Nikolaus Leopold Heinrich zu Salm-Salm

Nikolaus Leopold Heinrich Alfred Emanuel Friedrich Antonius Prince of Salm-Salm (born February 14, 1906 in Potsdam ; † January 15, 1988 at Anholt Palace ) was a member of the German nobility from the Salm-Salm family . He led the reconstruction of Anholt Castle after it was destroyed in the Second World War. In the 1930s Salm-Salm was a member of the German Men's Club .

parents

He was the first-born son and the third child of Hereditary Prince Emanuel zu Salm-Salm (1871-1916) and Maria Christina von Österreich-Teschen (1879-1962). His grandfather was Alfred Ferdinand Stephan zu Salm-Salm (1846–1923), 7th Prince of Salm-Salm .

Life

His first marriage was at the age of 22 on July 19, 1928 in Munich with the 21-year-old Ida Leonhardine Hedwig Mechtilde Balthesare Princess von Wrede (born February 26, 1909 Munich; † October 25, 1998 in Anholt Palace). She was the youngest daughter of Carl Philipp Maria Gabriel, 4th Prince of Wrede (* September 10, 1862 - August 16, 1928) and Maria Anna, Princess of Lobkowicz (* December 24, 1867 - May 6, 1957). The Wredes are a Bavarian aristocratic family from the Electoral Palatinate , whose most important representative and first Prince was Carl Philipp von Wrede (1767-1838). At the time of Napoleon he worked as a Bavarian field marshal and diplomat. The marriage with Ida was divorced in 1948. Ida von Salm-Salm, mother of the Hereditary Prince, lived until her death on Gut Hardenberg , a moated castle from the 14th century, 100 m from the Dutch border on the property of the Prince of Salm-Salm. A Dutch metal goods manufacturer is the new owner.

At the age of 44, he concluded his second marriage on October 19, 1950 in Hamburg-Eimsbüttel with the 31-year-old Eleonore von Zitzewitz (born November 24, 1919 Prebendow in Western Pomerania , formerly Stolp district , now Poland ; † February 16, 2011 Aumühle / Reinbek ). Her first marriage was to Harras Ursus Caminneci, who had died in the war in Russia in 1944. The marriage with Nikolaus was divorced in 1961.

In his third marriage, at the age of 56, he married the 32-year-old Maria Moret on March 23, 1962 in Berna (born June 23, 1930 Grolley near Friborg ; † January 8, 1982 in Geneva / Switzerland ). This marriage ended in divorce in 1972.

At the age of 78, he entered into his fourth marriage on April 19, 1984 in Preußisch Oldendorf ( Detmold ) with the 26-year-old Christiane Kostecki (born May 8, 1958 in Herford ). She remained childless.

In 1988 Nikolaus Leopold, 8th Prince Salm-Salm, 8th Prince of Salm-Kyrburg, 13th Prince of Salm, Wild- and Rheingraf, Prince of Ahaus and Bocholt, Duke of Hoegstraeten, Count of Anholt and Lord of Vinstingen and Werth died at Anholt Castle (title according to nobility law no longer valid in Germany). In 1988 the Salm-Salm family sold the Kyrburg property, which they had acquired in 1908, to the city of Kirn . This castle is the landmark of the city of Kirn and was a main castle of the Wildgraves, who in the Middle Ages ruled important passes from the Nahe to the Moselle from their castles Kyrburg, Schmidtburg and Dhaun and, as the owner of a landgraviate, shaped the political events in the Nahe and Hunsrück area. His son Karl-Philipp, more precisely Carl-Philipp zu Salm-Salm (born May 19, 1933) became his heir and successor in 1988.

children

• from first marriage
  • Konstanze Princess zu Salm-Salm (born July 25, 1929); ∞ Joseph Zdenko Count of Thun and Hohenstein
  • Alfred Prince zu Salm-Salm (born October 6, 1930 - March 21, 1945). He died at the age of 14 in an air raid.
  • Karl-Philipp, more precisely Carl Philipp zu Salm-Salm (born May 19, 1933); ∞ Erika von Morgen, ∞ Elisabeth Frisch
  • Anna Princess zu Salm-Salm (born August 2, 1935); ∞ Paul Franz August Christoph Graf von Degenfeld-Schonburg
  • Margarethe Princess of Salm-Salm (born August 2, 1935); ∞ George Solznoki-Scheftsik
• from second marriage:
  • Ludwig-Wilhelm Prince of Salm-Salm (born April 15, 1953); ∞ Christiane Hansen , ∞ Ulrike Grünewald
• from third marriage:
  • Christian-Nikolaus Prince of Salm-Salm (born August 25, 1964 in Geneva)

Reconstruction of Anholt Castle

→ Main article : “Reconstruction and today's use” in the Anholt Castle article

During the Second World War, aerial bombs and artillery fire destroyed 97% of Anholt. The 14-year-old firstborn son of Nikolaus, who was killed on March 21, 1945, was among the 117 killed and 29 civilian victims. About 70% of the castle complex itself was damaged by heavy bombing. The princely family had moved to Rhede Castle and all movable art objects had been brought to safety before the castle was bombed. After the reconstruction, a museum was set up in the main building of the castle, while the outer bailey was converted into a hotel and restaurant. The then 39-year-old Nikolaus Leopold had recognized that a new economic basis had to be found in order to preserve the castle complex and its treasures. He included the castle at an early stage in the considerations for the development of shopping and excursion traffic in Anholt.

In 1966, Nikolaus Leopold zu Salm-Salm decided to rebuild the forest and wildlife park that had been destroyed by the war. In 1968 the Anholter Switzerland Wildlife Park was opened to the public, equipped with native flora and fauna. In 1972, an 18-hole golf course was laid out in the park of Prince zu Salm-Salm and a clubhouse was built.

literature

• Nikolaus Leopold Prince of Salm-Salm: Anholt moated castle. (Small art guide, No. 1681) Schnell and Steiner, Regensburg 1988, OCLC 159826498 .
• Nikolaus Leopold Prince of Salm-Salm: Anholt moated castle. Self-published, Rhede bei Bocholt 1966, DNB 575947101 .
• Adriaan W. Vliegenthart: picture collection of the princes of Salm. Walburg Pers, Zutphen 1981, ISBN 90-6011-296-2 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Nikolaus Leopold Heinrich zu Salm-Salm in the catalog of the German National Library
• Nikolaus XIII Fürst zu Salm-Salm on thepeerage.com , accessed on August 20, 2015.