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| Situated high over the town of Untergruppenbach, grand and mighty Stettenfels Castle is visible from afar. Anyone heading north on
the autobahn from Stuttgart or east from Heilbronn toward the mountains of Löwenstein is unable to overlook this castle. |
| Built in the 11th century, this was probably a Frankish castle. In later years, possession alternated between the many counts of
the surrounding villages. |
| From 1356, Stettenfels Castle and the lordship were in the hands of the knight Sir Burkhard von Sturmfeder. More private lordships
followed until 1504 when Duke Ulrich von Württemberg seized castle and lordship Stettenfels, giving it to Konrad Thumb von Neuburg as a fiefdom in 1507. |
| In 1527, the heirs of Konrad Thumb sold the property to Philipp von Hirnheim, who conducted the reformation here in 1536. The
nephew of Jacob the Rich, Count Anton Fugger, acquired Stettenfels Castle in 1551. In 1575, his son Hans remodeled the castle into a renaissance palace at
considerable cost. This is the source of today’s double title of Stettenfels Castle Palace. |
| Stettenfels remained in the possession of the Fugger family until its sale to Duke Karl von Württemberg in 1747. In 1829, the
town of Untergruppenbach purchased the property. Possession changed in the following years: the tanner Friedrich Korn from Calw in 1852, Anton Meyer, a
businessman from Hamburg in 1858, the landowner Friedrich Bürkle in 1881 and, in 1888, the farmer Christian Hildt from Weinsberg. |
| In 1901, Colonel Dr. Walter Putsch from Cologne took over possession of the property and renovated in turn-of-the-century style.
The castle became the residence of the Haldenwang family in 1918. In 1925, shoe manufacturer Siegfried Levi from Kornwestheim acquired the castle and property,
founding a widely recognized stud farm. Because he was Jewish, the Nazi regime forced him to sell the property under duress and he fled to South Africa in
1934. Chief architect of the Reich, Albert Speer now wanted to establish a so-called order castle, or Ordensburg, for training Nazi elite, and had plans to
transform Untergruppenbach into a showplace. Before any significant construction could get underway, the war broke out. |
| Ravaged by the chaos of war, Stettenfels came under American occupation in 1945. In 1946, the post-war Protestant social service
institution (Evangelische Hilfswerk) leased the castle, setting up a recreation, guild and senior center. |
| In 1951, Stettenfels was returned to Siegfried Levi’s widow during the reparations process. In 1957, she sold the property to Dr.
Friedrich Spieser-Hünenburg, who owned the castle for 37 years. The property was ultimately sold by his heirs to Roland Weimar, an architect from Flein. Since
that time, Mr. Weimar has attended to crucial renovations, bringing Stettenfels Castle piece by piece toward a new future. |
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| 1994 |
Roland Weimar |
| 1987 |
Spieser community of heirs |
| 1957 |
Friedrich Spieser Hünenburg |
| 1951 |
Property is returned to Siegfried Levi’s widow |
| 1946 |
Social services of the Protestant church |
| 1945 |
American occupation |
| 1939 |
National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) |
| 1925 |
Siegfried Levi |
| 1918 |
von Haldenwang (widow of the regimental commander) |
| 1901 |
Walther Putsch |
| 1888 |
Christian Hildt |
| 1881 |
Friedrich Bückle |
| 1858 |
Anton Mayer |
| 1852 |
Rotgerber Friedrich Korn |
| 1829 |
Town of Gruppenbach |
| 1812 |
County Seat Besigheim |
| 1810 |
County Seat Heilbronn |
| 1751 |
County Seat Beilstein |
| 1747 |
Sigmund Fugger sells Stettenfels lordship to Württemberg for 207,500 gold florin |
| 1634 |
Fugger family |
| 1632 |
Swedish secretary Nicodemus von Ahausen |
| 1551 |
Anton Fugger and the sons of his deceased brother Raimund Fugger |
| 1546 |
Hans Walther von Hirnheim |
| 1527 |
Hans Konrad Thumb von Neuburg sells Stettenfels lordship to Wolff Philipp von Hirnheim for 14,000 guilder |
| 1525 |
Hans Konrad Thumb von Neuburg |
| 1507 |
Conrad Tumb von Neuburg |
| 1478 |
Götz von Adelsheim, Zeysolf von Adelsheim |
| 1462 |
Friedrich Sturmfeder sells the castle to Raben von Helmstatt for 5,020 guilder |
| 1442 |
Pledged by Schwigger Sturmfeder to Württemberg |
| 1356 |
Sir Burkhard Sturmfeder |
| 1335 |
Engelhard von Hirschhorn acquired parts of Stettenfels Castle to Württemberg; Hans Wigmar, Haintz Wigmar and Peter Fuer, respected patrician
family, also possessed parts of Stettenfels Castle |
| 1277 |
Contract between Engelhard the Elder and Konrad the Younger of Weinsberg and Ludwig, Count Palatine of the Rhine |
| 1100 |
Calw-Löwenstein Counts owned Gruppenbach lordship |
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