History
Dammsmühle Castle, or Schloss Dammsmühle has a long history dating back to 1768. This year the two floors high castle was built for a Berliner leather manufacturer named Peter Friedrich Damm. But before there was a castle the location seemed to belong to a monastery which owned a mühle (Eng. Mill) here. There was a hunting lodge around 1650 belonging to Great Elector Friedrich Wilhelm before the grounds were bought by Peter Friedrich Damm. After his death it belonged to Adolph Wollank who expanded the castle. More owners followed until, in 1929, it became in hands of the English Harry Goodwin Hart, the director of Unilever company.
The Castle during Nazi Reign – Heinrich Himmler’s House
When the Nazis came to power in the early 1930’s things slowly started to change for the German Jewish people. Harry Goodwin Hart’s wife was of Jewish descent and they had to leave Germany. The Dammsmühle castle fell into Nazi hands, more specifically into Heinrich Himmler’s hands. Heinrich Himmler was Reichsführer of the SchutzStaffel, better known as the SS. Under his command 20 to 25 inmates of the concentration camp Sachsenhausen worked in the castle.
This wasn’t the only castle Heinrich Himmler owned, the notorious Wevelburg castle was his as well.
After World War Two
As the war neared its end the caste was used for the Battle of Berlin. Wehrmacht army-group Vistula, under command of Colonel-General Gotthard Heinrici, used it as a headquarters to defend the city against the Soviet armies. Gotthard Heinrici was a Generaloberst, the second-highest general officer rank in the German Reichswehr and Wehrmacht just below the Generalfeldmarschall (Eng, field marshal). The rank was equal to a four-star full general and is commonly translated as a colonel-general.
After the Battle was lost and Adolf Hitler’s death the Soviets took over the Castle, thereafter the Stasi, the secret police used it during the Cold War.
Visit
We visited the Dammsmühle castle which was being renovated in April 2023. There is a small car park nearby, a short walk through the woods brought us to the castle.
