The ruins are silent witnesses of a turbulent past that made a name for itself nationwide for the last time in the 20th century. After the First World War, the Allies occupied the Rhineland in 1919. Only a small, narrow strip from the Rhine through the Wispertal to the Aartal was overlooked. The Free State of the Bottleneck came into being.
Prime Minister of the Free State of bottleneck was the mayor of Lorch, Edmund Pnischek. He had his own money and stamps printed, issued his citizens - around 17,000 in number - passports for the Free State of bottleneck and actually had plans to set up an embassy in Berlin and establish diplomatic relations with other countries. In 1923 the French put an end to the small Free State in the Wispertal.