Projensdorf Manor

Gut Projensdorf refers to an estate that today lies west of Kiel-Holtenau near the Old Eider Canal in the municipality of Altenholz.

Megalithic tombs from the Neolithic Age and burial mounds from the Bronze Age on the Achtstückenberg, located west of the estate, indicate the early settlement of the area.

In 1378, the estate was first mentioned as "villam Prodenstorpe" in a document. The name probably derives from the meaning "village of Prodan". The noble estate belonged to the Kiel estate district. Kiel's mayor Johann Bisch († 1379) acquired the district and stipulated that the estate's income should benefit a vicarage of Nikolaikirche (Kiel) after his death.

In 1497, this endowment ended due to a change of ownership. At the diet of that year, the estate was awarded to John I (Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who sold it to the nobleman Hans von Ahlefeldt.

Shortly thereafter, Joachim von Wittorff († 1519) was enfeoffed with the estate. He was parish bailiff in Neumünster, owned a property on the market in Kiel, and in 1502 had ridden with Duke Frederick I (Denmark and Norway) to Stendal for his wedding to Anna of Brandenburg (1487–1514).

In 1543, his son Jasper von Wittorf († before 1565) is named as the owner. He was bailiff in Neumünster and owned a house in Lübeck.

In 1597, the estate is called "Progestorp" and is owned by his son Paul von Wittorf († 1598).

In 1626, the estate was owned by Anna von Rantzau.

In 1689, Gut Projensdorf, Gut Knoop, and Gut Uhlenhorst were owned by the Gottorf bailiff and district councilor Friedrich von Rantzau († 1723).

In 1750, Heinrich Christoph von Baudissin (1709-1786), son of Dorothea von Buchwald (1683-1709) and Wolf Heinrich von Baudissin, is named as the owner of the two estates. He also owned other estates nearby, such as Friedeburg, Uhlenhorst, Lamershagen, and Tramm.

In 1776, his son, the Privy Conference Councilor Heinrich Friedrich Graf von Baudissin (1753–1818), followed.

In 1824, Joseph Graf von Baudissin (1797-1824) from Borstel began to manage the estate and sold it in 1838 to the Hamburg syndic Amsinck.

The owner became Ferdinand von Spee (April 5, 1855 in Glindfeld in Westphalia - March 14, 1937), who studied medicine in Bonn and Kiel, received his doctorate in 1881, habilitated in 1885, was professor of anatomy at the University of Kiel from 1891 to 1933, lived in Kiel-Düsternbrook at Niemannsweg 17 until his retirement in 1933, and then in Projensdorf, where he also died. To this day, the "Graf-Spee-Straße" in the Blücherplatz district commemorates his family. It was named in 1936 in honor of his brother Maximilian von Spee, but then dedicated to Ferdinand von Spee in 1947; in 1956, it was officially determined that the street is dedicated to both.

In 1937, the estate was sold by the Spee family's community of heirs to the banker Dr. Otto Knapp, a partner in Ahlmann-Bank. He bequeathed it to his son, the farmer Klaus-Dieter Knapp (* 1925), who was married to Sigrid Knapp-von Conrady (* 1928). They died in 2000 and 2003 respectively. In 1999, both transferred Projensdorf to their common daughter Almuth Hassenstein, née Knapp (* 1965), who lives in the manor house with her family.