Gollwitz Castle

Before 1945, the manor house in Gollwitz was owned by Hertha and Harry von Rochow. They were dispossessed and expelled by the communists in 1945. With the new school year in 1946, the village school moved into the castle's premises. From September 1, 1951, it was a central school (up to 8th grade), later a POS. In addition, a day kindergarten for three to six-year-olds was established in May 1953.

In 1977, the school was closed because there were not enough schoolchildren in the village. The school rooms in the castle were converted into a training center with 21 overnight accommodations (including a canteen kitchen with a dining room). The Pedagogical District Cabinet (PKK) became the user. In addition, the WU group of the district, with three uniformed personnel, moved into the castle, responsible for military instruction in the district's schools. The village kindergarten continued to operate in the castle until it was closed on December 31, 1993, due to cost reasons.

With German reunification, disputes arose over the castle. The heirs of the von Rochows claimed it, as did the municipality of Gollwitz. On February 7, 1992, the Higher Finance Directorate of the State of Brandenburg decided that the castle and its associated property should fall to the newly formed district of Potsdam-Mittelmark, while the manor park with the outbuildings of the former manorial seat should go to the municipality of Gollwitz.

On April 1, 1992, the Volkshochschulbildungswerk GmbH Brandenburg, in close cooperation with the VHS-Bildungswerk Niedersachsen, took over the castle. It was to be developed into a modern training facility with overnight accommodation. Because the renovation would have been too expensive, the VHS-Bildungswerk withdrew from the castle in the spring of 1994. The building then stood empty.

In autumn 1997, the Potsdam-Mittelmark district administration decided to accommodate 50 to 60 Jewish resettlers from Russia in the castle. This was rejected by the municipal council in Gollwitz. This decision provoked a large media response and numerous discussions in society, during which the village of Gollwitz was portrayed as anti-Semitic and racist. The municipality of Gollwitz and the Potsdam-Mittelmark district then considered a new usage concept for the listed building.

Meanwhile, the German Foundation for Monument Protection is the owner of the former manor house and provides the meeting place with the castle rent-free.

The non-profit Foundation Meeting Place Gollwitz was founded in 2001 with the participation of the municipality of Gollwitz, the district of Potsdam-Mittelmark, and the help of prominent people from politics and society. This happened on the initiative of a group of Berlin and Brandenburg citizens. Their goal was to organize encounters between Jewish and non-Jewish youth and their multipliers and to restore one of the existing manor houses in Brandenburg for this purpose. Since April 2009, the foundation has been operating a corresponding meeting place in the restored castle.

The patron is Norbert Lammert, President of the German Bundestag.

The foundation's board consists of Peter-Andreas Brand, a lawyer in Berlin, and Jan van Lessen, director of Commerzbank Potsdam.

Members of the Board of Trustees are:

• Axel von Hoerschelmann, Ministry for Economic Affairs and European Affairs of the State of Brandenburg,
• Erardo Cristoforo Rautenberg, Attorney General of the State of Brandenburg,
• Katherina Reiche, Member of the German Bundestag,
• Frank Szymanski, Mayor of the City of Cottbus,
• Konrad Weiß, publicist,
• Rudi-Karl Pahnke, Head of the Institute Neue Impulse e. V.,
• and Alfred Roos, Managing Director of RAA Brandenburg.

The Advisory Board consists of:

• Karin Weiss, Integration Commissioner of the State of Brandenburg,
• Almuth Berger, former Commissioner for Foreigners of the State of Brandenburg,
• Feliks Byelyenkow, Chairman of the Jewish Community Brandenburg/Havel,
• Nicole Näther, Local Mayor of Gollwitz,
• Matthias Platzeck, Minister President of the State of Brandenburg,
• Joseph Schuster, Presidium of the Central Council of Jews in Germany,
• Georg Cardinal Sterzinsky, Archbishop of Berlin,
• Bishop Markus Dröge, Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia,
• as well as Dietlind Tiemann, Mayor of the City of Brandenburg/Havel.

The meeting place is managed by Marion Welsch.

Gollwitz Castle is a meeting place for Jewish and non-Jewish youth and their multipliers. It was opened in April 2009 after several years of restoration of the former manor house.

The meeting place hosts one- to five-day seminars and workshops against racism, anti-Semitism, and xenophobia, and for more mutual recognition. The event concept is aimed at school classes, youth groups, associations and organizations, people who work with children and young people, and individuals. In addition, there are leisure activities for people from the village and region, as well as regular public readings, concerts, and exhibitions.

A special feature of the meeting place is the dairy kitchen, which adheres to Jewish dietary laws, meaning vegetarian food with fish is cooked.