Osten Castle

The castle consisted of a northeastern outer bailey with a rectangular floor plan and the southwestern main castle. The outer bailey still shows impressive masonry. The outer bailey is a plateau 1.2 m high and is protected by an average of 12 m wide, still water-bearing moat. It is 60 m long and 50 m wide. Remains of the tower foundations and tower mounds are still recognizable from the main castle. The map of the Swedish land survey of 1696 still shows that both parts of the castle were formerly completely surrounded by the Tollense and depicts it as a two-part complex with a large rampart in front of the northeast side. The rampart and the essential parts of the castle complex were removed after extensive work to straighten the river in 1969. A moat still exists between the two castle sections.

The area was made accessible in the 1990s by means of wooden plank paths, which have since become damaged and are barely passable.

Osten Castle was probably built at the beginning of the 13th century. It is possible that the noble family von der Osten gave their name to the castle. After all, this family still owned property in the area around 1300. In 1303, Hynricus and Bernardus de Osten were vassals of the Prince of Werle.

Then Osten Castle temporarily came into the possession of the von Winterfeld(t) family, who were already followed by the Maltzahn family from around 1330. As the seat of the von Maltzahn, it held a significant political and economic position in the Middle Ages and was one of the most powerful Pomeranian castles. Since the second half of the 14th century, its possession was associated with the hereditary office of a Land Marshal for the Duchy of Pomerania-Stettin, which the Maltzahn also retained and continued to exercise after the extinction of the Stettin ducal line in 1464.

After the Thirty Years' War, the castle lost its importance. Finally, it was demolished to obtain building material, among other things for the manor house in Schmarsow.

The area of the Osten estates north of the Tollense became a forest estate. In 1855, Woldemar von Heyden-Cartlow bought Osten with Schmarsow and Borgwall. From 1897, the Demminer Kleinbahn Ost line ran through the Osten forest. The half-timbered forester's house burned down in 1945. The dilapidated bridge over the Tollense was replaced by a new construction in 2005.