ABOUT OUR HISTORY
YWAM HURLACH
Youth With A Mission is a global movement of Christians from many cultures, age groups and Christian traditions, dedicated to serving Jesus throughout the world. Also known as YWAM (pronounced “WHY-wham”), we unite in a common purpose to know God and to make Him known.
YWAM International purchased the castle in Hurlach/Germany in 1972 as a base for the evangelistic outreaches during the Olympic Games in Munich. The Hurlach castle was only the second base purchased by YWAM after the first one in Lausanne/Switzerland. Since then the castle was used to train and send thousands of young people into all the world.
In the meantime, YWAM International reaches out in almost 200 countries with tens of thousands of staff (called “YWAMers”) from nearly every country.
Many ministries were launched through the years out of Hurlach, including YWAM’s international publishing house, YWAM Slavic Ministries, Family Ministries and Kings Kids Germany, several other ministries and various YWAM bases, worship music was introduced to Germany – and much more is to come!
Today the castle is used as a training centre and a base for outreaches and ministry, with a fresh focus on the nation of Germany and the countries of Central and Southeastern Europe. For that we offer different training courses and ministries, which you can either participate in or you can even invite us to come to your town.
Due to the nature of YWAM to train and send out people to many countries and contexts, the number of staff living and working at the castle fluctuates. We currently count about 30 to 40 staff as part of our community.
Castle History
The castle of Hurlach was presumably built around 1610 by the Fugger Family. It has had a large variety of owners over the course of its history. The main characteristics of the highly visible building are its stepped gables and the four octagonal corner towers with their spherical spires topped by gilded orbs.
Among the many lords of Hurlach the chamberlain of the electoral prince played an especially important role. Sebastian von Pemler (1718-1772) recorded many details of everyday life of the rural gentry of his time in his meticulously kept diary.
From 1898 to 1899 the castle was thoroughly renovated by Otto Freiherr von Schnurbein.
In the following years many additional structures were raised, transforming the castle into its current shape: the annexe and the rear buildings lavishly decorated with wrought-iron frets in the art nouveau style, the arcades and the pinnacle tower above the passageway set strong architectural accents.
After the Second World War the castle was first used as a fugitive shelter and subsequently transformed into an orphanage.
