Stanislaus zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn

August Stanislaus Peter Joseph Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn (born September 23, 1872 in Düsseldorf , † March 27, 1958 in Würzburg ) was a German nobleman and since 1883 the 5th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn . As a registrar he was also a member of the Prussian manor house .

origin

His parents were Prince Alexander and his first wife Marie Auguste Yvonne de Blacas d'Aulps (* January 2, 1851 - October 21, 1881), a daughter of the Prince and Duke Louis de Blacas d'Aulps (* 1815; † 1866) . Since Stanislaus' father married morganatically for the second time in 1883, the latter renounced the title of prince and left it to his son, although Stanislaus did not come of age until 1893. His father was now known as Count Alexander von Hachenburg .

Life

The once great fortune of the Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn line had already largely melted away when the new Prince Stanislaus became operational, so that debts had to be taken on. Her marriage to Maria Gabriele Countess von Schönborn-Wiesentheid in 1911 initially brought about a considerable improvement in the financial situation through her dowry. The wedding had been arranged and forced through Stanislaus grandmother, Princess Leonilla Bariatinska . With the end of the monarchy in 1918, Prince Stanislaus lost his privileges as a civil servant, as did his first wife, who died early in 1920. A second marriage to Elena della Scaletta did not improve the difficult financial situation that had arisen in a new and more severe form as a result of the lost First World War. Sayn Castle had to be made available for compulsory billeting by the victorious powers during the occupation of the Rhineland , which resulted in considerable damage. A planned sale of land to an ironworks in Saarland failed due to resistance from government agencies, so that this financial relief had to be dispensed with. Stanislaus zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn moved his main residence to the Villa Wittgenstein on Lake Starnberg, which his wife had bought and furnished. In 1925 the Family Fideikommiss in Sayn was dissolved according to the legal provisions during the Weimar Republic . At the end of the Second World War, Sayn Castle, which was now hardly used, was so badly destroyed that it fell into ruin in the post-war years. Since no children had emerged from both marriages, the descendants of the youngest brother, Prince Gustav Alexander zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn (born October 4, 1880 in Sayn; † September 22, 1953 ibid), came into his inheritance after a corresponding agreement.

family

• The first marriage took place on August 3, 1911 in Pommersfelden with Marie Gabriele Countess von Schönborn-Wiesentheid (born January 20, 1872 in Wiesentheid; † July 9, 1920 ibid). She was the daughter of Arthur Franz Maximilian Graf von Schönborn-Wiesentheid (born January 30, 1846 in Würzburg; † September 29, 1915 in Wiesentheid) and of Princess Stephanie zu Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst (born July 6, 1851 in Schillingsfürst; † March 18, 1882 in Munich). Marie Gabriele's first marriage in 1906 was to Count Wolfgang von Oberndorff, who died three months after the wedding
• After the death of his first wife Marie Gabriele, Stanislaus married on February 8, 1922 in Rome Donna Elena Ruffo dei Principi della Scaletta (born April 3, 1883 in Rome; † June 10, 1968 there), the daughter of Prince Antonio Ruffo della Scaletta ( * October 11, 1845 in Naples; † August 30, 1928 ibid) and Donna Ludovica Borghese (* June 23, 1859 in Frascati; † November 22, 1928 in Rome)

literature

• Ludwig Tavernier: The Princely House Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn . Börde-Verlag, Werl 2009, 4th edition, Deutsche Fürstenhäuser Heft 6, ISBN 3-980-7740-3-1 , p. 24 f.