Ksiaz Castle History Part 4
The confiscated castle first gave shelter to Wroclaw's (Breslau's) Lower Silesian Directorate of state Railway and then to the collection of Berlin's Royal Prussian Libary. In 1943 the castle was taken over by a special brigade of the Todt organization. After eviction of the previous occupants, construction work began. The castle rooms were adapted to suit the army's needs, and atthe foot of the castle 50m below the cour d'honneur underground tunnels were dug. The work was done by prisoners of the Gross Roden cencentration camp (the camp's branch was located near today's parking). It is difficult to unequivocally determine the purpose of the project. Most likely, the castle was to be converted into military quarters for the German army or a secret biological weapons factory.
Directly after the end of the war, the castle was occupied by the Read Army until August 1946. Afterwards, nobody took interest in the castle for many years. It remained deserted, without proper maintenance. During that time the Polish name of the castle Ksiaz became firmaly established. The first emergency works were initiated by the Provincial Conservator of Historical Monuments in 1956.
In 1960 the underground tunnels were explored with the help of army engineers and miners from the Bytom Rescue Team. Extensive renovation of the castle rooms and clean-up of the terraces also began in1960. After the castle was taken over by Agrokompleks Sudety (state-owned agricultural and industrial enterprise) in 1974, a separate tourism and service-oriented enterprise was formed, and since 1976 the castle has been performing cultural functions. Since 1 June 1991 the castle has been administerred by Zamek Ksiaz Limited, supervised by the Executive Board of municipality of Wałbrzych, which owns of castle.