Speech by Caty Hartung |

Speech by Caty Hartung, member of the foundation’s board of directors, during the EC open house

Dear citizens of Immenstadt, dear friends,

We are very pleased that you have accepted our invitation to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of Gut Hochreute together with us.
Of course, we can only show a tiny selection from all of these years, things which we found here 4 years ago. The Martini and Herz families know the stories but unfortunately they cannot be here today to share them with us. Nevertheless, we want to celebrate with you because Gut Hochreute has been shining down upon Immenstadt for 100 years and we thought it would be a good opportunity to recall the roots of this powerful place, together with all of you.

The wish to look behind the gates of Gut Hochreute has arisen time and again; for 96 years it was impossible. Few were so connected to the family, whether through work or friendship, that they were able to come and go easily. For most, only the view as the first electric light shone down upon Immenstadt remained – and the young girls’ dreams of the princes they suspected in this fairy tale castle.

After the property was purchased by the Buddhist Foundation this all changed. Our yearly cultural program, the statue exhibition, our summer matinees, the neighbor’s day, countless tours through the house and our open houses are an expression of our thankfulness towards the city of Immenstadt and its people who have received us with such openness and friendship. We are aware of the beauty of this site and of its importance for Immenstadt and we wish to give you repeated opportunities to come to us outside of the Buddhist programs. Our 100 year celebration is one of these opportunities and we are very happy to see you here in such numbers.

As many of you know, we have openly communicated our building plans with you and the city of Immenstadt from the very beginning. For this reason, the exhibition in the small house at the bend in the road was one of the first things we installed – so that everyone who wanted to do so, could know who we are and what plans we have.

Apparently, we did not explain enough – or perhaps too much? A week ago we received a notice from the city that 10 citizens had filed a popular action against the city administration, which – at the beginning of this year – had approved a change in the development plans for the construction of a residential and guest house. This is a completely new development and we will see what the conclusion will be. Certainly, much will be discussed and published in the news, just as it was last week. Buddhists do not like this but always want to see something positive in every situation. At the very least, we have learned that more information is apparently required. So I will start with that at once. The present day was not planned like this but we hope that we can bring a bit of clarity into the situation though more exchange.

So, how did it come to all of this?

An additional building was planned from the very beginning, in order to be able to effectively run our seminars and in order to use these historically protected buildings in a gentle way. Too much activity is simply not good for the aged buildings, particularly not for the villa, our art nouveau jewel.

Originally, the new building was planned and approved as a meditation hall which would have abutted the courtyard wall and have been visible far into the valley. We wanted to situate the residential and guest rooms in the barn.

After living here and experiencing this property with its beautiful buildings every day for 2 years, this plan no longer seemed fitting. Also, the barn is not suitable for residential use, too many construction changes would have have to be made to the historically protected building in order to create sufficient living space. We had also noticed that we would certainly not be able to complete the construction and barn renovation projects by ourselves.

Therefore, we contracted three architectural offices to submit preliminary concepts for a residential and guest house which fit our building site. The architects Helmut Dietrich – multiply distinguished as “best architect” in Austria – and Professor Roland Gnaiger – one of the most prominent representatives of the so called “Bregenzer School” – came up with a completely new vision.

We immediately realized why these architects had made such a name for themselves. They had not only understood our project but had dealt with the existing buildings and landscape in a sensitive manner. Their solution was not to arise on the approved building site, but instead, discreetly in the background. Green roofs would form an extension of the hill slope and the new building would not be visible from the courtyard where you are now standing, nor from the other shore of the lake, nor from the hiking trails above our property. The new building was broad rather than tall – however the number of usable square meters remained unchanged.

The architects succeeded in placing the new building in the landscape so that the defining aspects of the 100 year old historically protected complex would not only be preserved but also emphasized – through the framework of the new building. This new concept so enthused all the people involved that we visited the city (administration) the very next week and took all of the models – which you can see today in the barn – with us. We just had to know if we could relocate the building site to accommodate the new concept. Since the new solution was obviously so much better, it seemed to pose no problem to the city. And so we soon presented the new vision at a town meeting in Bühl. After that we began the process of relocating the building site and contracted the offices of Dietrich/Untertrifaller to plan the new building in detail and to build it for us next spring.

Because we have had problems with Mr. Grebenstein, the president of the local chapter of the BUND (League for Environment and Nature Conservation; Germany), since the very first year here – which to this day we have not been able to clear up in spite of numerous hour long discussions – and because the environmental and recreational value of the land of Gut Hochreute are so precious to us, we also contracted a local landscape architect. The landscape planning is carefully oriented towards a long term improvement of the environment and landscape – every visitor here should see it.

If you wish to know more about the additional residential and guest building, the expansion of the barn or the landscape planning, you can ask Philip Leube, Kai Burmeister or me today. We will be happy to explain it to you.

Honestly, we are still a bit shocked and must now wait and see what effects this will have on the Europe Center, which is the heart of our more than 600 centers through out the world and which we have been building up with volunteer labor and much élan and joy since 2007. Many people from all over the world come here to enjoy the benefits of Buddhist teaching on the nature of mind, they learn methods in order to live more happily and to die consciously. We sincerely hope that this will continue to be possible in such a peaceful and joyful atmosphere – that is, we hope that this lawsuit will have no effects.

We would never have purchased Gut Hochreute without the possibility of this addition. The building permit was the decisive prerequisite because we knew that more living space would be required for our plans. Our property is managed on a volunteer basis and requires a certain amount of people for its operation and preservation – so that you can continue to look at this beautiful property in the future. We wish to assure you once again that we are caring for the buildings and the landscape of these breathtaking surroundings with love and attention and that we will do everything to preserve this experience of nature.

From the very beginning we have been very well received in Immenstadt; we have become part of this city. We bring many international guests to the city and we feel at home here. Enjoy this beautiful day, the nice weather and the food; we are happy to guide you through the various exhibitions. In the garages we have prepared a small peek back in history. We have enlarged antique photographs from the construction period of that time which beautifully illustrate the plans of the builder Martini. Mr. Werner Martini was a real visionary who constructed this hunting house for his large family and his extensive circle of friends – apparently an active life prevailed up here in those times, similar to that of today. We have often had the feeling that the rooms of the villa were made for us. In addition, we will give a glimpse of the life and leisure activities of the family. A family tree which we constructed with help from the city archives illuminates the family bonds.

The saddest and for us the most impressive find from Gut Hochreute was the army backpack of Anneliese Herz’s brother. Apparently it had not been opened until we found it in 2008 and contained the last personal belongings of the fallen soldier.

Many letters show the loving bonds and the art of communicating with each other in those days. We are happy to be able to show you these objects; they are all originals which we were privileged to find – like buried treasures – in these old walls over the years.

In the barn you can find our future plans and in the villa see life at Gut Hochreute today. We are happy that we are visiting us today and, as always, there is coffee and homemade cake – not from Denmark this time but from the Allgäu.

Please ask all of your questions and enjoy the open house. I wish you all a wonderful day and much joy.