Charlottenhof Palace (Schwandorf)

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Charlottenhof Palace near Schwandorf

The Charlottenhof Palace (sometimes Hofmann castle is called) is a former farmhouse in the village of Charlottenhof the Upper Palatinate town of Schwandorf in Bavaria (Charlottenhof 1).

history

The Charlottenhof is owned by Wilhelm Maximilian von Künsberg (born March 27, 1838 in Lausanne , † June 18, 1908 in Fronberg ), Baron von Fronberg, royal chamberlain and retired major. D., built in 1873. Wilhelm Maximilian was the son of Wilhelm Heinrich von Künsberg and his wife Caroline, born Freiin von Spiering auf Fronberg , married Countess von Holnstein from Bavaria. He acquired the area in the Bössellohe on which the palace was built in 1873. On May 15, 1873, he applied to the Burglengenfeld district office to name the Schwaige Charlottenhof ; this was a proof of love for his wife Charlotte Countess von Schönborn-Buchheim; his wife was a widowed Countess Arco-Valley (marriage on November 27, 1843). In 1883 a riding school was built here based on the model in Fronberg.

In 1890 the property was sold to Countess Hedwig Maruschka-Toppolczan from Munich. The property met her husband's passion for hunting, who also leased all the hunts in the area. On May 7, 1892, the castle was acquired by Alfred Hofmann, Prime Lieutenant in an Ulm cavalry regiment. He had the Charlottenhof rebuilt to its present appearance by 1896. He also acquired a large part of the forest areas of the old Bössllohe. On January 24, 1907, the castle partially burned down; but its owner had it restored immediately afterwards. Hofmann's wife fell from an easel while doing housework in 1912 and died as a result of the accident.

On September 22nd, 1917, Lieutenant Josef Hesselberger, who came from a hop merchant family, bought the Hofmann-Schlösschen. Josef Hesselberger was also a big game hunter and Africa explorer. After the First World War , he set up a pig breeding establishment at Charlottenhof , which gained international recognition. In 1925 he bought a wooden house at the world exhibition in Paris, which he had erected near the castle (today it serves as a guest house). On August 17, 1928, Hesselberger converted the property into the Johanna Hesselberger Foundation and transferred the foundation to the property of his hometown Nuremberg . In order to enable the city to use the building as a country school home , Hesselberger and his wife moved into the log house.

Log house at Charlottenhof Palace near Schwandorf
Fountain sculpture by Josef Neustifter at Charlottenhof Palace near Schwandorf

During the Nazi era, the foundation of the Jew Hesselberger was confiscated and the city commandant Karl Schäffer was appointed as administrator. Hesselberger emigrated to East Africa in 1933 and founded a farm in Naro-Muro Kenya , on which he died a few years later. Under pressure from the National Socialists, the Charlottenhof was sold to Ostmark Self-Help on November 28, 1933. Gauleiter Hans Schemm took over the chairmanship , the deputy Gauleiter Ludwig Rachdeschel became the managing director. On November 17, 1939, the palace was sold to the NSDAP , Gauleitung Bayerische Ostmark ; Karl Schäffer became the managing director and the Hans Schemm district training castle was set up in the castle . In 1942 a reserve hospital was set up here. From 1944 to 1945 it served as accommodation for the female Reich Labor Service .

On April 23, 1945 the castle was occupied by the 71st US Infantry Division , which was replaced by the 90th US Artillery Division. Until the end of November 1945 a command of the Medical Corps was housed here. After that an administrator was appointed and refugees began to manage the agricultural land. Refugees were housed in the castle until 1953. The city of Nuremberg leased the Charlottenhof in 1947 and housed a home for difficult-to-educate young people here. In 1951 the property was awarded to the state of Bavaria. On July 19, 1951, the Nuremberg Emergency Aid took over the educational work (acquisition was in 1953) and set up an agricultural vocational training program for young men. When the refugees left the barracks surrounding the castle, training workshops for vocational training in wood and metal could also be accommodated. The claims of the heiress Kitty Hesselberger were replaced in 1953 († 1981 in Mombasa ). In 1962 a new workshop building was built and the barracks were demolished.

In 1975 the youth hostel was closed and the Charlottenhof was rented to the Bavarian Free State . Asylum seekers from Pakistan were then accommodated. Agriculture (110 hectares of agricultural and forestry area) was sold to Ludwig Walter from Landshut in 1979. In 1988, the German Society for the Reprocessing of Nuclear Fuels acquired the areas of Ludwig Walter as compensation areas for the planned reprocessing plant in Wackersdorf .

Charlottenhof today

The Lower Bavaria-Upper Palatinate Chamber of Crafts acquired the Charlottenhof (excluding agricultural land) in 1989. After extensive restoration of the castle and the wooden house, a new building with functional seminar and technology rooms was built. In 1993 the Center for Management and Technology of the Chamber of Crafts Niederbayern-Oberpfalz (CMT) was opened on the former Charlottenhof estate .

The works listed under Art at the CMT Charlottenhof are noteworthy (e.g. the brick wall relief in seminar room 111 "Seven Days of Creation" by Carlo Wenger or the high relief in the casino, also by Carlo Wenger). The symbolic fountain sculpture at Charlottenhof by the sculptor Josef Michael Neustifter also deserves attention.

literature

  • Scharl, Rita (2000): The Charlottenhof. Annual volume on culture and history in the district of Schwandorf, Vol. 11 , pp. 94-106.

Web links

Commons : Charlottenhof Palace  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 49 ° 20 ′ 42.3 "  N , 12 ° 10 ′ 31.9"  E