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Hohenasperg, located in the federal state ofBaden-Württemberg nearStuttgart,Germany, of which it is administratively part, is an ancient fortress and prison overlooking the town ofAsperg.
It was an important Celticoppidum, and a number of very important "princely" burials are close by, in particular theHochdorf Chieftain's Grave.
Hohenasperg is located on a 90-metre-highLate Triassic hill. The hill is located in an upland area, but because of its steep overhangs and wide plateau, it is visible from a long distance and offers an ideal location for afortification.
Around 500 BC, during theHallstatt period, the Hohenasperg was aCeltic principality with a fortified settlement, known as a 'princely seat'. Numerous Celtic burial sites in the surrounding area are aligned so as to offer a line of sight to the Hohenasperg, e.g. the largeHochdorf Chieftain's Grave, theLudwigsburg-Römerhügel grave, and theGrafenbühl grave on the Katharinenlinde bySchwieberdingen.Kleinaspergle, which has been well-known since an excavation in 1839, is a burial mound lying 1,000 metres south of Hohenasperg, which offers an exceptionally good view of the Hohenasperg.
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Around 500 AD, after the victory of theFranks over theAlamanni, Hohenasperg became the seat of the Frankish Lord and FrankishThing, the legislative assembly. At this time Hohenasperg was called "Ascicberg."
The first time Asperg was referred to was in the year 819, as the Shire Gozberg granted local suzerainty toWeissenburg Abbey in theAlsace. The location however achieved more importance in the 13th century with the founding of the independent town of Hohenasperg, which lasted until 1909.
Hohenasperg was officially chartered in 1510. In 1519, forces of theSwabian League underGeorge von Frundsberg laid siege to Hohenasperg whereDuke Ulrich of Württemberg was holding out.
On 12 May 1525, the peasant leader, Jäcklein Rohrbach, was taken prisoner by the governor of Asperg. He was held there until the surrender of theSteward ofWaldburg-Zeil. After 1535, the castle was expanded and turned into a fortress. The residents were resettled at the foot of the hill.
Between 1634 and 1635, during theThirty Years War, the castle was defended against imperial troops by a garrison ofProtestants from Württemberg, reinforced bySwedish forces. The siege ended finally with the surrender to the imperial troops, who occupied the fortress until 1649.
After the Thirty Years War, the fortress was returned to the rule of Württemberg. In 1688 and 1693, it was occupied by French troops; afterwards it lost its importance as a defensive fortress and became a garrison and a state prison. In 1718, Asperg was integrated into the districtLudwigsburg, but 17 years later became its own district. In 1781, Asperg was permanently incorporated into the district of Ludwigsburg.
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The use of the fortress as a prison is responsible for the fact that Hohenasperg is jokingly referred to as "Württemberg's highest mountain" as they say "it takes only five minutes to come to the top, but years to come back down again."
In 1737,Joseph Süß Oppenheimer, a Jew and the financial adviser to the Duke of Württemberg, was arrested and held at Hohenasperg for seven months before being executed in Stuttgart. The poetC. F. D. Schubart was held prisoner there between 1777 and 1787;Friedrich Schiller was mindful of Schubart's fate when he wrote his play "The Robbers," inspired by one of Schubart's short stories. Schiller himself escaped imprisonment in the Hohenasperg by fleeing toMannheim in the neighboringElectorate of the Palatinate.
During the rule of KingFrederick of Württemberg, deserters, military prisoners, and separatists from the RadicalPietist group from the circle ofRottenacker were kept at Fort Hohenasperg. By 1813, about 400 prisoners were arrested on the fortress. When his sonKing William I of Württemberg became ruler in 1817,corporal punishment, such asrunning the gauntlet, was abolished.
Further inmates in Fort Hohenasperg included the writerBerthold Auerbach, who was kept here between 1837 and 1838; Friedrich Kammerer (1833); the doctor and poet Theobald Kerner (1850–1851); the theologianKarl Hase; the satirist Johannes Nefflen; the poet Leo von Seckendorff, the writer Theodor Griesinger; and many more, mostly political dissidents, who in general were held prisoner because of their anti-monarchistic views.
In 1887 and 1888 awater tower,[1][2] was constructed, which also supports police radio antennas.
Since 1894, a prison for the civil penal system has been located on Hohenasperg hill. In the meantime the central hospital for the Baden-Württemberg penal system was placed on the Hohenasperg.
During spring and summer 1933, numerous members of Hitler's opposition, theSocial Democrats andCommunists, were imprisoned at Hohenasperg. Amongst these prisoners was the Governor of Württemberg,Eugen Bolz, who was murdered duringAktion Gitter in Berlin in 1945. At least 101 prisoners died in Hohenasperg under its hard penal system, and 20 of their names have been identified by theLudwigsburg VVN, an antifascist organization. These names are remembered on a plaque in the Prisoner's Cemetery.[3]
In May 1940, the prison was used as a way station during the first centrally planneddeportation ofSinti out of southwest Germany, west of the Rhine River (Mainz,Ingelheim,Worms). The deportation was carried using a special train, families were escorted through the village by foot, with police surveillance. In the prison, examinations were conducted by the Ritter Research Institute, which decided the fate of the inmates. The institute was named for the scientific racistRobert Ritter. Further deportations were sent to theGeneral Government, the area of Germany-occupied Poland. Non-gypsies were sent back.[4]
At least until the beginning of 1943, the prison was used as a way station for Sinti who were being sent to concentration camps. Later deportations led to the Gypsy Family Camp, the concentration camp ofAuschwitz-Birkenau, where prisoners were murdered.[5]
The U.S. Seventh Army used Hohenasperg as an Internment camp 1946-1947. In the book, "The Prison Called Hohenasperg", American born and raised author Arthur D. Jacobs provides his experience as a twelve- and thirteen-year-old prisoner in Hohenasperg.
In June 1959Karl Jäger, a formerEinsatzgruppe officer, hung himself in Hohenasperg prison.[6]
The prison later became a civil prison for the detention of non-political prisoners and now also houses the central hospital of the prison service in Baden-Württemberg. The serial killer Heinrich Pommerenke died in Hohenasperg in the central hospital on 27 December 2008.
There is a small museum detailing the lives of some of the prison's notable inmates ("Hohenasperg. Ein deutsches Gefängnis").
Media related toFestung Hohenasperg at Wikimedia Commons48°54′36″N9°08′18″E / 48.91000°N 9.13833°E /48.91000; 9.13833
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