Herzlich Willkommen - Welcome to "German" John H. Foertschbeck. Sr.'s webpage. Explore John's world as an author, self-publisher, and family historian. This site celebrates John's publications, love of local history, and his German heritage. All of John's books are currently SOLD OUT, we are considering making them available in PDF format to historians in the near future, see John's Books.
"German" John - Lake at Schloß Thurnau - Aug. 2017
Schloß Thurnau - Built by the Grafen (Counts) Förtsch
The photos on this page are from German John's, August 2017, trip to Germany. The Grafen (Counts) Förtsch managed the land surrounding Thurnau as the feudal lords under the bishopric of Bamberg. Today, Thurnau is in the Kulmbach District (Kreis Kulmback). Construction on the Schloß (castle) began in 1292 when Arnold Förtsch (aka, Arnoldus Forsco de Menigeawa) built a watch tower (Turmbau) on the site.
Male descendants of the Förtsch family died out during the mid 1500's. Grafen (Counts) Giech and Künßberg married Förtsch daughters. These families and their descendants completed the castle as it stands today. At the present time, Schloß Thurnau is a hotel and hosts a culinary school. The attached St. Laurentius Kirche (Protestant) is a favorite location for weddings.
There is no evidence, and very unlikely, that the Foertschbeck family descended or is in any other way connected to the noble family Förtsch (Foertsch) - but, it's nice to have a very beautiful castle associated with our family name, even if only very indirect.!