Bildungshaus Schloss Retzhof

Bildungshaus Schloss Retzhof has been a household name in Austrian adult education for more than seven decades. The centre is a well-known and popular meeting place for regional activities in the fields of education, sport and culture. Due to its interesting geopolitical location and numerous international contacts, Bildungshaus Schloss Retzhof is also a popular meeting place for cross-border co-operation.

The main subject areas in which we work are art/culture/creativity, education in democratic politics and health & lifestyle.

In keeping with our roots as an educational centre, we offer a wide range of educational events in the field of lifelong learning and see ourselves as a hub for the exchange of knowledge and experience in line with our motto ‘transforming yourself through learning’. We combine state-of-the-art seminar and event infrastructure with a historical ambience. The range of options extends from management and strategy meetings, themed working groups, kick-offs, customer events, employee motivation or team-building workshops to seminars with our own or contracted trainers.

The doors of the Retzhof are also open for various types of celebrations, e.g. weddings and company anniversaries. For events, we offer seminar rooms in a wide range of sizes, flexible seating options and meeting areas as well as various combinations of indoor and outdoor activities.
 

We think and work in a networked and international way in numerous educational co-operations. Often in a leading role, sometimes as a
participating organisation. In any case, we always keep an eye on what could be interesting and useful for Styria and its citizens.

Democracy policy education
is an important and long-standing tradition at the Retzhof. Could there be any other answer to radicalisation, arbitrariness and contempt for humanity in a democratic society than enlightening information and education? Hardly. We want to try to make a contribution to this with our educational programmes.

Last but not least, educators at Retzhof dedicate themselves to local history in the projects on the Wagna camp and the former Aflenz/Sulm concentration camp. The forgotten, suppressed or unmentioned aspects of the building's history have been brought to light in recent years. During the Nazi era, Retzhof was home to the ‘Gebietsführerschule I’ of the Hitler Youth (HJ) Styria. The educational history of the house was analysed by historian Lisbeth Matzer and printed as a Retzhof publication.
 

Focal points of the in-house education programme