If you have been in Germany for any length of time you are likely to have contributed to the USD 25 billion that Theo and Karl Albrecht have squirreled away.

The Albrecht name may not be familiar but the trade name of Aldi's is.

Aldi's supermarkets are part of the retail landscape across Germany - and can now be found from Ireland to Australia.

Aldi's has been celebrated in this column before for lowering the already subterranean standards of German supermarkets.

Aldi's stores are laid out with the care and flair of a warehouse. Staff are virtually non-existent and the only assistance they offer customers is an occasional snappy demand to hurry up.

Everything is obnoxious about Aldi's, except the prices.

The brothers Albrecht developed their retailing formula from a single family store which they took over in the smoking ruins of the Rhur valley in 1945.

They worked hard and built some success, but their breakthrough came in the early 1960's when they hit on their formula of 'hard discount.'

The formula involved selling a small range of goods, very cheaply. Most are sold as 'home brands' and the brothers Albrecht drove unprecedentedly hard bargains with brand name suppliers.

Not long ago they were the first retailers to force the breakfast food giant Kellogg's to supply their trusty Corn Flakes and other cereals for sale under an Aldi's label.

The brothers, Theo and Karl, built their empires separately but in co-operation. They initially split Germany, Theo took the north and Karl the south. Later they divvied up the world.

A major interruption to their personal economic miracle came at the beginning of the seventies when Theo Albrecht was kidnapped. Apparently the kidnappers found the richest man in Germany so nondescript that, having bundled him into the getaway car, they demanded to see an ID.

Theo was held for 11 days before a USD 2 million ransom demand was paid and he was released.

On his release Theo said: "I am healthy, but of course I am very tired. The whole experience took a lot out of me."

And that was the last public comment made by either brother.

Interestingly it was reported that the ransom payment was subsequently claimed as a tax deduction on the grounds that it was a necessary expenditure on life support.

After the kidnap drama it was back to work building the empire of Aldi's across Germany, Europe, Britain and Ireland, the United States and most recently Australia.

The name changes at times but the formula is the same - not pretty but cheap.

And next time you go into an Aldi's store you can be comforted by the knowledge that when you lift a beer from that steepling pile of containers or take the eight-mark olive oil to the cashier you are making the Albrechts' fortune just that little bit bigger.