Gerswalde Castle

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North side of the castle
South side of the castle
Notice board on the castle grounds

Gerswalde Castle is a two-story castle in the municipality of Gerswalde on the southwestern outskirts, east of the ruins of Gerswalde Castle in the Uckermark district .

investment

The manor complex consists of a manor house , manor park with grave slabs of those von Arnim, park wall as well as manor gardening (including gardener's house, greenhouse and “palm house”), horticultural facilities and property fencing. After a fire (mid-1960s), the mansard roof with shiny tiles was no longer built.

history

Alley in the castle park

Today's castle is originally supposed to be part of the outer bailey of Gerswalde Castle , which had belonged to the von Arnim family since 1463 . In 1724 a stately home was built, which was converted into a castle from 1832. It received its final form, called the "White Court", around 1900 by the penultimate lord of the castle Felix von Arnim , who was married to a wealthy German-American woman; the Arnims financed the renovation with American dollars. A central flight of steps was built at the castle, as well as large stone terraces, the stables and a castle pond. The lady of the castle had Californian dessert fruit grown on the southern slope and made the nursery known beyond the Uckermark. Horse breeding was operated on the nearby Herrenstein manor in 1907. When the last von Arnim auf Gerswalde took over the property in 1921, it is said to have been free of debt. There are various stories about the reasons for the financial collapse of the large estate in 1927: lavish lifestyle, bad speculation with a bank, gambling.

In 1929 the castle was transferred to the Anthroposophical Society , which opened a healing and educational institute there under the leadership of Franz Löffler . The facility had about 60 homes. Among the inmates in the home there were also Jews who had been registered by the police and who were regularly hidden during inspections and visits. A 60-acre agricultural area was biodynamically worked . The institute was able to flourish again after 1945 and ... become one of the few meeting places for the many remedial teachers who had become homeless. But nothing could be done against the new rulers in the Soviet zone of occupation. They caused the home to be closed and Franz Löffler was arrested .

In 1950 a state children's home was set up in the castle. Since 1994 the non-profit society for the promotion of Brandenburger Kinder und Jugendlicher mbH has been running a youth home with training facilities in the castle and the extensive area that belongs to it . The youth facility offers overnight accommodation for visitors to the region in two-bed rooms with shower and toilet in the renovated castle as part of the bicycle tourism center.

The lock before the fire

The anthroposophist Caroline von Heydebrand died in Gerswalde Castle in 1938. The manor park is open to the public.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hesse 2012, p. 14
  2. ↑ Werner 1999, p. 347 f
  3. ^ Wagner n.d., p. 54 f

literature

Grave slabs of those von Arnim in the manor park
  • Regional history working group at the Gerswalde local committee of the National Front: Gerswalde. An outline of the history of our hometown. Gerswalde n.d., pp. 36-37
  • Ruth-Ingrid Hesse: Gerswalde Castle 1929-1950. A special educational children's home in three German forms of government, Borchen 2012
  • Christoph Wagner: The development of curative education on an anthroposophical basis. On the history of the movement. Dornach n.d., pp. 54-55
  • Uwe Werner: Anthroposophists in the time of National Socialism (1933-1945), Munich 1999

Web links

Commons : Schloss Gerswalde  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 53 ° 10 ′ 9.6 "  N , 13 ° 44 ′ 49.8"  E