Voice of Kika/Leiner

“Mr. Benko lied to us and cheated us”

Martina Pölz (58) worked at Kika/Leiner for 40 years, on Wednesday she cleared her desk.(Bild: Imre Antal)

This week, the lights went out in the last Kika/Leiner stores and 3900 employees had to leave. Martina Pölz (58) is one of them. She talks to Conny Bischofberger about the end of a golden era, about company bosses that people looked up to and about "Messiah" René Benko, of whom she is "utterly disappointed".

She comes to the "Tritsch-Tratsch" café in St. Pölten with a small plastic basket full of memories. Photos from the past, newspaper articles, coffee mugs with the "Leiner" angel, her white work blouse with the green logo. "I had to cry so much again this morning," she says and asks Christian for a cappuccino. Martina Pölz (58) was part of the Kika/Leiner family for 40 years. Over the last ten years, she has also witnessed the decline of the former market leader in the domestic furniture trade at first hand. Wednesday was the final day.