The Acquisition of Castle Lagowitz

At the time of his parents’ wedding in October 1916 the twelve-year old Fritz Georg von Waldenfels attended a high school in Munich, lived in the boarding school and in 1921 attained the ‘middle graduation’ diploma in Passau. Fritz Georg had considerable talent as a violin player, which he had obtained in a two-years course of instruction in the ‘Pagerie’. This institute was exclusively established for the sons of the Bavarian aristocracy, who had fulfilled the prerequisites to become page boys at the Wittelbach court. However, after 1921, House Wittelbach did not need page boys any more. After 1921 Georg squandered away the following six years as agricultural assistant at his parents in Kastenreuth, Neuhof and Panwitz. In 1927 his father Ludwig dismissed the 23-year old son with the words, “Although your presence has not done us any damage, it had not been very useful either.” In the same year Georg married Emelie Hildegard von Zychlinska.

The adopted daughter of the in 1922 deceased lord of Castle Lagowitz could actually trace back her ancestry to the royal line Sobieski. Therefore, she was a direct descendant of Jan III Sobieski (1624-1696), the famous defeater of the Turks and king of Poland. Within the Polish nobility it was quite customary to resort to adoptions, when there were no children to maintain the family line.

At the time of her wedding the 18-year old Emilie had just returned from her schooling in a Swiss college and had been assigned the task of managing the estate Lagowitz, which she found a bit difficult to cope with. Thus, being most likely the heiress of the estate, she leased it to the von Waldenfels  family. With the marriage with Georg came about the most fortuitous turn of events. The two agricultural enterprises Panwitz and Lagowitz became one under the direct rule of father and son von Waldenfels. One does not need much imagination to comprehend the euphoria that Anna née Klopp felt, when her ‘good-for-nothing’ son married into such an illustrious family. She almost was tempted to call herself mother-in-law of a king’s daughter. Like ripe apples a large chunk of real estate had fallen into the lap of Klopp-von-Waldenfels clan. Too late, poor Emilie realized that she had fallen victim of their scheming. Barely six years lasted the marriage with Georg. Then she gave up.