Saxtorf Manor

The noble estate of Saxtorf (Danish: Saxtorp, Low German: Saxdörp) originated in the 16th century. However, the manorial lordship of Saxtorf is considerably older. At the end of the 15th century, Saxtorf was owned by the Wohnsfleth family, a knightly lineage. In 1494, the Knights of Blome acquired Saxtorf. Hinrich Blome systematically developed the estate, but already in 1500, the Ahlefeldt family acquired the property. It remained in the possession of the Ahlefeldts until 1566. Through marriage, the estate came to the Rantzau family, who managed it until 1633. Again through marriage, it fell back to the von Ahlefeldt family. In 1690, the von Brockdorffs acquired the estate, and in 1741, the von Ahlefeldt family once again came into possession of Saxtorf.

In 1648, Cai von Ahlefeldt erected an impressive Baroque manor house in the French style. On the second day of Christmas 1847, this building largely burned down. A remnant of the house was integrated into the new building, which was completed in 1852 and erected soon after.

After the death of Carl F. G. von Ahlefeldt, the property entirely left the family. N. G. Gülich from Berlin then acquired Saxtorf for one million Mark. Nevertheless, the owners of Saxtorf constantly changed. In 1919, Peter Hoff from Olufskjer acquired the estate, and since then, the property has remained in the Hoff family. In 1955, his son Johann Ludwig Hoff was the owner, followed by his adopted son Bernd Hoff-Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik, his sister's son, whom Johann L. Hoff adopted in 1969.

The Hamburg architect Friedrich Stammann planned this new building in the then fashionable architectural style of Neo-Gothic (Neogothic) as a three-winged complex. A centrally arranged, five-story tower emphasizes the symmetry of the complex. In the late 1970s, the estate was used for a ZDF crime series, "Im Auftrag von Madame," as a "Scottish haunted castle." In 1984, Studio Hamburg produced the Siegfried Lenz novella "Ein Kriegsende" on behalf of NDR and used the estate as a filming location.