Offenstetten Castle

The place was once the seat of an independent Hofmark with a castle, which was in the possession of the Lords of Offenstetten for over 400 years. They first appeared in documents in the 11th century in connection with donations from Aribo, Lord in "Ouanstetten", to Weltenburg Abbey. In documents of the Prince-Bishopric of Freising from the period 1078 to 1098, a knight "Waltkun" or "Walchun", based in Offenstetten, is mentioned as a witness. The last "Ofenstätter" was Degenhart, knight and administrator in Leonberg, who died in 1480. His heirs sold the castle and estates to the brothers Hans and Wolfgang Preysing zu Kopfsberg in 1497.

After the end of the Thirty Years' War, which claimed the village and a large part of the population, Amandus Aicher, mayor of Landshut, acquired the largely destroyed Hofmark. In the late 17th century, he sold it to the Froenau family. Georg Caspar Emmanuel von Froenau was responsible for the reconstruction of the castle and church, as well as the renewal of the village's infrastructure. He is therefore referred to as the second founder of Offenstetten.

In 1750, the property came into the possession of the Kreittmayr family for 140 years, when Maria Romana Franziska von Froenau married the famous State Chancellor Alois Wigileus Freiherr von Kreittmayr, author of the first Bavarian law book. Freiherr von Kreittmayr is buried in the family crypt in Offenstetten. After several other changes of ownership, in 1939, Embassy Counsellor Oskar Schlitter, who was Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Greece from 1964 to 1969, acquired Offenstetten Castle and Estate. After the end of World War II, Mrs. Daisy Schlitter, together with Prelate Michael Thaller, the director of Catholic youth welfare in Regensburg, founded a refugee children's home in the castle, named "Cabrini-Heim" after the first American saint. The "Cabrini-Heim", still located in the castle, now cares for children and young people with special educational needs.