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Wewelsburg

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Wewelsburg

Wewelsburg (pronounced [ˈveːvəlsˌbʊɐ̯k]) is a Renaissance castle located in the northeast of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in the village of Wewelsburg (the same name as the castle) 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). It is known for becoming the ritual headquarters of the SS in 1934 under Heinrich Himmler.

Early history

The Wewelsburg was built from 1603 to 1609 as secondary residence for the prince-bishops of Paderborn (also see Bishopric of Paderborn). Its location is near what was then believed to be the site of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. Legend suggests that it held thousands of accused witches during the 17th century, who were tortured and executed within its walls.

In 1802, the castle fell to the ownership of the Prussian state - and 13 years later fell victim to a fire that gutted the North Tower. In 1925, the castle had been renovated into a museum, banquet hall and hostel - six years later the North Tower again proved to be the weak point of the architecture, and had to be supported by guy wires.

SS History

Introduction

In 1934, at the suggestion of Karl Maria Wiligut, Heinrich Himmler signed a 100-mark 100-year lease with the Paderborn district, initially intending to renovate and re-design the castle as a school for Nazi leadership (the so-called SS "Führerkorps")[1]. Wiligut 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 definitely by the "West". Himmler expected a big conflict between Asia and Europe. [2]

Schoolings never occurred but SS-scientists practiced "germanic purpose research" (germanische Zweckforschung) here. Its purpose was the support of the SS-race-doctrine. Since autumn 1935 the project was called "SS-Schule Haus Wewelsburg" (SS-School House Wewelsburg) [3] . The fields of activity were:

  • pre- and early history
  • medieval history and folklife studies
  • build-up of the "Library of the Schutzstaffel in Wewelsburg"
  • strengthening of the national socialist world-view in the village of Wewelsburg

Also supporters of a kind of SS-esotericism consisting of Germanic mysticism, ancestral cult, worshipping of runes and race-doctine worked at the castle [4]. It is known that Himmler adapted the idea of the Grail as heathern mystery for the SS [5]. E.g. one of the arranged study rooms was named "Gral" (Grail), another one "König Artus" (King Arthur), further ones "König Heinrich" (King Henry), "Heinrich der Löwe" (Henry the Lion), "Widukind", "Christoph Kolumbus" (Christopher Columbus), "Arier" (Aryan), "Jahrlauf" (run of the year), "Runen" (runes), "Westfalen" (Westphalia) and "Deutscher Orden" (Teutonic Order) [6].

Since 1936 Himmler wanted to expand the Wewelsburg to a representative and ideological central of the SS-order more and more [7].

In 1938, Siegfried Taubert was in charge of developing the castle, when Himmler inquired about the cost of installing a planetarium[citation needed]. The Ahnenerbe are also said to have had major input into the redevelopment.

At first the Reichsarbeitsdienst (Reich Labour Service) carried out the modifications of the castle. Between 1939 and 1943 prisoners from the Saxonia and Niederhagen concentration camps were used as labourers to perform much of the construction work on Wewelsburg, under the design of architect Hermann Bartels[8].

The design of floor mosaic laid in the Marble Hall during that time became known as the "Black Sun" (Schwarze Sonne) and is used as a symbol in Odinism and Neo-Nazism and in occult currents of Irminenschaft or Armanenschaft-inspired esotericism. It is not known whether or not this symbol was placed in the floor at Wewelsburg before or after the National Socialist Regime and the taking over of the castle by Himmler. Because the ceilings of the North-Tower were casted in concrete and faced with natural stone during the Third Reich it is more likely that the ornament was created during the Himmler era.

Any recipient of one of Himmler's Totenkopfrings (Death's Head Rings / SS Honor Rings) was to arrange to have the ring returned to the Castle upon his death.

Himmler's plans included making it the "center of the new world" following the "final victory" [9]. To symbolize that, an installation of a circular wall (including further buildings) centered on the North Tower of the castle, 1.2 km in diameter, was planned. See the architectural drawing and model from 1944. The plans also included a "hall of the High Court of the SS" (Saal des Hohen Gerichtes der SS)[10]. From 1941 on the architects called the complex the "Center of the World". It was to be finished within twenty years.

Description of the North Tower

File:1941WewelsburgSchematics.gif
Initial SS Schematics for redesigning the North Tower

The axis of this tower was to serve as the actual "Center of the World".

  • Where primary a cistern was a vault after the model of Mycenaean domed tombs was created which probably was to serve for some kind of commemoration of the dead. The room is unfinished. In the middle of the vault probably a bowl with an eternal flame was planned. Around the presumed place for the eternal flame twelve pedestals are placed. Their meaning is unknown.

In the zenith of the vault a swastika (which ends run out in an ornamental way) is walled in.

The vault has special acoustics and illumination. (Photo of the vault)

  • On the ground floor the "Obergruppenführersaal" (literally translated: hall of the Obergruppenführer (the original highest ranking SS-generals)), a hall with twelve columns, was created (see photos of the room: 1, 2). The room was almost finished. 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 is embedded (see photo). Probably a golden disc was placed in the middle of the ornament originally. After the Second World War the ornament was called the "black sun". It is not known if the SS had a name for the ornament nor if they attributed a special meaning to it.
  • The upper floors were to be completed as a prestigious meeting hall for the entire corps of the SS-Gruppenführer. This room was only planned.
    • Both redesigned rooms were never used. Nothing is known about the plans for designated ceremonies in the tower [11].

Blasting operation

When the "final victory" failed to materialize, Himmler ordered Heinz Macher, with 15 of his men, to destroy the Wewelsburg (31 March 1945), only two days before the US Third Infantry Division seized the grounds. Because Macher's company ran out of explosives, they placed tank mines only in the unimportant southeast tower. A burning of the castle followed and - according to information of the village citizens - the castle was given free for looting [12].

File:Tent-Wewels.jpg
Workers' camp set up during reconstruction efforts in 1939

Members

Legends and rumors

  • 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 reincarnation, and where he hoped to be interred after his death.[13]
  • Himmler reportedly imagined the castle as a locus for the rebirth of the Knights of the Round Table and appointed 12 SS officers as his followers, who would gather at various rooms throughout the castle and perform unknown rites[14]. The only documented meeting was in June 1941, though they are assumed to have been held regularly.
  • 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.

Niederhagen Camp

File:Niederhagen Camp.jpg
KZ-Niederhagen

Just offsite of Wewelsburg was the smallest German KZ, Niederhagen prison and labour camp.[1] 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, and grew to 1200, comprised 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.[2]

Of the 3900 prisoners held during the camp's existence, 1285 of them died 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.[3] The camp was dissolved in 1943 with most of the prisoners resettled in Buchenwald, though several dozen prisoners remained behind, housed directly in Wewelsburg [15].

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.

Post-War

Wewelsburg 2004

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 station.

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 curator through the 1990s.[4]

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.[5] In 2006 and 2007 it hosted the annual Internacia Seminario, a meeting of Esperanto youth.

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ Die SS Schule "Haus Wewelsburg" (in German)
  2. ^ Karl Maria Wiligut (in German)
  3. ^ Information about "Zweckforschung" at the Castle of Wewelsburg (in German)
  4. ^ Die SS Schule "Haus Wewelsburg" (in German)
  5. ^ SS-esotericism (in German)
  6. ^ Documentation "Wewelsburg 1933 - 1945. Cult- and terror place of the SS" page 277 (in German)
  7. ^ Die SS Schule "Haus Wewelsburg" (in German)
  8. ^ Wewelsburg - Overview (in German)
  9. ^ Information about Heinrich Himmler (in German)
  10. ^ SS future plans (in German)
  11. ^ Die SS Schule "Haus Wewelsburg" (in German)
  12. ^ 60 years end of war - Wewelsburg: SS-cult und KZ-terror (in German)
  13. ^ Frischauer, Willi. Himmler, the Evil Genius of the Third Reich. London: Odhams, 1953, pages 85-88; Kersten, Felix. The Kersten Memoirs: 1940-1945. New York: Macmillan, 1957. Page 238.
  14. ^ Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas. Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism and the Politics of Identity. NYU Press, 2002. ISBN 0814731554. Page 126; Bailey, Michael David. Magic And Superstition in Europe: A Concise History from Antiquity to the Present. Rowman & Littlefield, 2007. Page 236.
  15. ^ Das Konzentrationslager Niederhagen

51°36′23″N 8°39′06″E / 51.60639°N 8.65167°E / 51.60639; 8.65167

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