Paul Spinach

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Paul Spinat's golden Rolls-Royce at Schloss Drachenburg (1985)
Grave in the cemetery at the palace pond

Paul Spinat (born November 3, 1904 in Godesberg ; † February 23, 1989 ) was a German entrepreneur . He is known as the temporary owner of Drachenburg Castle near Königswinter .

Beginnings and career

Spinach came from a small family: his father was a postal worker, his mother ran a kiosk. Spinach attended the Aloisiuskolleg in Godesberg, then trained as a banker at Sparkasse Godesberg , where he rose to become vice director. In 1931 he married Gertrud Heimann; the couple had a daughter, Erika. During the Second World War , Spinach served as a first lieutenant at sea in the Navy . The marriage ended in divorce in 1950.

In 1949 Spinat founded the Spitan clothing company . As managing director, he was responsible for the commercial tasks and his daughter Erika for the design and manufacture of tailor-made women's clothes. In 1950 Spitan had 18 employees. Spinach also made a lot of money in real estate deals. From 1956 he put his income into the design of his previously simple wooden house at Bad Godesberger Waldstrasse 31, which he had equipped with battlements, arches and turrets so idiosyncratically that the newspapers reported about it. He also got himself a family crest and collected art and kitsch. In 1968 he married a second time.

Spinach as lord of the castle

In 1971 Paul Spinat bought Drachenburg Castle from the State of North Rhine-Westphalia for DM 500,000 ; He financed the purchase through a home loan and savings contract . He had the castle renovated and equipped according to his taste. Ultimately, his money as well as the entrance fees of visitors were not enough to cover the maintenance of Drachenburg Castle. As a result, Spinach began organizing concerts and exhibitions in the castle - including exhibitions with works by Marc Chagall and Salvador Dalí - as well as giving celebrations with celebrities. Andy Warhol was one of the visitors to the palace and took a photo of the building as a model for one of his works of art. In 1975, Spinach acquired a second castle, Marienfels Castle near Remagen . However, by the late 1980s, he had amassed so much debt that he could no longer hold the two locks. Drachenburg Castle was bought back by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia for eight million marks; It was thanks to spinach that the castle was saved from deterioration when it was bought. Marienfels Castle was acquired by “Castle King” Herbert Hillebrand ; later the building gained nationwide fame because the television presenter Thomas Gottschalk bought it.

Spinach was an eccentric who liked to stage himself. He also called himself "Graf Spinat", owned a golden Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow , liked to receive guests in a fantasy uniform on a flight of stairs that led to nowhere, and always appeared in public with a toupee . He gave organ concerts on a dummy, where the music came from the tape. In 1985, three years after the death of his second wife Karla, he married Princess Erina von Sachsen, née Eilts. For her part, she gained notoriety, among other things, by adopting the actor and widower of Helga Feddersen , Olli Maier , in 1992 . In 1986 Paul Spinat was awarded the Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Paul Spinach died in February 1989 at the age of 84; he resided at Drachenburg Castle until his death. He is buried in the Am Palastweiher cemetery in Königswinter, next to the builder of Drachenburg Castle, Stephan Freiherr von Sarter . Spinach's widow Erina died at the age of 88 in 2010.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ansgar Sebastian Klein : Paul Spinat (1904–1989), entrepreneur and lord of the castle
  2. ↑ Marienfels Castle on regionalgeschichte.net
  3. ↑ Gottschalk is now lord of the castle on the Rhine on rp-online.de v. November 17, 2004
  4. ↑ a b A glamorous life came to an end very quietly on emderzeitung.de v. February 17, 2010
personal data
SURNAME Spinach, Paul
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH November 3, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Godesberg
DATE OF DEATH February 23, 1989