First agriculture - then military - now apartments
3 generations of Aldingers at Burgholzhof area, Stuttgart
It was in 1852 when the farmer and landlord of the "Roessle" (little horse) inn from Endersbach Johannes Aldinger
(born May 5, 1805) became tenant of the Burgholzhof domain on a hill in Stuttgart's suburb Bad Cannstatt. It was
the kingdom of Wuerttemberg which owned the domain. He had an excellent reputation in agriculture and received
several state awards for his efforts. In its heyday the Burgholzhof comprised about 200 acres of which 140 were
farmland, 15 acres pasture, 8 acres vineyards and on 4 acres there were about 2,200 fruit trees. They also had
a big livestock and therefore dairy farming and meat production were focal point. In 1869 the Aldinger family
opened a restaurant which was popular among Stuttgart's day trippers.
The son, August Friedrich Aldinger (born June 13, 1841), succeeded his father and also received many awards for
his work.
In the 3rd generation Gustav Friedrich Aldinger (born June 26, 1876) continued.
The end of the Burgholzhof era loomed when in 1927 the decision was made that the drill area should be moved from
the Cannstatter Wasen (nowadays very world-famous through the Cannstatter Volksfest) to the Burgholzhof estate.
In 1934 the Flandern Barracks for the soldiers of the Deutsche Wehrmacht were built there. The 3rd generation of
the Burgholzhof Aldinger family was fired after a 82 years term of very successful leaseholders.
After Germany had lost World War II and the American occupying forces were deployed in Stuttgart, sometimes up
to 50,000 GI's were at the Burgholzhof at the same time, among them highly decorated generals. Even US presidents
visited the Burgholzhof area during that time. Only after the Berlin wall had fallen in 1989, most of the GI's
went back home and the area was delivered to the City of Stuttgart to provide residential areas. But even now
there is a small American military base and in a nearby estate there are still American families living, that
have not yet returned to the US. Their children are taught in a small American school at the Burgholzhof.
The son of the last tenant, Friedrich Gerhard Aldinger (born April 4, 1918) lives at the edge of the Burgholzhof
in the middle of his vineyards. He remembers some of the bad blows.
Not only without any announcement by the ruler of the Third Reich excavators were sent to the Burgholzhof to build
the barracks, he also lost both of his brothers at the same time (they were killed by bombs) quit at the end of
the war in Vienna, Austria.
They were there due to a command by Reichsmarschall Goering. The reason why they had to go there because they
belonged to a very small group of specialists who had knowledge about the aerodynamics of gliders which was supposed
to help to develop new weapon systems to win the war. But by espionage the Americans found out that and bombed
the building in Vienna where the specialists had their first meeting.
Despite this event, Gerhard today emphasizes his good friendship with Americans in his direct neighborhood. He
continued running the restaurant for years together with his wife after the end of the Burgholzhof domain and
only retired when he was too old. It still exists today. His uncle was Johannes Gottlieb August Aldinger (born
September 22, 1871), a very talented painter and poet. Some of his paintings can be seen in Gerhard's house, as
well as the coat of arms of the Burgholzhof line (book page 42 right above). He has gone through history at the
Burgholzhof, from the perfect cultural domain over soldiers of the Deutsche Wehrmacht and GI's to apartments
which are built on the area today.
Back to the contributions