Oberbehme Castle (Kirchlengern)

The Oberbehme Estate is an estate and former moated castle in the south of Kirchlengern, Herford district.

The moated castle or Oberbehme Estate, located in the Werre valley, was first mentioned in 1450. However, a knight's estate Behme has existed since the 12th century, according to a levy list of Herford Abbey. In 1426, the estate came into the possession of the von Quernheim family. In 1734, Friedrich von der Horst zu Haldem acquired the estate from the brothers von Cornberg. The Niederbehme Estate, which no longer exists today, was located in the vicinity and also belonged to the von Quernheim family until the 19th century. In 1735, Baron von der Horst left the buildings of Oberbehme to the von Quernheim family of Niederbehme and built new estate buildings in Steinlake, the Steinlacke Estate. The rights of Oberbehme transferred to Steinlacke. Niederbehme Estate was demolished to be used as building material in Steinlacke; the rights of Niederbehme were transferred to Oberbehme.

In 1826, Arnold Friedrich von Laer acquired the property. His son Carl managed the estate until shortly before the Second World War. During the Second World War, the estate was administered by his daughter Maxa von Laer. Maxa was supported by numerous female trainees, including Gertrud Rolf née Greczic and Maria (called Bertha) Taake née Sura. Together with Friedrich C. Krüger, they ensured a dynamic further development of the large agricultural enterprise immediately after the war. When Maxa's brother Otto von Laer returned in 1956 as a late repatriate from Soviet captivity, he took over the administration and agricultural restructuring of the estate, as a result of which the number of employees between 1960 and 1973 reduced from 50-60 to 3. One of the last "Oberbehmer" from this period is Heinrich Taake, Maria Taake's husband, who went down in the history of the estate as an old-timer. He entered the service of the estate administration as a 14-year-old apprentice in 1924 and worked there for over 50 years. He died in 1994. Otto von Laer's eldest son, Carl-Mauritz von Laer, is now responsible for the large agricultural enterprise.