Hi all! I tried to use a self referencing entity but unfortunately the deletion fails with: java.lang.IllegalStateException: java.lang.IllegalStateException: org.hibernate.ObjectDeletedException: deleted object would be re-saved by cascade (remove deleted object from associations): [PInstrument#1] Using google I only found some samples using HBM files but I want to use annotations. Is it necessary to declare both relations (manytoone and onetomany)? I tried this also but without success. please see the hibernate model class below: @Entity @Table(name = "INSTRUMENT") public class PInstrument implements Serializable { @Id @Column(name = "INSTRUMENT_ID") @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.AUTO, generator = "instrument_seq_gen") @SequenceGenerator(name = "instrument_seq_gen", sequenceName = "INSTRUMENT__SEQ") private Long _id; @Column(name = "NAME", unique = true, nullable = false, length = 50) @NotNull @Length(min = 2) private String _name; @ManyToOne(fetch = FetchType.LAZY, cascade = CascadeType.ALL) @OnDelete(action = org.hibernate.annotations.OnDeleteAction.CASCADE) @Cascade({ org.hibernate.annotations.CascadeType.DELETE_ORPHAN, org.hibernate.annotations.CascadeType.ALL} ) @JoinColumn(name="FK_INSTRUMENT_ID") @Index(name = "IDX_FK_MAIN_INSTRUMENT") private PInstrument _mainInstrument; .... more attributes and set/get methods } I even added all possible cascade annotations, but the issue still remains. Any hint is realy appreciated Thanks in advance jens