Osterstein Castle (german: Schloss Osterstein, lit. 'Eastern Rock') is the former castle of the town of

Zwickau Zwickau (; is, with around 87,500 inhabitants (2020), the fourth-largest city of Saxony after Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz and it is the seat of the Zwickau District. The West Saxon city is situated in the valley of the Zwickau Mulde (German: ' ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, in

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

(''Bundesland Sachsen''). Now it houses the nursing home.

History

First mentioned in 1292 as "Castrum Czwickaw", it was badly damaged in a fire in 1403, and demolished between 1404 and 1407 under

William I William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087 ...

Margrave of Meissen This article lists the margraves of Meissen, a march and territorial state on the eastern border of the Holy Roman Empire. History King Henry the Fowler, on his 928-29 campaign against the Slavic Glomacze tribes, had a fortress erected on a hil ...

. It was rebuilt during the reign of

Christian I, Elector of Saxony Christian I of Saxony (29 October 1560 in Dresden – 25 September 1591 in Dresden) was Elector of Saxony from 1586 to 1591. He belonged to the Albertine line of the House of Wettin. He was the sixth but second surviving son of Elector Augu ...

in 1587-1590 as a magnificent

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

. In the 18th century Zwickau Prison (''Zuchthaus Zwickau'') was established in the castle, which with interruptions, was used until after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. There were numerous prominent prisoners, including

Karl May Karl Friedrich May ( , ; 25 February 1842 – 30 March 1912) was a German author. He is best known for his 19th century novels of fictitious travels and adventures, set in the American Old West with Winnetou and Old Shatterhand as main pro ...

August Bebel Ferdinand August Bebel (22 February 1840 – 13 August 1913) was a German socialist politician, writer, and orator. He is best remembered as one of the founders of the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Germany (SDAP) in 1869, which in 1875 mer ...

Rosa Luxemburg Rosa Luxemburg (; ; pl, Róża Luksemburg or ; 5 March 1871 – 15 January 1919) was a Polish and naturalised-German revolutionary socialist, Marxist philosopher and anti-war activist. Successively, she was a member of the Proletariat party, ...

and Martin Hoop. During the Second World War, it was used as a

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...

.The Brecht yearbook, "concentration camp Schloss Osterstein"
/ref> On 31 December 1962, after 187 years, the use of the castle as a prison ended, although a public bathhouse continued to operate in an intermediate wing of modern construction, on the ''Dr.-Friedrich-Ring''. The former arsenal and the cell block were used to house the archives of the local coal mining industry, and for storage by various local businesses. Parts of the premises were demolished. From the 1980s, the castle structure deteriorated rapidly. During the 1990s and into the early years of the 21st century, proposals for its reuse and plans for reconstruction and redevelopment repeatedly came to nothing. The castle became increasingly a blot on the urban landscape of Zwickau town centre, and a cause of civic embarrassment. After 2000 emergency measures were required to secure the building's safety. On 3 November 2006 the foundation stone was laid for the reconstruction of the castle. The work was undertaken by GP Schuppertbau GmbH, who after repair, restoration and rebuilding converted the former castle into a nursing home, with future plans for some parts of the complex for restaurant and museum use. On 9 September 2007 the

topping-out In building construction, topping out (sometimes referred to as topping off) is a builders' rite traditionally held when the last beam (or its equivalent) is placed atop a structure during its construction. Nowadays, the ceremony is often parlaye ...

ceremony took place. On 7 November 2008 the keys were formally handed over to the ''Betreibergesellschaft Senioren- und Seniorenpflegeheim GmbH Zwickau'', the company that runs the old people's home and nursing home; the first residents moved in on 11 November 2008. File:Saxonia Museum fuer saechsische Vaterlandskunde IV 04.jpg, Schloss Osterstein 1839 File:Zwickau Ruin Castle Osterstein.jpg, Schloss Osterstein before reconstruction File:Schloss Osterstein.jpg, Schloss Osterstein after reconstruction File:Zwickau Schloss Osterstein 2009-09-02 005.jpg, Schloss Osterstein after reconstruction

Notes

External links

Senioren- und Seniorenpflegeheim Zwickau GmbH
{{Coord, 50.7210166667, N, 12.5003638889, E, source:dewiki_region:DE-SN_type:landmark, format=dms, display=title Houses completed in 1590 Castles in Saxony Prisons in Germany Zwickau Nazi concentration camps in Germany Buildings and structures in Zwickau (district)

History

See also

Notes

External links