While they were travelling to Europe in 1914, the First World War broke out and the ship carrying Von Wolf and his wife was diverted to Rio de Janeiro. Jayta Humphreys had retained her American citizenship and found passage to Europe on a Dutch ship; legend has it the Baron had to travel disguised as a woman. On arrival in Europe the Baron rejoined the German army, and was killed at the Battle of the Somme in 1916, just two weeks after signing up. His wife could not bring herself to return to Namibia alone and never again laid claim to the castle. She stayed on the coast of the Tegernmeer in Bavaria (since her stepfather had been appointed consul general in Munich), before settling in the late 1930s in Zurich, where she met and married Erich Schlemmer, the consul general of Siam. After the Von Wolfs left South Africa, their friend Max Count von Lüttichau was given executorship of the farm, but it declared bankruptcy shortly after World War I, and since the South African government paid no compensation for this or several wartime raids, the house was sold for £7,500 to the Swedish Murrmann family. The new owner died shortly after his arrival and his son was killed in World War II, following which the castle was sold for £25,000 to the private company Duwisib Pty Ltd and the rest of the land was divided and sold off. Jayta returned to the US to stay with her parents in Summit, New Jersey. Several changes in ownership later, the castle was acquired by the government in 1979 and extensively refurbished in 1991.