Full of history and mystery: Drachenburg Castle

DW (English)

The Drachenburg Castle, located near Bonn, looks just like a fairy-tale castle. It’s a big tourist draw, but has a rather checkered past. DW reporter Diana Piñeros took a look around inside its age-old walls.

Transcript

00:00 This German castle looks straight out of a fairy tale, but it has a dark past, a Nazi

00:07 history, years of neglect, and a former owner with eccentric taste.

00:14 Let's explore the history and secrets of Trahenburg, the Dragon Castle.

00:19 Look at this!

00:21 Yeah, I feel special here.

00:24 Okay, we leave it back.

00:28 That's crazy!

00:30 According to folklore, German hero Siegfried once slayed a dragon here.

00:36 Hence its name, Trahenburg or Dragon Castle.

00:41 Thousands of people from all over the world visit Trahenburg every year.

00:46 The castle, located a 20-minute drive from Bonn, was built between 1882 and 1884.

00:53 It's perched on a hill with a commanding view of the River Rhine.

00:57 The castle is also a popular filming location.

01:01 Parts of Babylon Berlin, Germany's most expensive television series, were shot here.

01:07 Tour guide Gaby Brenig is waiting for me.

01:10 She has been working here for 14 years.

01:14 So Gaby, let's start from the beginning.

01:17 Who decided to build this castle and why?

01:20 Well, a very interesting person called Stefan Sauter.

01:25 He was an innkeeper's son, so he came from a low middle class family.

01:31 But he shot to success at the Paris Stock Exchange by selling shares to build the Suez Canal.

01:36 And with the new money, he bought the whole site to build his private home.

01:41 Nice! Not bad at all!

01:44 Stefan von Sauter died in 1902.

01:52 He had no children.

01:54 The castle was sold off several times and transformed into a summer resort,

02:00 a Christian school and even a Nazi college.

02:05 In the 40s, the Adolf Hitler School moved in here.

02:09 For how long were they here and what exactly happened?

02:13 Well, for about four years, until the end of the Second World War.

02:18 There were some 14-16 year old boys up here who got some military training

02:24 and political indoctrination as well, as you can imagine.

02:27 We don't have much information about that time,

02:31 because there are hardly any eyewitnesses who could tell you what happened here.

02:38 So they threw away everything, they destroyed all the files and all that.

02:43 The castle's main entrance and stained glass windows were damaged in World War II.

02:49 After the war, the castle was used as a shelter for refugees

02:53 and then as a training center for the rail authorities.

02:56 It was supposed to be demolished in the early 1960s.

03:00 The castle changed owners several times and then it was abandoned for 10 years.

03:06 Tell us about it.

03:07 Well, it kind of lost its place.

03:10 It was very attractive for the first people dealing with drugs.

03:15 This kind of architecture was regarded as old-fashioned, nobody was interested in it.

03:20 So that's the reason why it stood empty for 10 years,

03:23 because nobody was willing to buy that and to use it.

03:26 This was a wonderful venue for romantic meetings.

03:31 For drug consumers and all that.

03:38 In 1971, wealthy entrepreneur Polish Spinat bought Dragenburg

03:42 and had extensive refurbishment work done.

03:46 He was well known for his fancy cars, quirky personality

03:51 and eccentric taste in interior design.

03:54 Gawie, come here. What do we have here?

04:06 You're sitting on a real throne.

04:08 I feel special.

04:10 This is one of the pieces of furniture from the time of Paul Spinat.

04:18 He always told the visitors that this was the throne of Louis XIV,

04:26 but of course it wasn't.

04:29 Definitely.

04:30 That's the reason why our guests have the chance to sit on the throne

04:36 and feel like a queen or a king.

04:39 We head to the kitchen.

04:41 It was restored by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia,

04:45 which has been in charge of Dragenburg since 1989.

04:49 Great attention was paid to every last detail.

04:57 Gawie, look at you!

05:00 This is still the kitchen.

05:03 Next, Gawie shows us some secret places inside the castle,

05:07 like the servants' staircase and the rest of the building too.

05:11 It underwent 30 million euros worth of restoration work.

05:15 Highlights include the grand marble staircase and many beautiful artworks.

05:20 Filled with paintings of nudes, this room was once the gentlemen's chamber.

05:25 I thought the castle itself is a mix of different styles.

05:28 It is interesting to see how each owner left their mark here.

05:32 And you, have you ever visited a castle? Tell us which ones!

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