Ottomar Rodolphe Vlad Dracula Prince Kretzulesco

Ottomar Rodolphe Vlad Dracula Prinz Kretzulesco, born Ottomar Berbig (October 10, 1940^[1] – November 2007) was a flamboyant German socialite who achieved fame through a claim of adopted lineage from Vlad Dracula, the inspiration for Count Dracula.

Berbig was an antiques dealer in West Berlin in 1978 when an elderly woman entered his store wanting to sell heirlooms. The woman was Romanian princess Catherine Caradja (also known as Princess Caradja-Kretzulesco), who claimed to be a blood relative of Vlad Dracula. The two became friends, and the princess was keen to adopt Berbig as her family had no male heirs to carry the family name.^[2]

Once formally adopted, the newly renamed 'Prince Kretzulesco' proved adroit at exploiting his 'Dracula lineage'. From his 46-room palace located in the town of Schenkendorf (Brandenburg), he organized so-called "blood-sucking parties" in conjunction with the German Red Cross at which guests were invited to donate blood. Likewise he entertained numerous other charity events including medieval festivals and ghost story-telling evenings.^[3]

He also set up a wine business, marketing under the Castle of Dracula label, and became a local councillor, at one time proclaiming the town of Schenkendorf 'Dracula's Principality'.^[3]

Kretzulesco died in Königs Wusterhausen of a brain tumor during the weekend of November 17-18, 2007. His son and heir, Ottomar Dracula Junior or 'Otti', celebrated his first birthday in December 2007.^[3]

References

1. ^ Obituary in the Telegraph
2. ^ Dracula's Kingdom!
3. ^ ^{a b c} Count Dracula Dies in Germany

External links

• Castle of Dracula Kretzulesco’s wine company

Persondata
Name	Kretzulesco, Ottomar Rodolphe Vlad Dracula Prince
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	October 10, 1940
Place of birth
Date of death	2007
Place of death

This biographical article about a philanthropist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · Categories: German philanthropists German socialites German princes People from Berlin Deaths from brain cancer 1940 births 2007 deaths Cancer deaths in Germany Dracula German people stubs Philanthropist stubs Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая? Diego antigen system List of committees of the Canadian House of Commons Look at other dictionaries: Dracula (disambiguation) — Dracula is an 1897 novel by Bram Stoker. Dracula may also refer to: Count Dracula, the title character in the novel Vlad the Impaler (1431–1476), Romanian prince that Count Dracula may have been partly based on Contents 1 Film 2 …   Wikipedia Catherine Caradja — Princess Catherine Olympia Caradja (born Ecaterina Olimpia Creţulescu on January 28, 1893, died May 26, 1993) was a celebrated Romanian aristocrat and philanthropist. Born in Bucharest, she grew up in England and France, and lived in Romania from …   Wikipedia 18+ © Academic, 2000-2024 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”