Wewelsburg
Encyclopedia
For the village of Wewelsburg see Village of Wewelsburg
Wewelsburg (ˈveːvəlsˌbʊɐ̯k) is a Renaissance
castle located in the northeast of North Rhine-Westphalia
, Germany, in the village of Wewelsburg
which is a quarter of the city Büren, Westphalia
, in district of Paderborn
in the Alme Valley. The castle has the outline of a triangle (aerial photo). After 1934 it was used by the SS under Heinrich Himmler
and was to be expanded to the central SS-cult-site. After 1941 plans were developed to enlarge it to the so-called "Center of the World".
In its current form the Wewelsburg was built from 1603 to 1609 as secondary residence for the prince-bishop
s of Paderborn namely Fürstbischof Dietrich von Fürstenberg (also see Bishopric of Paderborn
). Its location is near what was then believed to be the site of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
.
The masonry of both predecessor-buildings was integrated in the now existing triangular Renaissance
castle which was built from 1603 to 1609.
The Wewelsburg was destroyed several times during its history, during the Thirty Years' War
in 1646 by the occupation of Swedish troops—namely by the army under the Swedish general Carl Gustav Wrangel. Since 1654 the widely destroyed castle was rebuilt by prince-bishop Theodor Adolf von der Recke and his successor Ferdinand von Fürstenberg. He carried out some architectonic changes—the three towers of the castle got their baroque
domes.
From 1589 to 1821 the castle was place of residence of a bursary officer. Two witch trials took place in the Wewelsburg in 1631 (a former inquisition room is placed in the basement next to the east tower). Legend suggests that the castle held thousands of accused witches during the 17th century, who were torture
d and executed within its walls.
During the Seven Years' War
(1756–1763) the basement rooms were probably used as military prison. Till the end of the prince-episcopalian times in 1802 prison cells existed in a dungeon in the basement of the west tower.
n state (Secularization
). On 11 January 1815 the North Tower was gutted by a fire that was started by a lightning strike. Only the outer walls remained. From 1832 to 1934 a rectory existed in the eastern part of the south wing of the castle.
. It was changed into a cultural center. In 1925, the castle had been renovated into a local museum, banquet hall, restaurant and youth hostel—at the end of the Twenties the North Tower again proved to be the weak point of the architecture, and had to be supported by guy wires in winter 1932/33. The preservation of the castle was supported by the "Club for the preservation of the Wewelsburg" (Verein zur Erhaltung der Wewelsburg). After 1925 the renovation activities decreased.
district, initially intending to renovate and redesign the castle as a "Reich SS Leadership School" ("Reichsführerschule SS"). Who called Himmler's attention to the castle is unknown. There is speculation that Karl Maria Wiligut
advised him. Wiligut allegedly was inspired by the old Westphalia
n legend of the "Battle at the birch tree" (Schlacht am Birkenbaum).
The saga tells about a future "last battle at the birch tree" in which a "huge army from the East" is beaten decisively by the "West". Wiligut supposedly predicted to Himmler that the Wewelsburg would be the "bastion". Himmler expected a big conflict between Asia and Europe. Another source reports that the NS district president of the city of Minden
von Oyenhausen called Himmler's attention to the Wewelsburg. Nevertheless, it is sure that Himmler knew the apocalyptic saga of the "Battle at the birch tree", which takes place in the Wewelsburg region. Himmler wanted a castle in the "core-region of Hermann der Cherusker
" for the SS. He was seeking for a castle for the purposes of the SS-Rasseamt (SS-race-office). Originally he was interested in Castle Schwalenberg. Himmler visited the Wewelsburg for the first time on 3 November 1933. He was impressed by the triangular shape of the castle and the (e.g. in the building of churches unusual) north-south-axis of the castle. On the same day he decided to restore the castle. In January 1934 the voluntary labour service started with the rebuilding work. On 22 September 1934 was the ceremonial transfer to Himmler. It was to be enlarged to a SS-leader school (SS-Führerschule). In the planned school, besides physical training, a uniform ideological orientation of the leading cadre of the SS was to be realized. Courses for SS-officers in pre- and early history, mythology, archaeology, astronomy and art were intended as mental warehouse for an ideological-political schooling.
The castle crew consisted of members of both SS branches, the "General SS" ("Allgemeine SS") and the "Armed SS" ("Waffen SS"). Also working at the castle were proponents of a kind of SS esotericism consisting of Germanic mysticism, an ancestor cult, worship of runes, and racial doctrines: Himmler, for example, adapted the idea of the Grail to create a heathen mystery for the SS.
No proof exists that Himmler wanted a Grail castle, but redesign of the castle by the SS referred to certain characters in the legends of the Grail: for example, one of the arranged study rooms was named Gral ("Grail"), and others, König Artus ("King Arthur
"), König Heinrich ("King Henry"), Heinrich der Löwe ("Henry the Lion
"), Widukind
, Christoph Kolumbus ("Christopher Columbus
"), Arier ("Aryan"), Jahrlauf ("course of the seasons"), Runen ("runes"), Westfalen ("Westphalia
"), Deutscher Orden ("Teutonic Order
"), Reichsführerzimmer ("Room of the Empires Leader(s)"; "Reichsführer-SS", or "the Empire's Leader of the SS" was Himmler's title), Fridericus (probably in reference to Frederick II of Prussia
), tolle Christian (probably referring to Christian the Younger of Brunswick, Bishop of Halberstadt
), and Deutsche Sprache ("German language
"). In addition to these study rooms, the SS created guest rooms, dining room, auditorium, a canteen kitchen, and a photographic laboratory with an archive.
Oak was used to panel and furnish these rooms, though (according to contemporary witnesses) only sparely. All interior decoration was shaped by an SS sensibility in art and culture; the preferred elements of design were based on runes, swastikas, and Germanically interpreted sense characters. Tableware, decorated with runes and Germanic symbols of salvation, was manufactured specifically for Wewelsburg castle. And Himmler's private collection of weapons was housed in the castle. From 1939, the castle was also furnished with miscellaneous objects of art, including prehistoric objects (chiefly arranged by the teaching and research group "Das Ahnenerbe
"), objects of past historical eras, and works of contemporary sculptors and painters (mainly works by such artists as Karl Diebitsch, Wolfgang Willrich, and Hans Lohbeck—that is, art comporting with the aesthetics of National Socialism).
In 1934, the eastern castle bridge was built and the castle moat lowered. The exterior plaster was removed to make the building look more castle-like. The following year, a smithy was established on the ground floor of the North Tower for manufacture of the wrought-iron interior decoration of the castle. The western and southern wings of the castle were rebuilt between 1934 and 1938; the eastern, between 1936 and 1938. The first new building, the guardhouse (Wachgebäude), was constructed next to the castle in 1937; historical documentation of "Wewelsburg 1933–1945" has been housed there since 1982. An SS sentry post and a small circular location (Rondell) were placed next to the guardhouse, as was a no longer extant SS staff building (SS-Stabsgebäude). The North Tower was strengthened and rebuilt between 1938 and 1943.
The first commandant of the castle (Burghauptmann von Wewelsburg), from August 1934, was Obersturmbannführer (equivalent to Lieutenant Colonel) Manfred von Knobelsdorff. He was affectionated to Karl Maria Wiligut's religious theories. The opinion of other SS-scientists about Wiligut were absolute negative. Von Knobelsdorff was succeeded by Siegfried Taubert on 30 January 1938. Because Taubert was consigned to various other tasks he was absent from the castle for longer periods.
So called "SS-marriage-consecrations" (SS-Eheweihen) took place at the castle.
Since 1936 Himmler (who was often present at the castle) wanted more and more to expand the Wewelsburg to be a representative and ideological center of the SS Order. At first planned to be an educational training center, during the 1930s more and more measures were taken to transform the castle into an isolated central meeting place for the highest ranking SS-officers.
For financing the project Himmler founded in 1936 the "Gesellschaft zur Förderung und Pflege deutscher Kulturdenkmäler e.V." (association for the advancement and maintenance of German cultural relics (registered association)) and assigned the association as building developer. In contrast to the SS the association was allowed to receive donations and loans. Till 1943 the project cost 15 million Reichsmark. In 1939 Himmler enacted a forbiddance to publish the castle.
After the Freiwilliger Arbeitsdienst FAD (voluntary labour service) the Reichsarbeitsdienst RAD (Reich Labour Service) carried out the modifications of the castle. In 1938 the RAD was relocated to the "Westwall" (Siegfried Line
). Between 1939 and 1943 prisoners from the Sachsenhausen
and Niederhagen
concentration camps were used as labourers to perform much of the construction work on Wewelsburg, under the design of architect Hermann Bartels
. Due to a decree of 13 January 1943 all building projects which were unimportant for the war—including the Wewelsburg—had to be stopped.
In 1938 after the Reichskristallnacht 17 Jews from the 10 km away Salzkotten
were shut in the dungeon in the basement of the west tower before their further transport to the Buchenwald concentration camp
.
In the middle of the Thirties Himmler had a private safe mounted in the basement of the west tower. Only the commandant of the castle knew about it. The whereabouts of its content after the Second World War is unclear.
or who were intended to be used for the operation, were called up by Himmler. Concrete decisions weren't made. Purpose of the meeting was the ideological preparation of the attendant SS-leaders for the campaign.
Another source mentions three or four ceremonies a year of SS-leaders which took place at the castle.
Towards the end of the war Himmler ordered that Wewelsburg castle should become the "Reichshaus der SS-Gruppenführer" (Reich-House of the SS-Gruppenführer).
(German: Totenkopfringe) of dead SS-men and officers. They were to be stored in a chest in the castle. This was to symbolize the ongoing membership of the deceased in the SS-Order. The whereabouts of the approximately 11,500 rings after the Second World War is unclear, but it has been suggested that they were entombed in a local mountain by blasting closed the entrance to a cave.
The main road of an SS village was also to be centered on the North Tower of the castle with a diameter of 1270 m. This road was to be connected with three radial roads and gates with the castle area. The residential area was to be placed in the north-west, the center of the village in the north and the SS-barracks in the west of the castle area; between the barracks and village a villa colony for higher SS-leaders; in the southwest farmsteads.
In the architectural plan
s from 1941 the estate had the shape of a spear pointing towards the north; the 2 km long access avenue with four tree rows road looks like a spear shaft with an access to the Reichsautobahn (freeway) Rhynern-Kassel in the south (see architectural drawing). The plan from 1944 shows the castle as the top of a triangular estate surrounded by further buildings (see another drawing and model from 1944). The plans also included a "hall of the High Court of the SS" (Saal des Hohen Gerichtes der SS), streets, parkways, magnificent buildings, a dam with a power plant, freeway accesses and an airport. From 1941 on (after Hitler's successful military campaigns against Poland and France) the architects called the complex the "Center of the World". It was to be finished within twenty years. The complex was to be a center of the "kind accordant" religion (artgemäße Religion) and a representative estate for the SS-Führerkorps (SS leader corps). If the plans had been realized, the entire village of Wewelsburg and adjacent villages would have disappeared. The population was to be resettled. The valley was to be flooded. 250 million Reichsmark were budgeted for the estate.
The "Obergruppenführersaal" (SS Generals' Hall) and the "vault" (Gruft). Their ceilings were cast in concrete and faced with natural stone. On the upper floors a further hall was planned. The axis of this tower was to be the actual "Center of the World" (Mittelpunkt der Welt). A preparation for an eternal flame in the vault, a swastika ornament in its zenith and a sun wheel embedded in the floor of the "Obergruppenführersaal" lie on this axis. Both redesigned rooms were never used. Nothing is known about the plans for designated ceremonies in the tower.
Where primary a cistern was a vault after the model of Mycenaean domed tombs was hewn into the rock which possibly was to serve for some kind of commemoration of the dead. The room is unfinished. The floor was lowered 4.80 meters. The fundament of the tower was firmed with concrete. In the middle of the vault probably a bowl with an eternal flame was planned. In the middle of the floor a gas pipe is embedded. Around the presumed place for the eternal flame at the wall twelve pedestals are placed. Their meaning is unknown. Above the pedestals, wall niches existed.
In the zenith of the vault a swastika (which ends run out in an ornamental way) is walled in. Despite its antisemitic connotation the swastika (Hakenkreuz) was also understood as "the symbol of the creating, acting life" (das Symbol des schaffenden, wirkenden Lebens) and as "race emblem of Germanism" (Rasseabzeichen des Germanentums).
The vault has special acoustics and illumination.
On the ground floor the "Obergruppenführersaal" (literally translated: Upper-Group-Leaders-Hall (refers to the original twelve highest ranking SS-generals)), a hall with twelve columns joined by a groined vault, twelve window- and door-niches and eight longitudinal windows was created (see photos of the room: 1, 2). The room was almost finished. The rebuilding work stopped in 1943. Assumedly it was to serve as a representative hall for the SS-Obergruppenführer. In the center of the marbled whitish/grayish floor a dark green sun wheel
(Sonnenrad) is embedded (see photo). The axis of the sun wheel consisted of a circular plate of pure gold, which was to symbolize the center of the castle and thus the entire "Germanic world empire". After the Second World War the ornament was called the "Black Sun". It is not known if the SS had a special name for the ornament nor if they attributed a special meaning to it. Possibly the sun wheel had a relation to the Germanic light- and sun-mysticism which was propagated by the SS. Today it is used as a symbol in Odinism
and Neo-Nazism
and in occult currents of Irminenschaft
or Armanenschaft-inspired esotericism. The Latin
inscription above the entrance "Domus mea domus orationis vocabitur" (My house is called a house of prayer) reminds of the prince-episcopalian chapel which was placed in the ground floor of the tower originally.
The upper floors were to be completed as a multi-storied hall with a big dome. It was to be a prestigious meeting hall for the entire corps of the SS-Gruppenführer. This room was only planned. In order to realize the hall the upper half of the tower was dismantled in winter 1941/42.
, with 15 of his men, to destroy the Wewelsburg (31 March 1945), only two days before the U.S. Third Infantry Division seized the grounds. Because Macher's company ran out of explosives, they placed tank mines only in the unimportant southeast tower, the guard-building and the SS-cadre-building which was completely destroyed. The castle was set on fire and—according to information of the village citizens—the castle was given free for looting
Fact is that the SS had twelve main departments (SS-Hauptämter) with twelve leaders. The number twelve plays a major role in the design of the North Tower: twelve pedestals in the vault, twelve pillars and niches in the "Obergruppenführersaal" and twelve spokes of the sun wheel. In the study on ancient sense characters during the Third Reich the sun in general was interpreted as "the strongest and most visible expression of god", the number twelve as documented for "the things of the target and the completion". With reference to the number 12 in their studies on Germanic mythology a relation was drawn to "the twelve Æsir
of divine kind who have (according to the Edda
) twelve domiciles and twelve stallions" and to the "twelve rivers which flow from the fountain Hwergelmir in Niflheim
".
Quote of former SS-General Karl Wolff referring to the Obergruppenführersaal: "This was a part of the myth which was to be introduced here. These are the twelve compartments(*), they were created according to mystic-confused things with which Himmler liked to play, of the Round Table of King Arthur. In fact we were twelve main department leaders (Hauptamtchefs) who represented equally next to each other their service areas because Himmler didn't have the courage to appoint a Deputy-Reichsführer-SS or a Deputy Chief of the German police."
(* German original sound record: "Postamente": this could refer to the twelve columns; there is also speculation about twelve heraldic emblems for the twelve leading SS-Generals which were to be placed inside the hall.)
It began with 480 prisoners from Sachsenhausen
, and grew to 1200, consisting chiefly of Soviet POWs and captured foreign labourers shipped to Germany, although early in its life it was also a gathering point for Jehovah's Witness prisoners. During the SS's December 1942 Korherr Report
it was reported to have only housed 12 Jews all of whom had died.
Of the 3900 prisoners held during the camp's existence, 1285 of them died of Typhus
and 56 were formally executed. In August 1942, the Allies began deciphering death tolls transmitted from the camps, Niederhagen had reported 21 deaths for that month.http://www.fpp.co.uk/bookchapters/WSC/Typhuswar.html The camp was dissolved in 1943 with most of the prisoners resettled in Buchenwald, though several dozen prisoners remained behind, housed directly in Wewelsburg.
Hauptsturmführer Adolf Haas, who had overseen the camp from its beginning, was transferred to a command position at Bergen-Belsen
, while Schutzhaftlagerführer Wolfgang Plaul was transferred to Buchenwald. Untersturmführer Hermann Michl had last been recorded at the camp in 1942, and later appeared at the Riga ghetto
.
.
In 1973, a two-year project was begun to restore the North Tower, and by 1977 it had been decided to restore the entire site as a war monument. It opened on March 20, 1982, with several survivors of the Niederhagen camp present. Karl Hueser of the University of Paderborn
was considered influential in the reopening project, and Wulff Brebeck would become the head of Kreismuseum Wewelsburg (Wewelsburg District Museum).
Due to a local government reform the Wewelsburg became property of the district of Paderborn in 1975.
In 1996 the Historical Museum of the Bishopric of Paderborn
(Historisches Museum des Hochstifts Paderborn) opened in the east- and south-wing. The museum documents the history of the "Hochstift Paderborn" (Bishopric of Paderborn
) which was one of territories of the Holy Roman Empire
. In 2010 the museum's contemporary history department was reopened as "Wewelsburg 1933-1945 Memorial Museum". The new permanent exhibition "Ideology and terror of the SS" now presents the history of the Schutzstaffel's activities in Wewelsburg within the broader context of the SS as a whole.
A memorial was built in honour of the deceased Niederhagen prisoners in 2000, four years later the Kreismuseum Wewelsburg was granted DM
29,400 for restoring and moving the remnants of the Niederhagen camp, as well as producing an educational film on the Ukrainian and Russian prisoners who were housed there. In 2006 and 2007 it hosted the annual Internacia Seminario
, a meeting of Esperanto
youth.
The youth hostel which is mainly placed in the east-wing of the castle is one of the largest in Germany (204 beds).
published in 1978 by William Collins Sons & Co Ltd. While the burning is taking place, the protagonists of the novel attempt to obtain secret papers stored there by Himmler about the involvement of British and American companies with German industry during World War II.
The comic title Green Lantern Annual #3 (1994) brings the story "Rings of Evil", set in an alternate universe where the SS rose to world domination. This victory was made possible by Himmler's magic practice within Castle Wewelsburg.
The castle was an inspiration for the Castle Wolfenstein in the series of video and computer games
.
Wewelsburg is also featured in the video game Medal of Honor: Underground
(2000), in a mission where French Resistance Fighter Manon is sent to uncover Himmler's occult activities in the castle.
Wewelsburg Castle is one of the settings in the 2009 novel Release by Nicole Hadaway.
The vault in Wewelsburg Castle and a modified version of the Schwarze Sonne mosaic is used in James Twining's The Black Sun (James Twining)
Wewelsburg (village)
For the Castle of Wewelsburg see WewelsburgThe German town Wewelsburg is part of the city Büren in the district of Paderborn since the local government reform of the year 1975. The village is placed above the brook Alme and surrounds the castle "Wewelsburg" from north, east and south.-External...
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
castle located in the northeast of North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
, Germany, in the village of Wewelsburg
Wewelsburg (village)
For the Castle of Wewelsburg see WewelsburgThe German town Wewelsburg is part of the city Büren in the district of Paderborn since the local government reform of the year 1975. The village is placed above the brook Alme and surrounds the castle "Wewelsburg" from north, east and south.-External...
which is a quarter of the city Büren, Westphalia
Büren, Westphalia
Büren is a municipality in the district of Paderborn, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.-Geography:Büren is situated on the river Alme, approx. 20 km south-west of Paderborn and approx...
, in district of Paderborn
Paderborn
Paderborn is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pader, which originates in more than 200 springs near Paderborn Cathedral, where St. Liborius is buried.-History:...
in the Alme Valley. The castle has the outline of a triangle (aerial photo). After 1934 it was used by the SS under Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
and was to be expanded to the central SS-cult-site. After 1941 plans were developed to enlarge it to the so-called "Center of the World".
Early history
Prince-Bishop
A Prince-Bishop is a bishop who is a territorial Prince of the Church on account of one or more secular principalities, usually pre-existent titles of nobility held concurrently with their inherent clerical office...
s of Paderborn namely Fürstbischof Dietrich von Fürstenberg (also see Bishopric of Paderborn
Bishopric of Paderborn
The Archdiocese of Paderborn is an Archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in Germany; its seat is Paderborn. It was a diocese from its foundation in 799 until 1802, and again from 1821 until 1930. In 1930, it was promoted to an archdiocese...
). Its location is near what was then believed to be the site of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest took place in 9 CE, when an alliance of Germanic tribes led by Arminius of the Cherusci ambushed and decisively destroyed three Roman legions, along with their auxiliaries, led by Publius Quinctilius Varus.Despite numerous successful campaigns and raids by the...
.
Predecessor buildings
Predecessor buildings existed: One used during the 9th and 10th century against the Hungarians named Wifilisburg, another one was built in 1123 by earl Friedrich von Arnsberg. After his death in 1124 the building was demolished by farmers who were oppressed by him. In 1301 earl von Waldeck sold the Wewelsburg to the prince-bishop of Paderborn. A document about this acquisition proves that two fortress-like buildings stood on the hill: the "Bürensche-" and the "Waldecksche-house".The Castle in possession of the prince-bishops of Paderborn
From 1301 to 1589 the prince-bishops of Paderborn assigned the estate to miscellaneous liege lords.The masonry of both predecessor-buildings was integrated in the now existing triangular Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
castle which was built from 1603 to 1609.
The Wewelsburg was destroyed several times during its history, during the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
in 1646 by the occupation of Swedish troops—namely by the army under the Swedish general Carl Gustav Wrangel. Since 1654 the widely destroyed castle was rebuilt by prince-bishop Theodor Adolf von der Recke and his successor Ferdinand von Fürstenberg. He carried out some architectonic changes—the three towers of the castle got their baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
domes.
From 1589 to 1821 the castle was place of residence of a bursary officer. Two witch trials took place in the Wewelsburg in 1631 (a former inquisition room is placed in the basement next to the east tower). Legend suggests that the castle held thousands of accused witches during the 17th century, who were torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
d and executed within its walls.
During the Seven Years' War
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...
(1756–1763) the basement rooms were probably used as military prison. Till the end of the prince-episcopalian times in 1802 prison cells existed in a dungeon in the basement of the west tower.
The Castle in possession of the Prussian state
During the 18th and 19th century the castle fell progressively into ruin. In 1802, the castle fell to the ownership of the PrussiaPrussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
n state (Secularization
Secularization
Secularization is the transformation of a society from close identification with religious values and institutions toward non-religious values and secular institutions...
). On 11 January 1815 the North Tower was gutted by a fire that was started by a lightning strike. Only the outer walls remained. From 1832 to 1934 a rectory existed in the eastern part of the south wing of the castle.
The Castle in possession of the district of Büren
In 1924 the castle became the property of the district of BürenBüren, Westphalia
Büren is a municipality in the district of Paderborn, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.-Geography:Büren is situated on the river Alme, approx. 20 km south-west of Paderborn and approx...
. It was changed into a cultural center. In 1925, the castle had been renovated into a local museum, banquet hall, restaurant and youth hostel—at the end of the Twenties the North Tower again proved to be the weak point of the architecture, and had to be supported by guy wires in winter 1932/33. The preservation of the castle was supported by the "Club for the preservation of the Wewelsburg" (Verein zur Erhaltung der Wewelsburg). After 1925 the renovation activities decreased.
Introduction
In 1934 SS-leader Heinrich Himmler signed a 100-mark 100-year lease with the PaderbornPaderborn
Paderborn is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pader, which originates in more than 200 springs near Paderborn Cathedral, where St. Liborius is buried.-History:...
district, initially intending to renovate and redesign the castle as a "Reich SS Leadership School" ("Reichsführerschule SS"). Who called Himmler's attention to the castle is unknown. There is speculation that Karl Maria Wiligut
Karl Maria Wiligut
Karl Maria Wiligut was an Austrian Ariosophist- Biography :...
advised him. Wiligut allegedly was inspired by the old Westphalia
Westphalia
Westphalia is a region in Germany, centred on the cities of Arnsberg, Bielefeld, Dortmund, Minden and Münster.Westphalia is roughly the region between the rivers Rhine and Weser, located north and south of the Ruhr River. No exact definition of borders can be given, because the name "Westphalia"...
n legend of the "Battle at the birch tree" (Schlacht am Birkenbaum).
The saga tells about a future "last battle at the birch tree" in which a "huge army from the East" is beaten decisively by the "West". Wiligut supposedly predicted to Himmler that the Wewelsburg would be the "bastion". Himmler expected a big conflict between Asia and Europe. Another source reports that the NS district president of the city of Minden
Minden
Minden is a town of about 83,000 inhabitants in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The town extends along both sides of the river Weser. It is the capital of the Kreis of Minden-Lübbecke, which is part of the region of Detmold. Minden is the historic political centre of the...
von Oyenhausen called Himmler's attention to the Wewelsburg. Nevertheless, it is sure that Himmler knew the apocalyptic saga of the "Battle at the birch tree", which takes place in the Wewelsburg region. Himmler wanted a castle in the "core-region of Hermann der Cherusker
Arminius
Arminius , also known as Armin or Hermann was a chieftain of the Germanic Cherusci who defeated a Roman army in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest...
" for the SS. He was seeking for a castle for the purposes of the SS-Rasseamt (SS-race-office). Originally he was interested in Castle Schwalenberg. Himmler visited the Wewelsburg for the first time on 3 November 1933. He was impressed by the triangular shape of the castle and the (e.g. in the building of churches unusual) north-south-axis of the castle. On the same day he decided to restore the castle. In January 1934 the voluntary labour service started with the rebuilding work. On 22 September 1934 was the ceremonial transfer to Himmler. It was to be enlarged to a SS-leader school (SS-Führerschule). In the planned school, besides physical training, a uniform ideological orientation of the leading cadre of the SS was to be realized. Courses for SS-officers in pre- and early history, mythology, archaeology, astronomy and art were intended as mental warehouse for an ideological-political schooling.
The Wewelsburg SS School
Actual instruction never took place. The first SS commandant of the castle, Manfred von Knobelsdorff, envisioned a kind of Nordic academy. Scientists in the SS practiced "Germanic applied research" ("germanische Zweckforschung") at the castle, with a purpose of supporting the racial doctrine of the SS. From the autumn of 1935, the projected work was called "SS-Schule Haus Wewelsburg" (that is, "SS School, "House Wewelsburg"). Wewelsburg castle was also a center for archaeological excavations in the region. Fields of activity included study of prehistory and ancient history (directed by Wilhelm Jordan, who led excavations in the region), study of medieval history and folklife (directed by Karlernst Lasch from March 1935), build-up of the "Library of the Schutzstaffel in Wewelsburg" (directed by Dr. Hans Peter des Coudres), and strengthening the National Socialist worldview in the village of Wewelsburg (directed by Walter Franzius, this included such work as renovation of a timbered house in the center of the village of Wewelsburg—the "Ottens Hof"—between 1935 and 1937 for use as a village community center; Franzius also undertook various other architectural tasks).The castle crew consisted of members of both SS branches, the "General SS" ("Allgemeine SS") and the "Armed SS" ("Waffen SS"). Also working at the castle were proponents of a kind of SS esotericism consisting of Germanic mysticism, an ancestor cult, worship of runes, and racial doctrines: Himmler, for example, adapted the idea of the Grail to create a heathen mystery for the SS.
No proof exists that Himmler wanted a Grail castle, but redesign of the castle by the SS referred to certain characters in the legends of the Grail: for example, one of the arranged study rooms was named Gral ("Grail"), and others, König Artus ("King Arthur
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
"), König Heinrich ("King Henry"), Heinrich der Löwe ("Henry the Lion
Henry the Lion
Henry the Lion was a member of the Welf dynasty and Duke of Saxony, as Henry III, from 1142, and Duke of Bavaria, as Henry XII, from 1156, which duchies he held until 1180....
"), Widukind
Widukind
Widukind was a pagan Saxon leader and the chief opponent of Charlemagne during the Saxon Wars. Widukind was the leader of the Saxons against the Frankish king Charlemagne...
, Christoph Kolumbus ("Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
"), Arier ("Aryan"), Jahrlauf ("course of the seasons"), Runen ("runes"), Westfalen ("Westphalia
Westphalia
Westphalia is a region in Germany, centred on the cities of Arnsberg, Bielefeld, Dortmund, Minden and Münster.Westphalia is roughly the region between the rivers Rhine and Weser, located north and south of the Ruhr River. No exact definition of borders can be given, because the name "Westphalia"...
"), Deutscher Orden ("Teutonic Order
Teutonic Knights
The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem , commonly the Teutonic Order , is a German medieval military order, in modern times a purely religious Catholic order...
"), Reichsführerzimmer ("Room of the Empires Leader(s)"; "Reichsführer-SS", or "the Empire's Leader of the SS" was Himmler's title), Fridericus (probably in reference to Frederick II of Prussia
Frederick II of Prussia
Frederick II was a King in Prussia and a King of Prussia from the Hohenzollern dynasty. In his role as a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, he was also Elector of Brandenburg. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel...
), tolle Christian (probably referring to Christian the Younger of Brunswick, Bishop of Halberstadt
Christian the Younger of Brunswick, Bishop of Halberstadt
Christian the Younger , Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Bishop of Halberstadt, was a German Protestant military leader during the Thirty Years' War. During the war, he earned a reputation as a dangerous fanatic.-Life:...
), and Deutsche Sprache ("German language
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
"). In addition to these study rooms, the SS created guest rooms, dining room, auditorium, a canteen kitchen, and a photographic laboratory with an archive.
Oak was used to panel and furnish these rooms, though (according to contemporary witnesses) only sparely. All interior decoration was shaped by an SS sensibility in art and culture; the preferred elements of design were based on runes, swastikas, and Germanically interpreted sense characters. Tableware, decorated with runes and Germanic symbols of salvation, was manufactured specifically for Wewelsburg castle. And Himmler's private collection of weapons was housed in the castle. From 1939, the castle was also furnished with miscellaneous objects of art, including prehistoric objects (chiefly arranged by the teaching and research group "Das Ahnenerbe
Ahnenerbe
The Ahnenerbe was a Nazi German think tank that promoted itself as a "study society for Intellectual Ancient History." Founded on July 1, 1935, by Heinrich Himmler, Herman Wirth, and Richard Walther Darré, the Ahnenerbe's goal was to research the anthropological and cultural history of the Aryan...
"), objects of past historical eras, and works of contemporary sculptors and painters (mainly works by such artists as Karl Diebitsch, Wolfgang Willrich, and Hans Lohbeck—that is, art comporting with the aesthetics of National Socialism).
In 1934, the eastern castle bridge was built and the castle moat lowered. The exterior plaster was removed to make the building look more castle-like. The following year, a smithy was established on the ground floor of the North Tower for manufacture of the wrought-iron interior decoration of the castle. The western and southern wings of the castle were rebuilt between 1934 and 1938; the eastern, between 1936 and 1938. The first new building, the guardhouse (Wachgebäude), was constructed next to the castle in 1937; historical documentation of "Wewelsburg 1933–1945" has been housed there since 1982. An SS sentry post and a small circular location (Rondell) were placed next to the guardhouse, as was a no longer extant SS staff building (SS-Stabsgebäude). The North Tower was strengthened and rebuilt between 1938 and 1943.
The first commandant of the castle (Burghauptmann von Wewelsburg), from August 1934, was Obersturmbannführer (equivalent to Lieutenant Colonel) Manfred von Knobelsdorff. He was affectionated to Karl Maria Wiligut's religious theories. The opinion of other SS-scientists about Wiligut were absolute negative. Von Knobelsdorff was succeeded by Siegfried Taubert on 30 January 1938. Because Taubert was consigned to various other tasks he was absent from the castle for longer periods.
So called "SS-marriage-consecrations" (SS-Eheweihen) took place at the castle.
Since 1936 Himmler (who was often present at the castle) wanted more and more to expand the Wewelsburg to be a representative and ideological center of the SS Order. At first planned to be an educational training center, during the 1930s more and more measures were taken to transform the castle into an isolated central meeting place for the highest ranking SS-officers.
For financing the project Himmler founded in 1936 the "Gesellschaft zur Förderung und Pflege deutscher Kulturdenkmäler e.V." (association for the advancement and maintenance of German cultural relics (registered association)) and assigned the association as building developer. In contrast to the SS the association was allowed to receive donations and loans. Till 1943 the project cost 15 million Reichsmark. In 1939 Himmler enacted a forbiddance to publish the castle.
After the Freiwilliger Arbeitsdienst FAD (voluntary labour service) the Reichsarbeitsdienst RAD (Reich Labour Service) carried out the modifications of the castle. In 1938 the RAD was relocated to the "Westwall" (Siegfried Line
Siegfried Line
The original Siegfried line was a line of defensive forts and tank defences built by Germany as a section of the Hindenburg Line 1916–1917 in northern France during World War I...
). Between 1939 and 1943 prisoners from the Sachsenhausen
Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used primarily for political prisoners from 1936 to the end of the Third Reich in May, 1945. After World War II, when Oranienburg was in the Soviet Occupation Zone, the structure was used as an NKVD...
and Niederhagen
Niederhagen concentration camp
The Niederhagen concentration camp was a German concentration camp on the outskirts of Büren-Wewelsburg which existed from September 1941.-The camp:...
concentration camps were used as labourers to perform much of the construction work on Wewelsburg, under the design of architect Hermann Bartels
Hermann Bartels
Hermann Bartels was a German architect and member of the Nazi Party and the SS.Bartels was close to Heinrich Himmler, who put Bartels to work on his pet project of rebuilding castles, and as such the Reichsführer-SS gave Bartels the rank of SS-Standartenführer...
. Due to a decree of 13 January 1943 all building projects which were unimportant for the war—including the Wewelsburg—had to be stopped.
In 1938 after the Reichskristallnacht 17 Jews from the 10 km away Salzkotten
Salzkotten
Salzkotten is a town in the district of Paderborn, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The name Salzkotten is based on the former salt production, which gave Salzkotten its raison d'être...
were shut in the dungeon in the basement of the west tower before their further transport to the Buchenwald concentration camp
Buchenwald concentration camp
Buchenwald concentration camp was a German Nazi concentration camp established on the Ettersberg near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937, one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps on German soil.Camp prisoners from all over Europe and Russia—Jews, non-Jewish Poles and Slovenes,...
.
In the middle of the Thirties Himmler had a private safe mounted in the basement of the west tower. Only the commandant of the castle knew about it. The whereabouts of its content after the Second World War is unclear.
Meetings of SS-Leaders
Swearing-in ceremonies were planned at the castle. Meetings of SS-Group-Leaders (equivalent to lieutenant-generals) at so called "spring conferences" were planned since 1939. Probably some talks took place at Wewelsburg Castle; the only documented "Gruppenführer"(generals')-meeting was held from 12 to 15 June 1941 - one week before the beginning of Operation Barbarossa. The highest ranking SS-officers, who planned the SS-operation in the Soviet UnionSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
or who were intended to be used for the operation, were called up by Himmler. Concrete decisions weren't made. Purpose of the meeting was the ideological preparation of the attendant SS-leaders for the campaign.
Another source mentions three or four ceremonies a year of SS-leaders which took place at the castle.
Towards the end of the war Himmler ordered that Wewelsburg castle should become the "Reichshaus der SS-Gruppenführer" (Reich-House of the SS-Gruppenführer).
The death's head rings
In 1938 Himmler ordered the return of all death's head ringsSS-Ehrenring
The SS-Ehrenring , unofficially called Totenkopfring , was an award of Heinrich Himmler's Schutzstaffel . It was not a state decoration, but rather a personal gift bestowed by Himmler...
(German: Totenkopfringe) of dead SS-men and officers. They were to be stored in a chest in the castle. This was to symbolize the ongoing membership of the deceased in the SS-Order. The whereabouts of the approximately 11,500 rings after the Second World War is unclear, but it has been suggested that they were entombed in a local mountain by blasting closed the entrance to a cave.
SS future plans
Himmler's plans included making it the "center of the new world" ("Zentrum der neuen Welt") following the "final victory". The monumental estate was never realized; only detailed plans and models exist. The installation of a 15 to 18-meter-high wall in the shape of a three-quarter circle with 18 towers including the actual castle area centred on the North Tower of the castle, 860 m in diameter, was planned. The real purpose of the project was never clearly defined. Inside of this castle area buildings were planned for the exclusive purposes of the Reichsführung-SS (Reich leadership SS).The main road of an SS village was also to be centered on the North Tower of the castle with a diameter of 1270 m. This road was to be connected with three radial roads and gates with the castle area. The residential area was to be placed in the north-west, the center of the village in the north and the SS-barracks in the west of the castle area; between the barracks and village a villa colony for higher SS-leaders; in the southwest farmsteads.
In the architectural plan
Architectural plan
An architectural plan is a plan for architecture, and the documentation of written and graphic descriptions of the architectural elements of a building project including sketches, drawings and details.- Overview :...
s from 1941 the estate had the shape of a spear pointing towards the north; the 2 km long access avenue with four tree rows road looks like a spear shaft with an access to the Reichsautobahn (freeway) Rhynern-Kassel in the south (see architectural drawing). The plan from 1944 shows the castle as the top of a triangular estate surrounded by further buildings (see another drawing and model from 1944). The plans also included a "hall of the High Court of the SS" (Saal des Hohen Gerichtes der SS), streets, parkways, magnificent buildings, a dam with a power plant, freeway accesses and an airport. From 1941 on (after Hitler's successful military campaigns against Poland and France) the architects called the complex the "Center of the World". It was to be finished within twenty years. The complex was to be a center of the "kind accordant" religion (artgemäße Religion) and a representative estate for the SS-Führerkorps (SS leader corps). If the plans had been realized, the entire village of Wewelsburg and adjacent villages would have disappeared. The population was to be resettled. The valley was to be flooded. 250 million Reichsmark were budgeted for the estate.
Description of the North Tower
Inside the North Tower two mythologic designed rooms were created (1938–1943):The "Obergruppenführersaal" (SS Generals' Hall) and the "vault" (Gruft). Their ceilings were cast in concrete and faced with natural stone. On the upper floors a further hall was planned. The axis of this tower was to be the actual "Center of the World" (Mittelpunkt der Welt). A preparation for an eternal flame in the vault, a swastika ornament in its zenith and a sun wheel embedded in the floor of the "Obergruppenführersaal" lie on this axis. Both redesigned rooms were never used. Nothing is known about the plans for designated ceremonies in the tower.
- The "vault"
Where primary a cistern was a vault after the model of Mycenaean domed tombs was hewn into the rock which possibly was to serve for some kind of commemoration of the dead. The room is unfinished. The floor was lowered 4.80 meters. The fundament of the tower was firmed with concrete. In the middle of the vault probably a bowl with an eternal flame was planned. In the middle of the floor a gas pipe is embedded. Around the presumed place for the eternal flame at the wall twelve pedestals are placed. Their meaning is unknown. Above the pedestals, wall niches existed.
In the zenith of the vault a swastika (which ends run out in an ornamental way) is walled in. Despite its antisemitic connotation the swastika (Hakenkreuz) was also understood as "the symbol of the creating, acting life" (das Symbol des schaffenden, wirkenden Lebens) and as "race emblem of Germanism" (Rasseabzeichen des Germanentums).
The vault has special acoustics and illumination.
- The "Obergruppenführersaal" (SS Generals' Hall)
On the ground floor the "Obergruppenführersaal" (literally translated: Upper-Group-Leaders-Hall (refers to the original twelve highest ranking SS-generals)), a hall with twelve columns joined by a groined vault, twelve window- and door-niches and eight longitudinal windows was created (see photos of the room: 1, 2). The room was almost finished. The rebuilding work stopped in 1943. Assumedly it was to serve as a representative hall for the SS-Obergruppenführer. In the center of the marbled whitish/grayish floor a dark green sun wheel
Sun cross
The sun cross, also known as the wheel cross, Odin's cross, or Woden's cross, a cross inside a circle, is a common symbol in artifacts of the Americas and Prehistoric Europe, particularly during the Neolithic to Bronze Age periods.-Stone Age:...
(Sonnenrad) is embedded (see photo). The axis of the sun wheel consisted of a circular plate of pure gold, which was to symbolize the center of the castle and thus the entire "Germanic world empire". After the Second World War the ornament was called the "Black Sun". It is not known if the SS had a special name for the ornament nor if they attributed a special meaning to it. Possibly the sun wheel had a relation to the Germanic light- and sun-mysticism which was propagated by the SS. Today it is used as a symbol in Odinism
Germanic neopaganism
Germanic neopaganism is the contemporary revival of historical Germanic paganism. Precursor movements appeared in the early 20th century in Germany and Austria. A second wave of revival began in the early 1970s...
and Neo-Nazism
Neo-Nazism
Neo-Nazism consists of post-World War II social or political movements seeking to revive Nazism or some variant thereof.The term neo-Nazism can also refer to the ideology of these movements....
and in occult currents of Irminenschaft
Irminenschaft
Irminenschaft is a current of Ariosophy based on a Germanic deity Irmin which is supposedly reconstructed from literaric, linguistic and oonomastic sources...
or Armanenschaft-inspired esotericism. The Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
inscription above the entrance "Domus mea domus orationis vocabitur" (My house is called a house of prayer) reminds of the prince-episcopalian chapel which was placed in the ground floor of the tower originally.
- The upper floors
The upper floors were to be completed as a multi-storied hall with a big dome. It was to be a prestigious meeting hall for the entire corps of the SS-Gruppenführer. This room was only planned. In order to realize the hall the upper half of the tower was dismantled in winter 1941/42.
Blasting operation
When the "final victory" failed to materialize, Himmler ordered Heinz MacherHeinz Macher
Heinz Macher was an SS-Sturmbannführer and Nazi official. He was born in Chemnitz, Germany and joined the Nazi party in the early 1940s....
, with 15 of his men, to destroy the Wewelsburg (31 March 1945), only two days before the U.S. Third Infantry Division seized the grounds. Because Macher's company ran out of explosives, they placed tank mines only in the unimportant southeast tower, the guard-building and the SS-cadre-building which was completely destroyed. The castle was set on fire and—according to information of the village citizens—the castle was given free for looting
Members
- Heinrich HimmlerHeinrich HimmlerHeinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
: Aegis - Manfred von KnobelsdorffManfred von KnobelsdorffManfred von Knobelsdorff, Lieutenant Colonel Waffen-SS, oversaw much of Wewelsburg Castle from February 12, 1935 through January 24, 1938, where he presided over several ceremonies...
: Commandant - Siegfried Taubert: Commandant
- Karl Elstermann von Elster Stabsführer: replaced by Paul Hübner
- Walter MullerWalter Müller-Selected filmography:* The Singing House * The Black Forest Girl * Season in Salzburg * The White Horse Inn * Mask in Blue -External links:...
: Hauptsturmführer - Josef Schneid: Hauptsturmführer also known as Pepi
- Walter Franzius: architect brought onboard in October 1935
- Karl Lasch
- Dr. Hans-Peter de Courdes: until May 1939
- Dr. Bernhard FrankBernhard FrankObersturmbannführer Bernhard Frank was an SS Commander of the Obersalzberg complex who arrested Hermann Göring on April 25, 1945 by order of Adolf Hitler, who had been manipulated by Reichsleiter Bormann into believing Göring was attempting to usurp the Führer's authority...
: SS Commander of the Obersalzburg - Dr. Heinrich Hagel (physician): Obersturmbannführer
- Wilhelm Jordan
- Elfriede Wippermann
Legends, rumors and interpretations
- According to rumors the Death's Head Rings were to be buried in the vault. The vault allegedly dubbed the Himmler Crypt, was (allegedly) dedicated to Heinrich I, founder and first king of the medieval German state (see East Francia), of whom Himmler reportedly believed himself to be the reincarnationReincarnationReincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...
, and where he hoped to be interred after his death. This assertion is unproven. In Himmlers's opinion Heinrich I protected Germany from invaders from the "East", as popularized in Richard WagnerRichard WagnerWilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
's LohengrinLohengrin (opera)Lohengrin is a romantic opera in three acts composed and written by Richard Wagner, first performed in 1850. The story of the eponymous character is taken from medieval German romance, notably the Parzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach and its sequel, Lohengrin, written by a different author, itself...
opera. - Leading representatives of the Third Reich were fascinated by the myth of the "Holy Grail". Hitler admired Richard Wagner's LohengrinLohengrin (opera)Lohengrin is a romantic opera in three acts composed and written by Richard Wagner, first performed in 1850. The story of the eponymous character is taken from medieval German romance, notably the Parzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach and its sequel, Lohengrin, written by a different author, itself...
and ParsifalParsifalParsifal is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner. It is loosely based on Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, the 13th century epic poem of the Arthurian knight Parzival and his quest for the Holy Grail, and on Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval, the Story of the Grail.Wagner first conceived the work...
. Hitler himself never visited the castle. - Himmler reportedly imagined the castle as a locus for the rebirth of the Knights of the Round Table and appointed twelve SS officers as his followers, who would gather at various rooms throughout the castle and perform unknown rites. .
Fact is that the SS had twelve main departments (SS-Hauptämter) with twelve leaders. The number twelve plays a major role in the design of the North Tower: twelve pedestals in the vault, twelve pillars and niches in the "Obergruppenführersaal" and twelve spokes of the sun wheel. In the study on ancient sense characters during the Third Reich the sun in general was interpreted as "the strongest and most visible expression of god", the number twelve as documented for "the things of the target and the completion". With reference to the number 12 in their studies on Germanic mythology a relation was drawn to "the twelve Æsir
Æsir
In Old Norse, áss is the term denoting a member of the principal pantheon in Norse paganism. This pantheon includes Odin, Frigg, Thor, Baldr and Tyr. The second pantheon comprises the Vanir...
of divine kind who have (according to the Edda
Edda
The term Edda applies to the Old Norse Poetic Edda and Prose Edda, both of which were written down in Iceland during the 13th century in Icelandic, although they contain material from earlier traditional sources, reaching into the Viking Age...
) twelve domiciles and twelve stallions" and to the "twelve rivers which flow from the fountain Hwergelmir in Niflheim
Niflheim
Niflheim is one of the Nine Worlds and is a location in Norse mythology which overlaps with the notions of Niflhel and Hel...
".
Quote of former SS-General Karl Wolff referring to the Obergruppenführersaal: "This was a part of the myth which was to be introduced here. These are the twelve compartments(*), they were created according to mystic-confused things with which Himmler liked to play, of the Round Table of King Arthur. In fact we were twelve main department leaders (Hauptamtchefs) who represented equally next to each other their service areas because Himmler didn't have the courage to appoint a Deputy-Reichsführer-SS or a Deputy Chief of the German police."
(* German original sound record: "Postamente": this could refer to the twelve columns; there is also speculation about twelve heraldic emblems for the twelve leading SS-Generals which were to be placed inside the hall.)
- Allegedly the "Obergruppenführersaal" has similarities with the Mausoleum of TheodoricMausoleum of TheodoricThe Mausoleum of Theodoric is an ancient monument just outside Ravenna, Italy. It was built in 520 AD by Theodoric the Great as his future tomb.-Description:...
in RavennaRavennaRavenna is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and the second largest comune in Italy by land area, although, at , it is little more than half the size of the largest comune, Rome... - When one of the officers died, his ashes would be interred in the castle. There is speculation that the urns of dead SS leaders would have been placed on the pedestals in the vault. The vault is also named "consecration-hall" (Weihehalle).
- The exact meaning of the vault is unknown. Nevertheless the room is significant for the quasi-religious aspects of National Socialism—especially the ancestral cult. A possible interpretation of the symbolic character of the eternal flame in general according to solemn beliefs which had established during the NS-era especially in SS circles: in the fire they wanted to feel the soul of ancestors. The symbol of the eternal flame stood for the aspiration of the ancestral soul from which man arises at his birth and which he reenters at his death. Consecration-sites and -events suggested the immortality of the people's soul. By sacral-architecture and spectacular mass-events the subconsciousness of the masses was influenced by pseudo-religious ideas. The two cult rooms inside the North Tower were built to deepen the own "mission".
- In 1938, Siegfried Taubert was in charge of developing the castle, when Himmler inquired about the cost of installing a planetariumPlanetariumA planetarium is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation...
. To round off the subjects taught at the Wewelsburg SS school a teacher was sought who should draw cross connections between astronomy and history and the folklife of the ancestors so that the historical and ideological schooling was to be enhanced and deepened by the "cosmic view" (kosmische Schau).
Niederhagen Camp
Just offsite of Wewelsburg was the smallest German KZ, Niederhagen prison and labour camp. Begun on June 17, 1940, the camp was completed the following year and named after Niederhagen Forest, the name Himmler had given to the forest outside the castle several years earlier.It began with 480 prisoners from Sachsenhausen
Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used primarily for political prisoners from 1936 to the end of the Third Reich in May, 1945. After World War II, when Oranienburg was in the Soviet Occupation Zone, the structure was used as an NKVD...
, and grew to 1200, consisting chiefly of Soviet POWs and captured foreign labourers shipped to Germany, although early in its life it was also a gathering point for Jehovah's Witness prisoners. During the SS's December 1942 Korherr Report
Korherr Report
The Korherr Report is a document on the numbers of Jews in Germany and Europe as of January 1, 1943, written by the chief inspector of the statistical bureau of the SS, Dr Richard Korherr.- Significance :...
it was reported to have only housed 12 Jews all of whom had died.
Of the 3900 prisoners held during the camp's existence, 1285 of them died of Typhus
Typhus
Epidemic typhus is a form of typhus so named because the disease often causes epidemics following wars and natural disasters...
and 56 were formally executed. In August 1942, the Allies began deciphering death tolls transmitted from the camps, Niederhagen had reported 21 deaths for that month.http://www.fpp.co.uk/bookchapters/WSC/Typhuswar.html The camp was dissolved in 1943 with most of the prisoners resettled in Buchenwald, though several dozen prisoners remained behind, housed directly in Wewelsburg.
Hauptsturmführer Adolf Haas, who had overseen the camp from its beginning, was transferred to a command position at Bergen-Belsen
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
Bergen-Belsen was a Nazi concentration camp in Lower Saxony in northwestern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle...
, while Schutzhaftlagerführer Wolfgang Plaul was transferred to Buchenwald. Untersturmführer Hermann Michl had last been recorded at the camp in 1942, and later appeared at the Riga ghetto
Riga Ghetto
The Riga Ghetto was a small area in Maskavas Forštate, neighborhood of Riga, Latvia, designated by the Nazis where Jews from Latvia, and later from Germany, were forced to live during World War II. On October 25, 1941, the Nazis relocated all Jews from Riga and the vicinity to the ghetto while the...
.
Post-War
In 1948/49 the castle was restored. On June 29, 1950 the castle was reopened as a museum and youth hostel, while the Niederhagen kitchen had been renovated into a village fire stationFire station
A fire station is a structure or other area set aside for storage of firefighting apparatus , personal protective equipment, fire hose, fire extinguishers, and other fire extinguishing equipment...
.
In 1973, a two-year project was begun to restore the North Tower, and by 1977 it had been decided to restore the entire site as a war monument. It opened on March 20, 1982, with several survivors of the Niederhagen camp present. Karl Hueser of the University of Paderborn
University of Paderborn
The University of Paderborn in Paderborn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany was founded in 1972. 15,228 students were enrolled at the university as of December 2010....
was considered influential in the reopening project, and Wulff Brebeck would become the head of Kreismuseum Wewelsburg (Wewelsburg District Museum).
Due to a local government reform the Wewelsburg became property of the district of Paderborn in 1975.
In 1996 the Historical Museum of the Bishopric of Paderborn
Bishopric of Paderborn
The Archdiocese of Paderborn is an Archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in Germany; its seat is Paderborn. It was a diocese from its foundation in 799 until 1802, and again from 1821 until 1930. In 1930, it was promoted to an archdiocese...
(Historisches Museum des Hochstifts Paderborn) opened in the east- and south-wing. The museum documents the history of the "Hochstift Paderborn" (Bishopric of Paderborn
Bishopric of Paderborn
The Archdiocese of Paderborn is an Archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in Germany; its seat is Paderborn. It was a diocese from its foundation in 799 until 1802, and again from 1821 until 1930. In 1930, it was promoted to an archdiocese...
) which was one of territories of the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
. In 2010 the museum's contemporary history department was reopened as "Wewelsburg 1933-1945 Memorial Museum". The new permanent exhibition "Ideology and terror of the SS" now presents the history of the Schutzstaffel's activities in Wewelsburg within the broader context of the SS as a whole.
A memorial was built in honour of the deceased Niederhagen prisoners in 2000, four years later the Kreismuseum Wewelsburg was granted DM
German mark
The Deutsche Mark |mark]], abbreviated "DM") was the official currency of West Germany and Germany until the adoption of the euro in 2002. It is commonly called the "Deutschmark" in English but not in German. Germans often say "Mark" or "D-Mark"...
29,400 for restoring and moving the remnants of the Niederhagen camp, as well as producing an educational film on the Ukrainian and Russian prisoners who were housed there. In 2006 and 2007 it hosted the annual Internacia Seminario
Internacia Seminario
Internacia Seminario was the most important Esperanto youth meeting organized by the German Esperanto Youth at the end of every year in a different German city, December 27 to January 3...
, a meeting of Esperanto
Esperanto
is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887...
youth.
The youth hostel which is mainly placed in the east-wing of the castle is one of the largest in Germany (204 beds).
In fiction
The attempted destruction of the castle by Heinz Macher is the setting for the climax of the thriller "Black Camelot" by Duncan KyleDuncan Kyle
John Franklin Broxholme is an English thriller writer who published fifteen novels in a little over twenty years using the pen name of Duncan Kyle....
published in 1978 by William Collins Sons & Co Ltd. While the burning is taking place, the protagonists of the novel attempt to obtain secret papers stored there by Himmler about the involvement of British and American companies with German industry during World War II.
The comic title Green Lantern Annual #3 (1994) brings the story "Rings of Evil", set in an alternate universe where the SS rose to world domination. This victory was made possible by Himmler's magic practice within Castle Wewelsburg.
The castle was an inspiration for the Castle Wolfenstein in the series of video and computer games
Wolfenstein (series)
Wolfenstein is a franchise of World War II fantasy-themed computer and video games first developed by Muse Software and followed up by id Software...
.
Wewelsburg is also featured in the video game Medal of Honor: Underground
Medal of Honor: Underground
Medal of Honor: Underground is a videogame that is the prequel to the World War II hit Medal of Honor. In Underground, the player takes the role of Manon Batiste , a French woman who appeared in the first game as an advisor...
(2000), in a mission where French Resistance Fighter Manon is sent to uncover Himmler's occult activities in the castle.
Wewelsburg Castle is one of the settings in the 2009 novel Release by Nicole Hadaway.
The vault in Wewelsburg Castle and a modified version of the Schwarze Sonne mosaic is used in James Twining's The Black Sun (James Twining)
The Black Sun (James Twining)
The Black Sun is a 2005 historical novel by British author James Twining dealing with Nazism and occultism, Die Glocke and stolen Jewish art....
See also
- Heinz MacherHeinz MacherHeinz Macher was an SS-Sturmbannführer and Nazi official. He was born in Chemnitz, Germany and joined the Nazi party in the early 1940s....
- Nazi architectureNazi architectureNazi architecture was an architectural plan which played a role in the Nazi party's plans to create a cultural and spiritual rebirth in Germany as part of the Third Reich....
- Nazism and occultism
- Karl Maria WiligutKarl Maria WiligutKarl Maria Wiligut was an Austrian Ariosophist- Biography :...
External links
- 60 years end of war—Wewelsburg: SS-cult and KZ-terror
- The SS school "House Wewelsburg"
- SS - The Wewelsburg
- History of the castle
- Wewelsburg Castle near Paderborn Himmler's Cult- and Order-Castle of the SS during the Third Reich
- 22 September 1934 - Takeover of the Wewelsburg by Heinrich Himmler
- Grossly exaggerated architect's plans for the Order Castle Wewelsburg
- Interview
- Topography of the concentration camp Niederhagen
- Area of the former concentration camp Niederhagen
- Wewelsburg and concentration camp forced labour
- The "Small Camp" with a photo of about 1941 and the Wewelsburg in the background
- Virtual tour through the village of Wewelsburg
- Kreismuseum Wewelsburg - the official Website
- Website of the Village Wewelsburg
- Historical photos of the Wewelsburg
- Film clip about architectural plannings [2 MB]
- Documentation "Wewelsburg 1933 - 1945. Cult- and terror place of the SS" 4.83 MB
- Hosteling International Page for Wewelsburg Hostel