Basthorst Manor

Gut Basthorst, located in the Schleswig-Holstein municipality of Basthorst, lies between the upper reaches of the Bille river with the adjacent Hahnheide and the eastern edge of the Sachsenwald, surrounded by fertile fields and the typical "Knicks" (hedgerows) of the region. Today, thanks to German reunification, the village is situated in the economically significant triangle between the city-state of Hamburg, the Hanseatic city of Lübeck, and the state capital of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Schwerin. Basthorst is less than an hour's drive from each of these locations and can be reached via the A 24 Berlin motorway.

The farm complex, which has grown over centuries, consists of several former and some still agriculturally used outbuildings, such as a granary from 1771 (now an office building) and a barn (for drying) from 1862. The manor house itself likely originated around 1750 and, after numerous alterations and additions, has taken on the form of an asymmetrical three-wing complex, characterized by its round Dutch dormer windows. As recently as about 120 years ago, justice was administered from the manor house, and the three villages of Basthorst, Dahmker, and Hamfelde were managed from here.

For one generation, most likely by settlers coming from Hamfelde, dense areas of the primeval forest there were cleared and the land made arable. The Germanic word Basthorst means "clearing place." The birth year of Basthorst is 1278. The families residing there have often influenced and shaped events in the Duchy of Lauenburg. Gut Basthorst was also one of the old noble courts.

The knightly family of Schack, who arrived in the North Elbe region in the 12th century as companions of Henry the Lion, were among the most influential and important landowners in the region, alongside the Duke of Lauenburg. As late as 1612, they owned 14 villages to the right of the Elbe. The verifiable history of the noble estate begins with the mention of "Johan Schacken to der Basthorst" in 1391, which at that time was a fortified castle, similar to Gülzow, Hasenthal, or Müssen. The Schack family's possessions also included the 1400-hectare Hahnheide. With the division of Basthorst in 1545 in favor of two sons, an unfortunate development began that almost led to the complete dissolution of the property (24 children). In the turmoil of the Thirty Years' War, the younger brother of the Duke of Lauenburg, Duke Franz Albrecht, summarily occupied the estate and had it fortified around 1640 with bastions and a wide moat, which can still be seen in some places today.

Due to the miserable hardship during the Thirty Years' War (until 1648), the widow (Dorothea) von Schack, having fallen into severe financial distress, sold Basthorst for 29,000 Thalers and 100 Ducats to the wealthy Dutch merchant Peter von Uffeln. The Schacks then moved away from Basthorst, but – probably out of a certain nostalgia – named another of their properties near Schwerin after Basthorst. When purchasing, Peter von Uffeln, owner of Roggendorf, Veddel-Grevendorf, and estates in Denmark, among others, had ensured that Basthorst became a "Kunkel-Lehensgut," meaning that a woman could also inherit the estate, which happened several times.

Between 1721 and 1796, the von Plessens then ruled Gut Basthorst; under them, the current manor house was built, whose oldest parts date from 1750. The eldest son of the family disappeared without a trace in 1760; it has never been fully clarified whether it was an attack, he sank in the moor, or chose suicide. His sister Elenore Elisabeth, married to Schack von Buchwald of Johannstorf, then took over the estate in 1796. The von Buchwalds owned Basthorst until 1819. One person particularly stood out: Amalie Sophie von Buchwald (1747), lady-in-waiting to the Danish Queen, later Countess of Holstein. Amalie Sophie remained loyal to her Queen after the latter had to leave the country in 1772 due to an affair with the court physician Struensee. The illegitimate child of the beheaded court physician and the Queen, incidentally, became the great-grandmother of Emperor Wilhelm II's consort. Franz Freiherr von Ruffin then took over Basthorst from his uncle Joseph von Brusselle during the war. The reason for this was the impending expropriation by the National Socialists after Joseph von Brusselle wrote a telegram of condolence to the widow of the shot Count von Stauffenberg. Only through the initiative of the villagers could the Gestapo be dissuaded.

In 1945, 57 refugees lived in the manor house alone, and a total of 150 refugees on the estate, many of them from what is now Poland. The population of Basthorst tripled to 615 people.