Quitzin Castle (german: Jagdschloss Quitzin) is a ''

Jagdschloss A ''Jagdschloss'' is a hunting lodge in German-speaking countries. It is a ''schloss'' set in a wildlife park or a hunting area (such as a forest, field or by a lake) that served primarily as accommodation for a ruler or aristocrat and his entou ...

'' in

Splietsdorf Splietsdorf is a municipality in the Vorpommern-Rügen district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Euro ...

municipality, Germany.

History

The presently visible so-called ''Jagdschloss'' or "hunting castle" is built on the foundations of a castle from the 13th century. In 1607, a

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 ...

manor replaced the old fortress, and during the 18th century, it was transformed into the presently visible

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

edifice. The estate has been in the possession of several German aristocratic families, among them the counts von Küssow. The last owner of the estate before

World War II 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 ...

, Burghard von Veltheim Schönfließ, was an active member of the ''

Widerstand German resistance can refer to: * Freikorps, German nationalist paramilitary groups resisting German communist uprisings and the Weimar Republic government * German resistance to Nazism * Landsturm, German resistance groups fighting against France d ...

'' or resistance to Nazism. After World War II, he was not allowed by the

East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

authorities to keep his estate. It was converted first into a refugee camp, and was later used by the East German

civil defence Civil defense ( en, region=gb, civil defence) or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state (generally non-combatants) from man-made and natural disasters. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, mit ...

. They rebuilt, neglected and also deliberately destroyed much of the building. Following the

German reunification German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

, the castle was handed back to the family of the last owners before the war. It has since been restored and renovated. The castle lies in an English landscape garden which was preceded by a formal Baroque garden.

References

External links

*{{commons category-inline, Gut Quitzin Castles in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Hunting lodges in Germany