Epilog to the 2008 German edition
Repeatedly after the Second World War, Sigwart asked that his “golden temple” in Liebenberg be “spiritually guarded”. In response, every day at noon numerous members of the family spoke the prayers and meditations Sigwart had given them. They did so for years.
We trusted in the power of the thoughts we gathered in this way, and hoped for the result that Sigwart desired.
The disparity became so great between the state of consciousness among people living on Earth with their everyday duties, and that of the departed individual living in the spiritual worlds, that bridging the gap from either side required ever stronger exertion, ever greater preparation. Nevertheless, the connection remained intact, so that on special occasions Sigwart spoke to his sisters and Marie even after 1950.
This connection ended with the deaths of Lycki and Tora, and of Marie (his sister-in-law) in the 1960s, as there was no longer anyone in the family or circle of friends who possessed the capacity to maintain or re-establish contact with Sigwart or his helpers.
In 1950, my grandmother Marie had three volumes of the communications from 1915-1917 printed for family and friends, for the sake of making them available to wider circles.
My mother Ingeborg conferred their official publication on Mr. F. Herbert Hillringhaus, who first published them in 1970-1972 in four parts in his Die Kommenden publishing company.
And after all had died who had been directly involved, I decided to have the communications published in a new and expanded edition, in order to allow Sigwart to step forward from the shadow of anonymity. And so the readership may now be interested in learning more about the family and the fate of Liebenberg down to the present day.
Sigwart’s father, Prince Philipp of Eulenburg and Hertefeld, died in 1921; his mother Auguste, the Swedish Duchess of Sandels, in 1941 in Liebenberg.
Tora’s youngest daughter Libertas was executed by the Gestapo at Christmas of 1942, on account of her involvement in the resistance movement against the Nazis.
Lycki’s older son died in the War.
When in April of 1945 the Russians were advancing on Berlin, on whose northern outskirts Liebenberg lies, the family had to get used to the idea of leaving their home.
Tora flew to her Swedish relatives in Stockholm. Karl’s family was offered a place to stay by distant relatives in the province of Schleswig-Holstein. Lycki withdrew to her little house in Starnberg near Munich.
Friedrich-Wendt, the owner of Liebenberg and his wife Marie (my grandparents) remained for the time being in Liebenberg with Karl; they only left Liebenberg on April 21st, a few days before the arrival of the Russians. They were part of a small trek consisting of a tractor with two trailors and an automobile in tow.
I was stationed as a soldier in Bernau near Berlin at the time, and was on my way to a military hospital, when they met me sitting at the side of the road only a few kilometers away from Liebenberg. They took me along with them to Holstein, where friends put us up at their estate. The large trek from our estate at Liebenberg, including the residents, horses and cattle, departed Liebenberg a few days later, but never made it through to the West. Even though the trek had been plundered, it returned to Liebenberg.
They found Liebenberg had been plundered as well, both the castle and the village. The estate and all that belonged to it was expropriated by the Russians in 1945 and given to the KPD (Communist Party of Germany). In the process, though, the estate was not divided up. It was only in the course of the land reform that a portion of the forests and the neighboring estate Häsen were divided up and handed over to the agricultural laborers. The portion of the castle built around 1900 with the gate tower and the “Nordic Hall” burnt down in July of 1945.
Liebenberg became a model estate and training estate for the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), the castle on the lake became a rest and recuperation home for the SED’s central committee. It stayed that way for nearly 45 years.
As happened with all other properties, estates, industries and larger crafts businesses expropriated by the Russians between 1945 and 1949, Liebenberg was not returned to the family after the Reunification in 1989; rather, it came into the hands of the Federal Republic of Germany. The government sold it in late 1999.
The new owners renovated the estate and the castles completely; even the burnt-down part was rebuilt. They transformed both castles into hotels, which are now mainly booked for seminars.
Liebenberg lives again!
When in 1990 I returned with my wife to Liebenberg for the first time, the estate still belonged to the SED, which now called itself the PDS (Party of German Socialists). We were able to find our way through the overgrown park to Sigwart’s grave at the spot beneath the large oak tree. It had been forgotten and therefore left untouched. Today a large wooden cross stands there once more, along with a gravestone with the names of Sigwart and his wife Helene, whose earthly remains had also been laid to rest there.
We asked the estate director at the time to make the chapel available for religious purposes once more. Until then it had been used as a salon for celebrations at the castle restaurant.
The structure of the chapel’s interior had been preserved nearly unchanged, the beautiful wooden ceiling and the inlay-worked main entrance door had been renovated, the marble columns and rosette-arches painted white. (All the chapel’s religious and cultic objects were stolen or destroyed in 1945.)
Was this an accomplishment of our daily prayers and good thoughts of the previous 45 years?
Today the chapel is again shining in its former colors, red marble columns and grey arches. The chapel has been used for church services again since 1992. A new altar with a painting from the Liebenberger church completes the picture.
In 1993, the chapel was named “Libertas Chapel”, after Tora’s daughter. It is a preferred place for weddings.
The new proprietors of Liebenberg, our former home, are very open toward the past and its spiritual roots, and will continue to observe our family’s 300-year tradition in Liebenberg.
The oaks go on rushing in the wind that blows over the Mark’s countryside, which was also home to Sigwart.
Hinterstoder, February 4th, 2008
Wilfried von Engelhardt
Repeatedly after the Second World War, Sigwart asked that his “golden temple” in Liebenberg be “spiritually guarded”. In response, every day at noon numerous members of the family spoke the prayers and meditations Sigwart had given them. They did so for years.
We trusted in the power of the thoughts we gathered in this way, and hoped for the result that Sigwart desired.
The disparity became so great between the state of consciousness among people living on Earth with their everyday duties, and that of the departed individual living in the spiritual worlds, that bridging the gap from either side required ever stronger exertion, ever greater preparation. Nevertheless, the connection remained intact, so that on special occasions Sigwart spoke to his sisters and Marie even after 1950.
This connection ended with the deaths of Lycki and Tora, and of Marie (his sister-in-law) in the 1960s, as there was no longer anyone in the family or circle of friends who possessed the capacity to maintain or re-establish contact with Sigwart or his helpers.
In 1950, my grandmother Marie had three volumes of the communications from 1915-1917 printed for family and friends, for the sake of making them available to wider circles.
My mother Ingeborg conferred their official publication on Mr. F. Herbert Hillringhaus, who first published them in 1970-1972 in four parts in his Die Kommenden publishing company.
And after all had died who had been directly involved, I decided to have the communications published in a new and expanded edition, in order to allow Sigwart to step forward from the shadow of anonymity. And so the readership may now be interested in learning more about the family and the fate of Liebenberg down to the present day.
Sigwart’s father, Prince Philipp of Eulenburg and Hertefeld, died in 1921; his mother Auguste, the Swedish Duchess of Sandels, in 1941 in Liebenberg.
Tora’s youngest daughter Libertas was executed by the Gestapo at Christmas of 1942, on account of her involvement in the resistance movement against the Nazis.
Lycki’s older son died in the War.
When in April of 1945 the Russians were advancing on Berlin, on whose northern outskirts Liebenberg lies, the family had to get used to the idea of leaving their home.
Tora flew to her Swedish relatives in Stockholm. Karl’s family was offered a place to stay by distant relatives in the province of Schleswig-Holstein. Lycki withdrew to her little house in Starnberg near Munich.
Friedrich-Wendt, the owner of Liebenberg and his wife Marie (my grandparents) remained for the time being in Liebenberg with Karl; they only left Liebenberg on April 21st, a few days before the arrival of the Russians. They were part of a small trek consisting of a tractor with two trailors and an automobile in tow.
I was stationed as a soldier in Bernau near Berlin at the time, and was on my way to a military hospital, when they met me sitting at the side of the road only a few kilometers away from Liebenberg. They took me along with them to Holstein, where friends put us up at their estate. The large trek from our estate at Liebenberg, including the residents, horses and cattle, departed Liebenberg a few days later, but never made it through to the West. Even though the trek had been plundered, it returned to Liebenberg.
They found Liebenberg had been plundered as well, both the castle and the village. The estate and all that belonged to it was expropriated by the Russians in 1945 and given to the KPD (Communist Party of Germany). In the process, though, the estate was not divided up. It was only in the course of the land reform that a portion of the forests and the neighboring estate Häsen were divided up and handed over to the agricultural laborers. The portion of the castle built around 1900 with the gate tower and the “Nordic Hall” burnt down in July of 1945.
Liebenberg became a model estate and training estate for the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), the castle on the lake became a rest and recuperation home for the SED’s central committee. It stayed that way for nearly 45 years.
As happened with all other properties, estates, industries and larger crafts businesses expropriated by the Russians between 1945 and 1949, Liebenberg was not returned to the family after the Reunification in 1989; rather, it came into the hands of the Federal Republic of Germany. The government sold it in late 1999.
The new owners renovated the estate and the castles completely; even the burnt-down part was rebuilt. They transformed both castles into hotels, which are now mainly booked for seminars.
Liebenberg lives again!
When in 1990 I returned with my wife to Liebenberg for the first time, the estate still belonged to the SED, which now called itself the PDS (Party of German Socialists). We were able to find our way through the overgrown park to Sigwart’s grave at the spot beneath the large oak tree. It had been forgotten and therefore left untouched. Today a large wooden cross stands there once more, along with a gravestone with the names of Sigwart and his wife Helene, whose earthly remains had also been laid to rest there.
We asked the estate director at the time to make the chapel available for religious purposes once more. Until then it had been used as a salon for celebrations at the castle restaurant.
The structure of the chapel’s interior had been preserved nearly unchanged, the beautiful wooden ceiling and the inlay-worked main entrance door had been renovated, the marble columns and rosette-arches painted white. (All the chapel’s religious and cultic objects were stolen or destroyed in 1945.)
Was this an accomplishment of our daily prayers and good thoughts of the previous 45 years?
Today the chapel is again shining in its former colors, red marble columns and grey arches. The chapel has been used for church services again since 1992. A new altar with a painting from the Liebenberger church completes the picture.
In 1993, the chapel was named “Libertas Chapel”, after Tora’s daughter. It is a preferred place for weddings.
The new proprietors of Liebenberg, our former home, are very open toward the past and its spiritual roots, and will continue to observe our family’s 300-year tradition in Liebenberg.
The oaks go on rushing in the wind that blows over the Mark’s countryside, which was also home to Sigwart.
Hinterstoder, February 4th, 2008
Wilfried von Engelhardt