Family Fe feud on just,
2:01.5	this is not worth it already.
2:03.3	No,
2:03.5	no,
2:03.7	it is.
2:04.0	No,
	...

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