It's a world where the anxiety of making ends meet doesn't exist. Where freedom seems infinite because everything is for sale. Where one is born with the certainty of abundance and power – the kind held today by the great dynastic fortunes of Western capitalism. "The ultrarich believe they are at the center of society, but in reality, they are on the fringes," said Marlene Engelhorn, 33. They have their own schools and private clinics, live in ultra-secure neighborhoods and cultivate a discreet exclusivity.

Engelhorn knows this world of privileged heirs well: She is part of it. "I was inducted into super-wealth at birth," she said. A descendant of Friedrich Engelhorn, the founder of the German chemical and pharmaceutical company BASF, she became a multimillionaire upon the death of her grandmother, Traudl Engelhorn-Vechiatto, in September 2022. "I was a literature student, I didn't work or do anything to deserve this money," she said, adding: "Inheritance is an injustice."

With short hair and a childlike face that contrasts with the determination of her speech, Engelhorn recounts how, at university, she realized the golden cage in which she lived. "Being born into a wealthy family has an almost religious dimension," she said. "The ultrarich think they are more competent than the rest of the population simply because they can pay to see their ideas implemented, in politics as well as in economics."

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