Itter Castle

Itter Castle is a magnificent 19th-century building in Itter in the Brixental, North Tyrol.

Itter Fortress

The construction period of the fortress is unknown. It was a border fortress of the Regensburg Abbey to monitor the entrance of the Brixental against the Diocese of Salzburg, and could have been built as early as after 900, but also later: in 1380, Itter was sold by the Regensburg Cathedral Chapter to Salzburg; the first known documentary mention is in 1241, together with the village of Itter and Count Palatine Rapoto II of Ortenburg as the lords of the castle.

In the 14th century, the court and administration of Itter were located in the fortress, and the fortress and village were established as a Burgfrieden (castle peace), which for the population meant not only supplying the administrative seat with firewood and food but also road construction and providing military contingents. Among the administrators – who frequently changed – were, for example, the Freundsbergers. In 1526, the fortress was destroyed in the peasant uprisings by Pinzgau farmers, but rebuilt in 1532.

When the court was moved to Hopfgarten in the 17th century, the seat, like so many fortresses, was left to decay. In 1806, during the occupation period of the Napoleonic Wars, the Bavarian government handed over the ruin to the municipality of Itter for a symbolic building penny of 15 guilders. This allowed local farmers to use it as a quarry and to help themselves to the building material.

Itter Castle

In 1878, an entrepreneur from Munich, Paul Spiess, bought the area. He had the present castle built on the old foundations. Subsequently, a guesthouse with 50 rooms was established – unsuccessfully. In 1884, the pianist Sophie Menter acquired the property; Liszt and Tchaikovsky, for example, were guests here. In 1902, a new owner, Eugen Meyer, had the building converted in Neo-Gothic style with hints of Tudor style. Under these owners, the building was transformed – with great effort – into a representative seat of the Belle Epoque.

From 1943 to 1945, Itter housed an external camp of the Dachau concentration camp, among others for prominent prisoners (Sonderhäftlinge). Here, for example, the French politicians Édouard Daladier, Paul Reynaud, Léon Jouhaux, Jean Borotra, André François-Poncet, Maurice Gamelin, Maxime Weygand, Albert Lebrun and the Italian Francesco Saverio Nitti were interned.

In the summer of 1944, the regular concentration camp prisoners forced to work at Itter Castle developed an escape plan to Switzerland, for themselves and the prominent prisoners. However, the escape failed because the prominent prisoners refused to participate in the plan.

When the advance of the US Army towards Dachau was announced in April 1945, Eduard Weiter, the last camp commandant of the Dachau concentration camp, fled and shot himself here on May 2, 1945. On May 7, 1945, the internees were liberated by the Allied troops. In the defensive battle of the last SS units, the building was severely damaged.

After the war, the focus was again on accommodation, and a luxury hotel with a helicopter landing pad was established, again without economic success (Schlosshotel Itter owned by Ittag-Hotel AG, Vaduz). Since 1980, the property has been private property and a residential object.

Today, the building ensemble is a protected monument. Remains of two keeps and the connecting wing of the old fortress are preserved.