Rudi Wojtowicz (66) does not remember the day his old life ended. He shrugs, big tears rolling down his cheeks: “There’s a hole in my head. I just don’t know anymore.”
When he woke up from the coma, they told him that he had been on a business trip to Leipzig on March 2, 2021. The VfL Wolfsburg scout was to take a last look at the next opponent, RB Leipzig. On the return journey, he pulled over to the right, the police later reconstructed. Passers-by found him dead in his car. He had suffered a heart attack about half an hour earlier.
Ocher-yellow single-family houses stand in a neat side street in Wolfsburg. It almost looks like Italy here. Maria Wojtowicz (48) opens the door.
The Brazilian smiles friendly, but she looks tired. The last few months have chiselled rings under her beautiful brown eyes. “Welcome, please come in,” she greets the BamS reporters.
Rudi Wojtowicz is waiting in the hallway. From 1982 to 1992 he played as a tough defender in over 200 games for Leverkusen and Düsseldorf and also played once for the Polish national team. He then jetted around the world as a scout for Hertha BSC and VfL Wolfsburg and steered stars into the Bundesliga.
His hand trembles a little as he greets, but the handshake is firm. Sometimes he has to search for words, he keeps dabbing his eyes dry and is very moved.
Photo: Henning Scheffen
” data-zoom-src=”https://bilder.bild.de/fotos/mit-dem-rollator-kann-wojtowicz-sich-schon-wieder-gut-vorwaerts-bewegen-ehefrau-maria-hilftihm-dabei- 09ab80dcfebf4a1e976e7746aecd0784-80511806/image/3.image.jpg”/> With the walker, Wojtowicz can move forward again. His wife Maria helps himPhoto: Henning Scheffen
He and his wife want to tell their story. They want to report on how their life and that of their son Rudi junior (18) was turned upside down. And they want to call for help. Because if nothing dramatic happens, they will soon have to move out of their beloved home.
Mary takes a deep breath. She struggled with herself for a long time, hoping that everything would turn out well after all. But that didn’t happen: first the heart attack, then her husband was in an artificial coma for 25 days.
When he woke up, he wasn’t the same anymore: his brain had suffered. Sometimes he got aggressive. He was transferred from rehab to a psychiatric ward. There, his wife and son found him bedridden, drugged, with bruises all over his body. “It was a nightmare,” says Maria.
Only when the doctors managed to adjust his medication better did things start to improve: he was released to go home and can now walk longer distances with his walker.
But as positive as the health development was, things went downhill financially just as quickly. 45 days after the heart attack, the daily sickness allowance took effect, which was significantly lower than his salary at VfL. And when he turned 66 on June 9 of this year, there was a pension for the first time – even less money in the household budget.
“Honestly, we don’t know what to do anymore,” says Maria and swallows hard. Rudy nods. The savings are almost gone, the costs for treatments, medicine, Maria’s train journeys to her husband have eaten it up. In December, old friends collected a considerable sum for the family: “It was the only way we could stay in our house,” says Maria.
Then she bursts out: “We feel let down by VfL Wolfsburg,” she sobbed.
Rudi has been working for the club for twelve years, was always on the move, always there when something needed to be done: “People always talk about the big VfL family. But unfortunately we don’t notice any of that. My Rudi is treated like a broken machine that is no longer needed. In doing so, he sacrificed himself for VfL.”
Foto: imago images/Christian Schroedter
” data-zoom-src=”https://bilder.bild.de/fotos/rudi-wojtowicz-l–und-wolfsburg-geschaeftsfuehrerjoerg-schmadtke-both-played-six-years-in-duesse-dd2fa7e957e649c5b4b239de4e7c65ee-80511810 /image/3.image.jpg”/> Rudi Wojtowicz (left) and Wolfsburg Managing Director Jörg Schmadtke: Both played together in Düsseldorf for six years Foto: imago images/Christian Schroedter
The club sent a recovery video and offered free tickets to a home game. And on his 66th birthday, a text message came from the man to whom Rudi Wojtowicz had to hand over his chief scout post two years ago: Nils Schmadtke, son of Managing Director Jörg Schmadtke. According to their own statement, the Wojtowicz family is still waiting in vain for the longed-for offer of financial help, even though they informed the club of their predicament.
“That disappoints me a lot,” says Rudi quietly, “I’ve always done everything for the club.”
Maria strokes his arm: “Rudi was put under so much pressure. Suddenly he was only a ‘member of the scouting department’ instead of a chief scout, and during the Corona period he even received a warning because he had taken a colleague with him in the car.”
The family often had to step back, she says, and there were never holidays together: “Rudi never took vacation, he worked a lot of overtime, countless hours. As an employer, I also see the association as having a duty to look after its employees. But with Rudi I had the feeling that he was being burned.”
BamS confronted the club with the allegations. Jörg Schmadtke will contact you immediately …
“I’m so sorry about what happened to Rudi. I’ve known him for 30 years, we played together in Düsseldorf,” says the managing director. But the allegations surprised him, “because, among other things, we have worked to ensure that he comes to a good rehabilitation clinic where he will receive the best possible care”.
Schmadtke doesn’t want to let the club let his scout down: “We also offered him and his family financial support. To the best of my knowledge, this has not been addressed. We could have talked about anything with such a deserving employee.”
The fact that after a certain period of time the daily sickness allowance and then the pension takes effect is now stipulated by law as follows: “You can take out private insurance against possible loss of income. Presumably being left with no savings after a long working life is extremely unfortunate, but of course this is only within the employer’s very limited sphere of influence.”
Photo: imago/Kolvenbach
” data-zoom-src=”https://bilder.bild.de/fotos/in-der-saison-199697-trainierte-wojtowicz-l-mit-holger-fach-fortuna-duesseldorf-ea74d22621a541f6855d41633ccf280e-80511832/Bild/ 3.image.jpg”/> In the 1996/97 season, Wojtowicz (left/with Holger Fach) coached Fortuna DüsseldorfPhoto: imago/Kolvenbach
