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History
Aerial view
1.1
Earlier structures
Predecessor buildings existed: Wilisburg was used dur- A document about this acquisition proves that two
ing the 9th and 10th centuries against the Hungarians.
fortress-like buildings stood on the hill: the Brensches
Another one was built by Earl Friedrich (Arnsberg). Af- Haus and the Waldecksches Haus.
ter his death, the building was demolished in 1123/24 by
peasants who he had oppressed. In 1301, the Earl von
Waldeck sold the Wewelsburg to the Prince-Bishop of 1.2 Current structure
Paderborn.[2]
1
2 THIRD REICH
1.2.3 District of Bren ownership
In 1924, the castle became the property of the district of
Bren and was changed into a cultural center. By 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.[4]
Inner courtyard
2 Third Reich
1.2.1
Prince-Bishops of Paderborn
From 1301 to 1589, the Prince-Bishops of Paderborn assigned the estate to miscellaneous liege lords.[2]
The masonry of both predecessor buildings was integrated in the current triangular Renaissance castle. In
its current form, the Wewelsburg was built from 1603 to
1609 as secondary residence for the Prince-Bishops of
Paderborn, at that time Dietrich von Frstenberg.[3] Its
location is near what was then believed to be the site of
the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest of 9 BC.
In 1932, the local head of the district authority (Landrat) ordered about seventy members of the Freiwilliger
Arbeitsdienst (FAD), (voluntary labour service), to be
housed at the Wewelsburg. They were unemployed and
supported by the state as Notstandsarbeiter (literally: crisis workers). Through the rent, the district of Bren
thus hoped to recoup some of the running costs of the
castle. In the fall of 1933, negotiations to set up a fullsized FAD camp of 214 men there failed. Meanwhile,
Heinrich Himmler, Reichsfhrer-SS, had accompanied
Adolf Hitler during the election campaign in January
1933 in Lippe and had developed the idea to use a castle in the heartland of Hermann der Cherusker" for the
SS. Himmler showed an interest in Burg Schwalenberg
but negotiations failed in the fall of 1933 and he then
visited Wewelsburg following advice by the NSDAPRegierungsprsident at Minden, von Oeynhausen.
2.1
Wewelsburg SS School
Germanic pre- and early history, folklore studies, etc. as Germanic mysticism, an ancestor cult, worship of runes,
an equipment for ideological-political training).[7] Kno- and racial doctrines. Himmler, for example, adapted the
belsdor envisioned a kind of Nordic academy.[6]
idea of the Grail to create a heathen mystery for the SS.[13]
There is some speculation that it was Karl Maria Wiligut who convinced Himmler to use the castle not only
as a school but also as a cult site; Wiligut allegedly
was inspired by the old Westphalian 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. During 1935, Wiligut reportedly
predicted to Himmler that the Wewelsburg would be the
bastion. Himmler expected a big conict between Asia
and Europe.[8]
2.1
Wewelsburg SS School
Fields of activity
Crew
4
2.1.4
2 THIRD REICH
Directors
2.3 SS plans
2.4
North Tower
5
The Obergruppenfhrersaal (SS Generals Hall) and the
Gruft (vault). Their ceilings were cast in concrete and
faced with natural stone. On the upper oors 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 ame in the vault, a swastika ornament in its zenith, and a sun wheel embedded in the oor
of the Obergruppenfhrersaal lie on this axis. Both redesigned rooms were never used. Nothing is known about
the plans for designated ceremonies in the tower.
Where a primary cistern was originally located, a vault after the model of Mycenaean domed tombs was hewn into
the rock, possibly to serve as some kind of commemoration of the dead. The room is unnished. The oor was
lowered 4.80 meters. The foundation of the tower was
rmed with concrete, and a gas pipe leading to the centre was embedded, suggesting that an eternal ame was
probably planned for the centre of this space. Twelve
pedestals were placed around the perimeter, each with a
SS blueprint for the planned construction of the area around wall niche above it; the purpose is unknown. At the zenith
Wewelsburg. The small triangle in the center of the circle, form- of the dome is a swastika with ornamentally extended
arms. Despite its antisemitic connotation the swastika
ing the tip of the spear, is Wewelsburg.
(Hakenkreuz) was also understood as the symbol of the
creating, acting life (das Symbol des schaenden, wirkThis road was to be connected with three radial roads and enden Lebens) and as a race emblem of Germanism
[30]
The vault has
gates with the castle area. The residential area was to be (Rasseabzeichen des Germanentums).
placed in the northwest, the centre of the village in the special acoustics and illumination.
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 plans from 1941, the estate had the
shape of a spear pointing towards the north; the 2 km
long access avenue with four tree rows[27] road looks
like a spear shaft with an access to the Rhynern Kassel Reichsautobahn (freeway) to the south.[28] The plan
from 1944 shows the castle as the top of a triangular estate surrounded by further buildings. The plans also included a Hall of the High Court of the SS (Saal des
Hohen Gerichtes der SS), streets, parkways, magnicent
buildings,[4] a dam with a power plant, freeway accesses
and an airport.[15] From 1941 on (after Hitlers successful
military campaigns against Poland and France) the architects called the complex the Center of the World. It was
to be nished within twenty years. The complex was to be
a center of the kind accordant religion (artgeme Religion) and a representative estate for the SS-Fhrerkorps
(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 ooded.[29] 250 million Reichsmark
were budgeted for the estate.
6
circular plate of pure gold, which was to symbolize the
center of the castle and thus the entire Germanic world
empire.
Since the 1990s the ornament has been called the "Black
Sun" occasionally. 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. However, the ornament has only been linked to the esoteric neo-Nazi concept of the Black Sun after 1991.[31] The Latin inscription above the entrance Domus mea domus orationis vocabitur (My house shall be called a house of prayer) reminds of the prince-episcopalian chapel which was originally located on the ground oor of the tower.[32]
2 THIRD REICH
Josef Schneid: Hauptsturmfhrer also known as
Pepi
Walter Franzius: architect brought on board in October 1935
Karl Lasch
Dr Hans-Peter de Courdes: until May 1939
Dr Bernhard Frank: SS Commander of the Obersalzburg
Dr Heinrich Hagel (physician): Obersturmbannfhrer
Wilhelm Jordan
Elfriede Wippermann
2.8
Niederhagen Camp
7
ying machines towards the end of the WWII.
This subject is often featured in popular culture
and science ction; The History Channel series
Ancient Aliens features the Freiburg disc crash in
their episode Alien and the Third Reich (Season
2, episode 5).
6 FOOTNOTES
5 See also
Chiemsee Cauldron
Heinz Macher
Nazi architecture
Nazism and occultism
6 Footnotes
[1] Wewelsburg 19331945. Cult- and terror place of the
SS (PDF). lwl.org. p. 214.
[2] History of Wewelsburg Castle
[3] Kreismuseum Wewelsburg
[4] The Wewelsburg (History of the castle in German)
[5] Hser, Karl; Brebeck, Wul E. (2002). Wewelsburg
1933-1945, Kultsttte des SS-Ordens. Einfhrung (German). Mnster.
[6] Kirsten John-Stucke: 22 September 1934 Takeover of
the Wewelsburg by Heinrich Himmler(German)". Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe. Retrieved 2 August
2014.
[7] Letter from Oberscharfhrer Lasch to Otto Sigfrid
Reuter of 14 October 1935(German)". Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
[8] Karl Maria Wiligut (in German)
In popular culture
The castle and SS school are the setting for the climactic scene of Philip Kerr's novel The Pale Criminal (1990).
The castle is mentioned in Tova Reichs satirical
novel, My Holocaust: A Novel (2008).[47]
[9] Manfred von Knobelsdor (German)". Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
[10] Country inn Ottens Hof History (in German)
[11] Documentation Wewelsburg 19331945. Cult and terror
place of the SS p. 248-249 (in German)
[12] Documentation Wewelsburg 19331945. Cult and terror
place of the SS p. 212 (in German)
The comic title Green Lantern Annual #3 (1994) includes the story Rings of Evil, set in an alternate
universe wherein the SS rose to world domination.
This victory was made possible by Himmlers magic
practice within Castle Wewelsburg.[48]
[14] Documentation Wewelsburg 19331945. Cult and terror place of the SS pp. 218, 224, 225, 226 and 277 (in
German)
[44] NS-archive.de
[21] Documentation Wewelsburg 19331945. Cult- and terror place of the SS pp. 22223 (in German)
[46] Documentation Wewelsburg 19331945. Cult- and terror place of the SS p. 196
[24] Nicholas Goodrick Clarke: Die okkulten Wurzen des Nationalsozialismus (The Occult Roots of Nazism), p. 197
7 External links
[31] Julian Strube: Die Erndung es esoterischen Nationalsozialismus im Zeichen der Schwarzen Sonne. In:
Zeitschrift fr Religionswissenschaft, 20(2), 2012: pp.
223268.
[32] Documentation Wewelsburg 19331945. Cult- and terror place of the SS p. 197
Coordinates:
8.65167E
10
8.1
Text
8.2
Images
8.3
Content license