The East – Discover Where You Live: Fairytale Castle Above the Unstrut – The Eventful History of Vitzenburg

A mysterious castle high up on an old vineyard, surrounded by a landscape that could not be painted more beautifully. A stubborn lord of the manor who rarely looks after the estate. A young baron who wants to save it. And a past that holds dark secrets. Vitzenburg Castle in the middle of the famous Saale-Unstrut wine-growing region.

Not long ago, Bibi and Tina were still riding across the castle grounds at the behest of successful director Detlef Buck. For all four parts of the film, the castle was roused from its slumber as the fictional “Falkenstein” castle. Since then the castle has been a place of pilgrimage for Bibi and Tina fans. Otherwise Vitzenburg is above all one thing: empty. The current owner is rarely on site.

Georg Freiherr Baron von Münchhausen, 32, whose family once owned the estate, recently bought back the castle hill on which the oldest vineyards in the entire region grow. “I want to save the castle and castle park, the pavilion, the enchanted vaulted cellars and the typical little press houses from decay. There is room here for inns, wine tours, concerts!”

Vitzenburg Castle has an eventful past. Founded more than 1000 years ago, a convent, a monastery, then the residence of high nobility. During the Second World War the “Red Baron” took in refugees from the east. The fact that he was opposed to the Nazis was of no use to him. After the end of the war the Soviets put him in Buchenwald concentration camp, where he died.

From 1969 onwards, a children’s and adolescent psychiatric unit was housed at Vitzenburg Castle. For decades the place was closed to the public.

The documentary sets out in search of clues. It sheds light on the more than 1000-year history of Vitzenburg Castle and the famous wine region and answers the question of how the fairytale castle is treated today.