Wewelsburg

Wewelsburg is a Renaissance castle located in the northwest of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. 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 by the Prince of Paderborn. It lies in the quarter of the same name of the city Büren in the Paderborn district, 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.

SS History

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. 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").

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

Prisoners from the Saxonia and Niederhagen concentration camps were used as labourers to perform much of the construction work on Wewelsburg between 1939 and 1943, under the design of architect Hermann Bartels.

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 Neo-Nazism. The castle contained a room dubbed the Himmler Crypt, dedicated to Heinrich I, of whom Himmler believed himself to be the reincarnation, and where he hoped to be interred after his death.

Himmler's plans included making it the centre of a new Germanocentric world following the "final victory". To symbolize that, an installation of a circular wall centred on the castle, one kilometre in diameter, was planned.

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. 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. Similarly, any recipient of one of Himmler's Totenkopfrings was to arrange to have the ring returned to the Castle upon his death.

When the final victory failed to materialize, Himmler ordered Heinz Macher, with 15 of his men, to destroy the Wewelsburg, only two days before the US Third Infantry Division seized the grounds. Reports vary from near-complete damage, to only the North Tower suffering great damage; either way the damage was soon repaired after Macher's company ran out of explosives.

Members

Heinrich Himmler - Overseer
Manfred von Knobelsdorff - Commandant
Karl Elstermann von Elster Stabsführer - replaced by Paul Hübner
Walter Muller - 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 Frank - SS Commander of the Obersalzburg
Dr. Heinrich Hagel Arztchef - Obersturmbannführer
Wilhelm Jordan
Elfriede Wippermann

Niederhagen Camp

Just offsite of Wewelsburg was the smallest German KZ , Niederhagen prison and labour camp.[1] Begun on June 17th 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.[4]

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

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.[5]

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.[6]

The castle seems to be one of the major sources of inspiration for the Wolfenstein games, such as Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Spear of Destiny.

External links

Wewelsburg and concentration camp forced labour (in German)
Kreismuseum Wewelsburg (in German)
Himmler's Camelot book Himmler's Camelot