Manorial Estate

 

The manorial estate of Börln was Saxony's second-largest, comprising 800 hectares of agricultural land and 400 hectares of forest.

 

Components - Core

 

800 hectares of fields and 400 hectares of forest: Taken over by the communist agricultural production unit "LPG" in 1946, parts were distributed to so-called "New Farmers" who were really refugees without possessions. These were mostly confiscated and taken back into the LPG.

 

Castle and Side Buildings:

 

Former baroque hunting castle built in 1617-20 as a three-sided building (marked as "Schlos." on the map of 1617), later modernised (see History); lastly as an L-shaped structure in 1880 in the "Gründerzeit" fashion with sandstone gable and sandstone windows (removed on the west side in the 1930s). After 1945 all light fittings, ceramic ovens and fireplaces and other historic features were removed. There is only one sandstone fireplace remaining in the entrance hall. Two historic pairs of solid oak doors and an oak built-in bookcase were hacked out and removed in 1995 by the AWO operator of the retirement home "Feierabend" and the doorways were closed with gypsum board. After the so-called Peaceful Revolution in 1989, the still beautiful castle experienced more damage than ever before, more damage than was ever caused by Hussites, Swedes, Russians and Communists put together. Although most of the valuable items were removed by the state in 1945, there will still some pieces of furniture in the castle until the retirement home moved to its new premises in 2002. These were taken simply by senior staff. The governor of the Province stated in writing that he had no interest in reclaiming these!

 

West facade of the castle - development over the years from approximately 1880

 

View of the courtyard, which used to have a sundial on the oval lawn. Since 2006, the courtyard has been freed of a sewage tank, a mountain of rubble with old glass, old garages, undergrowth, huge beech trees which blocked the view. The lawn and carriageways could be restored with the use of old photographs. More than 100 roses of a Danish variety have replaced washing lines, derelict garages and undergrowth.

 

The front door entrance - with split gable and sandstone posts, unknown year of building. The original lanterns were removed after WWII and have disappeared without trace. A curved zinc porch cover was also removed after WWII.

 

The entrance hall with asymmetrical staircase and appropriate door and window archways, uncovered in 2004. The ceiling is reputed to have been exceptional but nobody can remember exactly how it looked, especially the people who went to school here just after the War. Unfortunately there are no photographs available and memories have faded of how it looked.

 

The only surviving fireplace, made of sandstone, probably from the Gründerzeit, in the entrance hall. The twin on the north side of the room has disappeared but a copy should be easy to make.

 

Large pine wood cupboard painted with the initials "ZB", probably Gründerzeit, the only remaining piece of the original furniture. This cupboard should remind visitors of the dispossessed von Zech-Burkersroda family that lived here.

 

Gründerzeit oak doors on the first floor - unfortunately two pairs in the middle salon, where wall and ceiling paintings from the year 1620 have been discovered, were hacked out in 1995 and the doorways closed up by gypsum board walling.

 

 

Inspector's House south side in May 2009

 

Restoration of old half-timbered walls and the roof trusses - almost every beam required repairs; some were completely missing, perhaps used as firewood in difficult times.

 

· South Side Building also called Gardener's & Coachhouse: already standing in 1617. Contains on the ground floor the coachhouse and a chapel, which was later used as stables/storage, thereafter as a club room for the retirement home. In the east section on the first floor lived the gardener family and in the west side equipment for horses were formerly kept. Later this was used as a meeting room for the BDM "Federation of German Girls" and after the War ended, as apartments / rooms for refugees. The former gardener's apartment was used as offices for the retirement home and was fully renovated in 2003 for residential purposes.

 

View from the east                 View from the north

 

Future pilgrims' chapel, partly restored by journeymen stonemasons during their summer festival here in 2006 (see Pilgrims Chapel).

 

· Western Section (probably shed) completing the three-sided original shape of the courtyard, in 1617 termed "Viehoff" or "Cattle Yard": demolished after 1807, most likely to afford an uninterrupted view to the manmade lake. The courtyard was no longer required for agricultural purposes as in 1800 a much larger, four-sided courtyard was built to the north of the original. There is no picture available but it appeared on plans in 1617 and in 1807 but later disappeared.

 

· Well House: to the north of the castle: was converted to WCs, then to garages. To be restored. In front of the entrance there was an artesian well, whose water was recommended by experts for children. The village of Börln was only laid out with running cold water pipes in 1987!

 

 

· Wooden pavilion: after 1945 walled-in for use as a mortuary so that many beams rotted away: restored in 2006-7.

 

 

· Brewery: In 1617 the brewery was located at the western side of the village - later the cabbage garden was located here. In 1870 the brewery was newly formed and a building erected on the northwestern border of the castle building ensemble, in 1880 called Rittergutsbrauerei Graf Zech-Burkersroda, in 1886 Rittergutsbrauerei Graf Zech Max Richter, 1890 Rittergutsbrauerei Graf Zech C. Helbig, 1906 Rittergutsbrauerei Graf Zech-Burkersroda Alfred Schade. The building was still standing in 1945 situated west of the Inspector House but was then demolished. No photos have been found to date. In the sister building, which is at 90 degrees to the Inspector House, the malt cellar is still to be seen. Here, malt was prepared for the brewery. Serfs lived on top and latterly also the milker. In the ground floor lived the Uhlitzsch family until the early 1960s. Mr. Heinz Uhlitzsch was the head of the LPG. Next door, in a former stables, a schoolroom was set up in which children received training in mechanical skills from the teacher Mr. Kuchar. He also taught technical drawing in the school building in the village.

 

 

· Moat: (see "History") - dry for more than 30 years, half has been canalised and filled in with earth. Even though it has been a protected monument for decades, the authorities did nothing to prevent this taking place.

 

 

 

· Former Castle Park: Divided after 1990. Only approximately 20,000m² belong to the castle property and are in private ownership. The entire park is some 135,000m². The public part has been declared a "recreation forest".

 

Spring in the castle's gardens, May 2009

 

· Lake: See also "Castle Park" - in 1617 named the "Hain Lake". Area: approximately 20,000m². The "Schmirrel Lake" lay west of the Hain Lake and is today overgrown with trees. The northern wall is today marked as a path on the Pilgrims' Way.

 

 

· Gutshaus (Manorial Administration House) / 4-sided farming yard: Horse stables and cowshed and other sheds were already standing before 1617; to the north lay the "Garden behind the sheds", to the west, a victuals garden. Later the Watermill Garden. The Gutshaus was built in 1800 and up to 1945 lived in by the Gey family, tenant of the estate. The tenant Mr. Johannes Gey was shot by Russian soldiers in 1945. Thereafter, the house was comandeered for soldiers, refugees and later as headquarters for the communist farming unit (LPG). A part was also used as a Kindergarten. Today the horse stables are used as self-catering restaurant and the cowsheds, once amongst the finest in all of Saxony, with cast iron pillars, originally allocated to the Walter family in the Land Reform, were sold by them to Landgut Börln GbR and in 2007/8 were gutted and the pillars sold for scrap, for its new use as a modern festivities location. The middle part of the 1800 construction (former home of the Gey family) is used by Landgut Börln GbR (post-communist farm business owned by the former communist farming operation's manager) as offices and for inexpensive board and lodging, mainly for horse riding guests. The southern part is used for residential purposes. The last part at the southern end was demolished in 2001 without any permission "as the building had not yet been recorded as a national monument" and the Clara-Zetkin-Strasse now runs partly over private property. The original road is now overgrown by weeds and the wooden gate where the night watchman stood is long forgotten and nobody would guess that at this place the entrance to Saxony's second largest manorial estate farmyard once stood. Sheds: (west side) were torn down after the War, as the gable and roof were in need of repair and no funds were available for their restoration. The family which was allocated this piece of the estate, erected garages on the site.

 

 

Gutshaus - east side                     Gutshof  (farmyard)              Gutshaus - west side

 

Gutshaus - east side, Ernst-Thälmann-Strasse

 

Gutshaus - photos of the south side before illegal demolition in 2001

 

· Dairy: closed in 1921, no photos available.

 

 

Mr. Horst Berger of Börln who as a young man at the end of WWII worked in a motor factory in nearby Wurzen, was captured by Stasi secret police agents and disappeared without trace. He was tried in Moscow for a crime of espionage he never committed (a victim had to be found, any one would have done) and was executed there, as the death penalty had been removed in the German Democratic Republic. Only in the 1990s did Horst Berger's family find out what had become of him. The secret police agents and East German state officials who sent him to his death were never punished.

 

 

· Evangelical Lutheran Rectory: Restored, in 2010 roof retiled.

 

 

 

On the page "History" the difficult days in 1989 are mentioned, when a nuclear power plant had been planned for Schwarzer Kater. In retired minister Martin Kupke's book "SED und Staatssicherheitdienst im Kirchenbezirk Oschatz", Leipziger Universitätsverlag, 2009 (ISBN 978-3-86583-367-9), dreadful facts came to light. "The research was written against forgetting, against the falsifying and against attempts to make the GDR history appear harmless". A member of the church council of Börln, code named Agent Fortschritt (Progress) spied on his own brothers and sister in Christ. A Judas. Born on 28th August 1923 in nearby Frauwalde, a brother of Agent "Forest Man" and recipient of the bronze medal for "loyal services" of the National Peoples' Army on the 24th anniversary of the founding of the GDR, Gotthold Zimmermann was a soldier until 1945, then a farmer in his parents' business, and latterly an Agronomist. From 1976 he held the function of area leader for fodder of the cooperative's plant production unit "Fortschritt" in Dahlen. (He signed his allegiance as secret agent on 30th November 1954 in Wurzen, while he was in the agricultural school in Wurzen and was signed up by Mr. Breller of the Wurzen area services. In 1959 he was transferred to the Oschatz regional service who on 30th August 1976 reported that he had contact with the church minister and to other negatively-minded persons and was therefore in the position to supply valuable information to the Ministry of State Security. As a member of the CDU political party he had a progressive attitude to the GDR and was therefore prepared to take on the orders of the Ministry. He used his contacts to other persons, also to the church minister, to carry out his activities and maintain contacts with persons in the West. The secret service could follow his political-idealogical inclination. This informer was a member of the church council, he could use this position for his goals. Also as a member of the CDU, the regional board for German-Soviet Friendship and a member of the National Front, he was supposed to use his contacts to look out for negative forces. He carried out espionage in the residential area of Börln and also spied on certain persons in the military association missions of the USA, Great Britain and in France's defence system. A verbal report of the Ministry is dated 15th December 1976, wherein he reported on a church community gathering that took place in the Gemeindehaus (community house) in Börln. He reported what Reverend Jürgen Schneider (who died on 3rd January 2011) was supposed to have said. Thereafter there was a discussion during which the informant declared "the Russians are our friends and churches and communists belong together". He regulalry met informants "Astor" or "Theo" with their commanding officer. On 9th March 1977 he was ordered to check the arrivals of visitors from West Germany and to find out where they would be sleeping. Already on 15th March he reported to SED-Member Bäurich about the visit of the church community from Achim. He disclosed the agenda for the day and the entire programme of the visit, also the accommodation in Börln and Bortewitz. Later, he informed on his colleagues' opinion of events in Poland. At a meeting on 29th March 1982 he was ordered to report on the opinions of "church forces" and to immediately phone the service point when the key words "Make Peace without Weapons" appeared.

 

Photo: the 63 year old communal farmer Anna Arnhold (left, seated) does not feel too old to do her specialist worker examination. Pictured  here with the communal farmer Maria Sauer and the Agronomist Gotthard Zimmermann (Agent "Progress") explaining about fodder plants. Source: Bundesarchiv Bild 183-78565-0001, Börln, Schulung in der Dorfakademie, Schaar, Helmut, 20.1.1961

 

"The year 2009 should be a year of remembrance of Courage, but also a year of Encouragement, to also have Courage today, when it is necessary."

 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on 5.5.2009 on her visit to former Stasi Interrogation Prison in Berlin-Hohenschönhausen.

 

· Distillery and Large Potato Shed: Former potato distillery (built in 1800), taken over by the Russians in 1945 and transferred to the BVVG state ownership in 1990. The tenant. who is the owner of Landgut Börln GbR, tore down the distillery and potato shed without any demolition permit and deposited the rubble in a huge heap in the castle park, where it remains today. The building authority in Torgau stated that no action would be taken "for a possible 50 Euro fine" and the Landrat had nothing against this eyesore.

 

Distillery site today - field and parking spaces

 

                     

Distillery - before demolition      Distiller Mr. Birkes apartment on the 1st floor  Potato shed during demolition

 

 

 

· "Dutch" Windmill: West end of village in direction of Heyda - built in 1863, in use until 1938. In need of restoration.

 

· "Bockmühle": wooden windmill, end of village in direction of Ochsensaal: Built about 1850, demolished in 1964 by the Breitenborn family. (Photo not available).

 

 

· Old Smithy: Buildings are well kept but the Old Smith Mr. Sommerweiß died in 2010. The village pond next to the Smithy and in front of the bakery was filled in and turned into parking spaces when the roads were resurfaced in about 2001.

 

· Orangery: See separate page entitled "Orangery".

 

· Cabbage Garden: This used to lie east of the castle. Hops were grown next to it for the brewery. In East German times, houses were built on this site (formerly the Street of German-Soviet Friendship, now named New Garden Street, the only street to be renamed in the village. All other streets have retained their communist era names).

 

 

 

Components - Non-Core

 

- Bortewitz

- Frauwalde

- Schwarzer Kater

- Radegast

- Deutsch- und Wendisch-Luppa

- Knatewitz (northern part of Meltewitz)

- Ochsensaal