House of the Wheelchairs
About an hour East of the Harz in a sleepy village is this former Schloss turned residential home for the elderly
The original owners of the manor house are not known but in 1960 and now in the DDR (East Germany) the decision was taken to turn this into a Care home for the elderly. Apparently new pipework needed to be laid in the cellar for this and when the workmen were knocking down walls to facilitate this they found a hidden space containing the jewellry of the former owners. They had wrapped their valuables in newspaper in 1945 bricked them into an alcove for safe keeping and fled at the end of WWII. The treasure was taken into state care and was never seen again!
The reason the care home closed depends on what you read, the closure with came about because of a death of a resident who fell down one of the numerous staircases within the building, or a possibly simpler explanation is that after German reunification the care facility was considered outdated. Either way it is a fascinating building with some really nice features.
The Schloss is currently part of a legal fight between 2 families both laying claim to the building and until this is resolved it remains derelict.
The original owners of the manor house are not known but in 1960 and now in the DDR (East Germany) the decision was taken to turn this into a Care home for the elderly. Apparently new pipework needed to be laid in the cellar for this and when the workmen were knocking down walls to facilitate this they found a hidden space containing the jewellry of the former owners. They had wrapped their valuables in newspaper in 1945 bricked them into an alcove for safe keeping and fled at the end of WWII. The treasure was taken into state care and was never seen again!
The reason the care home closed depends on what you read, the closure with came about because of a death of a resident who fell down one of the numerous staircases within the building, or a possibly simpler explanation is that after German reunification the care facility was considered outdated. Either way it is a fascinating building with some really nice features.
The Schloss is currently part of a legal fight between 2 families both laying claim to the building and until this is resolved it remains derelict.
