The Schloss Höhenried is a very large country house from the first half of the 20th century, which is called a Schloss (castle) due to its size and baroque architecture. Schloss Höhenried is located in the Höhenrieder Park in Bernried in Bavaria. The Munich architect Michael Aicher designed the castle-like villa in 1937, whose axis is oriented southeast towards the shoreline of the Starnberger See and the Alpine Foreland. The castles of Schwindegg and Tüßling as well as the Villa Heidinger in Pöcking are considered models for Schloss Höhenried. The building, which was completed shortly before the outbreak of World War II, is considered the last castle built in Bavaria. The entire complex is listed under file number D-1-90-115-21.Florian Neumann / Maximilian Schreiber: Höhenried, August Dreesbach Verlag, München, 2007, p. 25Sylvia Böhm-Haimerl: Ein wahr gewordener Traum – die reiche Deutsch-Amerikanerin Wilhelmina Busch-Woods baute sich in Höhenried ein Schloss mit Bootshaus und Tierpark, Süddeutsche Zeitung (Starnberger Lokalausgabe), 31. August 2015
In the final months of World War II, Schloss Höhenried housed the Swiss Legation after its evacuation from war-torn Berlin.
History In 1914, while hunting with her husband August Eduard Scharrer (1880–1932), a Württemberg reserve officer and horse lover, the German-American Wilhelmina Busch (1884–1952), daughter of Adolphus Busch, and therefore heiress to the Anheuser-Busch fortune, discovered the area around the Starnberger See. Shortly thereafter, in the same year, she purchased the estates Bernried and Adelsried from Freiherr Maximilian von Wendland for 1.5 million Goldmarks. Furthermore, in 1927, Wilhelmina Busch had the opportunity to buy the Höhenrieder Park adjacent to her property. The location seemed ideal to her to realise her dream of a castle on the Starnberger See. But at first it seemed hopeless to obtain a building permit in this landscape conservation area.Florian Neumann / Maximilian Schreiber: Höhenried, August Dreesbach Verlag, München, 2007, p. 22Klinik Höhenried GmbH: Chronik Schloss Höhenried, Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bayern Süd (Hrsg.), 5. Auflage, Mai 2017, p. 9
Munich in exchange for Höhenried
On 24 September 1932, August Eduard Scharrer died. The following year, Wilhelmina Busch married her doctor, Carl Borchard. She now concentrated fully on her dream of building a castle in Höhenried. Chance came to her aid.
Adolf Hitler had ordered that the widening of the Von-der-Tann-Strasse in Munich had to be completed by the opening of the Haus der Deutschen Kunst on 18 July 1937. The street was to be widened from 11 meters to 27 meters and thus developed into a Via Triumphalis. Therefore, the private properties numbers 17 to 27 on the south side of the street had to be demolished by the end of March 1937 at the latest. Wilhelmina Busch was the owner of house number 27, which she had purchased in 1926 for 90,000 Reichsmarks. She initially asked for a price of 272,000 Reichsmarks from the state of Bavaria. However, finally she agreed on 175,000 Reichsmarks on the condition, that the state of Bavaria grants her the building permit for Schloss Höhenried and the permits for the import of the building materials (Germany had already imposed restrictions on raw materials in 1937, which also applied to imports). Otherwise, she threatened to personally contact Adolf Hitler – whom she knew and whom her first husband had supported financially in the 1920s – and to move back to the United States. Due to her considerable wealth and social influence reaching into the highest circles of politics and business, the threat had the desired effect. She received the building permit for Schloss Höhenried, and the German state continued to reap large profits from Wilhelmina Busch's American foreign currency.Klinik Höhenried GmbH: Chronik Schloss Höhenried, Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bayern Süd (Hrsg.), 5. Auflage, Mai 2017, pp. 10, 11
A memorandum held in the Munich State Archives, addressed to the Minister President of Bavaria, at the time called Reichsstatthalter, Franz, Ritter von Epp, states: "The matter has been definitively settled, thereby obviating the necessity of a formal expropriation procedure and additional measures."Klinik Höhenried GmbH: Chronik Schloss Höhenried, Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bayern Süd (Hrsg.), 5. Auflage, Mai 2017, p. 11
Construction phase of the last castle in Bavaria by the last Queen of Bavaria
In 1937, under the supervision of the architect Michael Aicher and the construction manager Hans Nüchter, the construction of Schloss Höhenried began. The topping out ceremony took place in February 1938, and the building was completed shortly before the outbreak of World War II. The construction price of the complex was originally estimated at 300,000 Reichsmarks. However, due to the numerous extravagances indulged in by Wilhelmina Busch during the construction phase, the price doubled, according to Hans Nüchter. However, money was no issue in the construction of Schloss Höhenried. At the same time as the castle, Wilhelmina Busch also had a large boathouse built on the shores of the Starnberger See for her new 21-meter private yacht, the Höhenried – the largest on the lake. It was at this time that Wilhelmina Busch was nicknamed the "last Queen of Bavaria".Klinik Höhenried GmbH: Chronik Schloss Höhenried, Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bayern Süd (Hrsg.), 5. Auflage, Mai 2017, p. 12
Extravagances
Wilhelmina Busch exerted considerable influence on the construction. The architect had originally intended to build the castle parallel to the lakeshore and the foundations had already been completed. Wilhelmina Busch reversed these plans and had the castle oriented to the south. She also insisted on using Czech copper for the roofs. The Grünthaler copper is known for its beautiful and rapid oxidation. However, due to the 1937 German decree, this war-critical material was neither allowed to be used for private buildings nor imported by private individuals from abroad. With a special permit from Hermann Göring, Wilhelmina Busch was allowed to import the copper via England. Hermann Göring's condition: He wanted half of the ordered copper for the construction of his hunting lodge, Carinhall.
Interiors
The centuries-old oak avenue leads to the entrance of Schloss Höhenried. Through the vestibule and the adjoining large double-height entrance hall with its grand staircase, one reaches the former state rooms on the ground floor. The focal point is the Kaminzimmer (drawing room), which occupies the center of the garden front and terrace. To the sides are the dining room, the parlour and the study. The former private rooms are on the upper floor and the servants' rooms were in the attic. In the vaulted basement, besides the large kitchen and a storeroom, there were also rooms used for entertainment, including a bowling alley and the Rittersaal (Knights' Hall), the only room that still retains its original furnishings from the time of Wilhelmina Busch.Florian Neumann / Maximilian Schreiber: Höhenried, August Dreesbach Verlag, München, 2007, pp. 26, 28
Wilhelmina Busch had the castle furnished with numerous historical architectural elements as well as antiques and works of art that she had purchased on her many travels. These include an Italian entrance portal from the 17th century, numerous antique fireplaces and a Byzantine chapel from Corfu.
Schloss Höhenried in the service of the Swiss Confederation
As the US entry into the war became increasingly likely, Wilhelmina Busch began preparing to move to Switzerland. Before her departure in 1941, however, she divorced her husband, Carl Borchard, from whom she had been separated for some time. She initially lived in Lugano. When her widowed sister Clara von Gontard (1876–1959) moved to Zurich, she also moved there and lived at the Grand Hotel Dolder. However, she kept her German passport and returned to Schloss Höhenried several times during the war. During her absence, she entrusted her maid, Anna Hartwich, with the supervision of the estate.Florian Neumann / Maximilian Schreiber: Höhenried, August Dreesbach Verlag, München, 2007, p. 28Klinik Höhenried GmbH: Chronik Schloss Höhenried, Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bayern Süd (Hrsg.), 5. Auflage, Mai 2017, p. 13
Confiscation of Schloss Höhenried and Wilhelmina Busch's activities in Zurich
Schloss Höhenried did not remain empty for long. The buildings were confiscated and on 1 September 1943, the Orthopedic Clinic from Munich of LMU Munich took up residence there for two years. To mark the castle's use as a hospital, a large white tarpaulin with a red cross was stretched over the roof in the hope that this would protect the building from air raids. Wilhelmina Busch was awarded an annual compensation of 62,170 Reichsmarks for the use of Schloss Höhenried. Money that Wilhelmina Busch would have needed. Due to her involvement with high-ranking representatives of the Nazi regime, she was no longer able to transfer money from the US to Switzerland. She was on a blacklist. The same also applied to the compensation payment from Germany for the use of Schloss Höhenried (the money was deposited into a blocked account). Only thanks to her acquaintance with the US Consul General Sam E. Woods (1892–1953) in Zurich in 1942, she managed to get off this blacklist, so she had access to her assets again. In this way, the Consul General thanked Wilhelmina Busch for helping him, through a Catholic dignitary, to establish contact with a German spy in 1943, who informed him about the German weapons development during this crucial phase of the war.Klinik Höhenried GmbH: Chronik Schloss Höhenried, Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bayern Süd (Hrsg.), 5. Auflage, Mai 2017, p. 14Florian Neumann / Maximilian Schreiber: Höhenried, August Dreesbach Verlag, München, 2007, pp. 32, 33
Sam E. Woods was not only a diplomat, but also an agent. The US Consul General succeeded in building a dense network of contacts in Berlin. These included Wolf-Heinrich Ferdinand, Graf von Helldorff, Bernhard Berghaus (1896–1966), a German industrialist, and Erwin Respondek (1894–1971), a German economist. His greatest intelligence success came when Erwin Respondek, whom Sam E. Woods always referred to in his documents only by his code name Ralph for security reasons, informed him in January 1941 about the German attack plans against the Soviet Union, code name: Operation Barbarossa.William L. Langer / S. Everett Gleason: The Undeclared War, 1940–1941 – The World Crisis and American Foreign Policy, the spy network of Sam E. Woods, Harper & Brothers Publishers, New York, 1953, p. 336Documents diplomatiques suisses: L'économiste allemand Erwin Respondek (1894–1971) et Sam E. Woods (1892–1953), diplomate américain à Berlin jusqu'en 1941, puis Consul Général à Zurich, (dodis.ch/14783)
Wilhelmina Busch's ingenious plan: The relocation of the Swiss Legation to Schloss Höhenried
Wilhelmina Busch observed the course of the war very closely. To prevent the destruction of Schloss Höhenried, she again used the contacts that had once put her on the blacklist. The aim was for neutral Switzerland to relocate its legation from war-torn Berlin to Schloss Höhenried so that the castle would become Swiss territory and thus be protected from destruction.Florian Neumann / Maximilian Schreiber: Höhenried, August Dreesbach Verlag, München, 2007, p. 34