Aspenstein Castle

Aspenstein Castle (Aspenstein Palace) in Kochel am See was originally built on behalf of Benediktbeuern Abbey, when Kochel was still part of the monastic dominion of Benediktbeuern. After the secularization in 1803, it changed owners several times – including Reichsjugendführer Baldur von Schirach. Today, it houses the Georg-von-Vollmar-Akademie, which operates its educational institution here as a permanent learning location with weekly and weekend seminars on political education.

Aspenstein Castle was built between 1675 and 1694 as a two-story building with a hip roof and an attached house chapel for Benediktbeuern Abbey and served until the secularization in 1803 as a summer residence for abbots as well as a retirement and recreation home for the Benedictine monks of Benediktbeuern Abbey.

As part of the secularization, Aspenstein Palace came into the possession of Bavaria in 1803 and was acquired in the same year by the Bavarian financial councilor Georg Freiherr von Stengel. From 1815 to 1836, the wine merchant Ignaz Huber owned the small castle. Subsequently, the Dessauer family acquired it.

On March 12, 1936, Aspenstein Castle came into the possession of the high-ranking Nazi Baldur von Schirach, who was Reichsjugendführer and later NSDAP Gauleiter in Vienna.

In 1945, Aspenstein Palace again fell to Bavaria. Initially, however, it housed the headquarters of the 10th US Armored Division until it provided accommodation for so-called Displaced Persons (DPs) in 1946.

After losing this function again in 1948, it was acquired by the Bavarian SPD and became a permanent learning location, named after the politician and first chairman of the Bavarian SPD Georg von Vollmar, the Georg-von-Vollmar-Schule, which was renamed Georg-von-Vollmar-Akademie in 1968. To this day, the educational institution of the Georg-von-Vollmar-Akademie – with additional guest houses and seminar rooms – is housed here.