Resuming liberty

The feudal system of the 18th century is based on a strict relationship of dependency between lord and vassal. The vassals had to provide services, meaning they had to cultivate the land besides a variety of other activities. Moreover, they had to pay for their accommodation. On October the 18th in 1816 at a church service in St. Mary´s church in Penzlin, Ferdinand of Maltzahn was the first in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania to proclaim the end of serfdom. Only years later, other landlords were willing to do the same. Unfortunately, the freedom of the peasants did not quite have the liberating effect that was hoped for. Instead, agricultural progress took a step backwards. Living conditions worsened and many peasants had to give up their property and migrate into other regions. Thus, the peasants were increasingly distressed, wretched and famine-stricken.

On the occasion of the abolition of serfdom, the son of Ferdinand, Johannes of Maltzahn, raised a monument on the former gallows hill in honour of his father. The English garden and the pyramid tomb shall be reminiscent of the life and work of Ferdinand of Maltzahn.