Wewelsburg Biography

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Biography Wewelsburg

Wewelsburg
Wewelsburg (pronounced ) 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) Kreismuseum Wewelsburg (in German). Its location is near what was then believed to be the site of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. Two witch trials took place in the Wewelsburg during the 17th century. The Wewelsburg was destroyed several times during its history, during the Thirty Years' War by the occupation of Swedish troops SS - Die Wewelsburg (in German).

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, reportedly 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 "Reich leader school SS" ("Reichsführerschule SS") Die SS Schule "Haus Wewelsburg" (in German). 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 definitely bythe "West". Wiligut supposedly predicted to Himmler that the Wewelsburg would be the "bastion". Himmler expected a big conflict between Asia and Europe. Karl Maria Wiligut (in German) Another source reports that the NS district president of the city of Minden von Oyenhausen called Himmlers 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 Wewelsburg 1933-45 - Cult site of the SS-Order] (in German).In the planned school a uniform ideological orientation of the leading cadre of the SS was to be realized Die SS Schule "Haus Wewelsburg" (in German). Courses for SS-officers in pre- and early history, mythology, archeology and art were intended DVD Schwarze Sonne.

The "SS-School House Wewelsburg"

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) Information about "Zweckforschung" at the Castle of Wewelsburg (in German) .The fields of activity were:
  • pre- and early history (directed by Wilhelm Jordan)
  • medieval history and folklife studies (directed by Karlernst Lasch)
  • build-up of the "Library of the Schutzstaffel in Wewelsburg" (directed by Dr. Hans Peter des Coudres)
  • strengthening of the national socialist world-view in the village of Wewelsburg (directed by Walter Franzius; he fulfilled also architectural tasks)
Also supporters of a kind of SS-esotericism consisting of Germanic mysticism, ancestral cult, worshipping of runes and race-doctine worked at the castle Die SS Schule "Haus Wewelsburg" (in German). It is known that Himmler adapted the idea of the Grail as heathern mystery for the SS SS-esotericism (in German). 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) Documentation "Wewelsburg 1933 - 1945. Cult- and terror place of the SS" page 277 (in German).

The Ahnenerbe is also said to have had major input into the redevelopment.

First commandant of the castle (Burghauptmann) was Manfred von Knobelsdorff. He was succeeded by Siegfried Taubert in January 1938.

Since 1936 Himmler more and more wanted to expand the Wewelsburg to a representative and ideological central of the SS-order Die SS Schule "Haus Wewelsburg" (in German).

At first the Reichsarbeitsdienst (Reich Labour Service) carried out the modifications of the castle. 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 Wewelsburg - Overview (in German).

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

SS-future plans

Himmler's plans included making it the "center of the new world" ("Zentrum der neuen Welt") following the "final victory" Information about Heinrich Himmler (in German). To symbolize that, an installation of a circular wall with 18 towers (including further buildings - a kind of SS village) centered on the North Tower of the castle, 1.27 km in diameter, was planned. The real purpose of the project was never clearly defined Wewelsburg from 1933 to 1945, place of cult and terror. 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) SS future plans (in German). From 1941 on 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 and a representative estate for the SS-Führerkorps (SS leader corps) SS - Die Wewelsburg (in German). If the plans were realized the complete village of Wewelsburg and adjacent villages would have disappeared. The valley was to be flooded DVD Schwarze Sonne.

Description of the North Tower

The axis of this tower was to serve as the actual "Center of the World" (Mittelpunkt der Welt).
  • 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 swastika (Hakenkreuz) was understood as "the symbol of the creating, acting life" (das Symbol des schaffenden, wirkenden Lebens) and as "race emblem of Germanism" (Rasseabzeichen des Germanentums) Walther Blachetta: Das Buch der deutschen Sinnzeichen (The book of German sense characters); reprint of 1941; page 47.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. 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). Originally a golden disc was placed in the middle of the ornament Information about the original look of the sun wheel (in German). 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. Today it is used as a symbol in Odinism and Neo-Nazism and in occult currents of Irminenschaft or Armanenschaft-inspired esotericism.


  • 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 Die SS Schule "Haus Wewelsburg" (in German).
    • The preparation for the eternal flame, the swastika ornament in the zenith of the vault and the sun wheel embedded in the floor of the "Obergruppenführersaal" lie on one axis.


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 60 years end of war - Wewelsburg: SS-cult und KZ-terror (in German).

Members

  • Heinrich Himmler - Overseer
  • Manfred von Knobelsdorff - Commandant
  • Siegfried Taubert - 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 (physician) - Obersturmbannführer
  • Wilhelm Jordan
  • Elfriede Wippermann


Legends, rumors and interpretations

  • 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.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. In Himmlers's opinion Heinrich I protected Germany from invaders from the "East" DVD Schwarze Sonne.
  • 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 ritesGoodrick-Clarke, Nicholas. 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.. The only documented meeting was in June 1941, though they are assumed to have been held regularly. Fact is that the SS had twelve main departments (SS-Hauptämter). The number twelve plays a major role in the design of the North Tower: twelve pedestals in the vault, twelve pillars in the "Obergruppenführersaal" and twelve spokes of the sun wheel. The sun in general was interpreted as "the strongest and most visible expression of god", the number twelve as significant for "the things of the target and the completion" Walther Blachetta: Das Buch der deutschen Sinnzeichen (The book of German sense characters); reprint of 1941; page 15/16: interpretation of the sun and page 80: interpretation of the number twelve..
  • 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 meaning of the atmosphere created by the eternal flame: during the NS-era in general they wanted to feel in the fire the "aspiration of the ancestral soul" from which - in their beliefs - man arises at his birth and which he reenters at his death DVD Schwarze Sonne, bonus material.
  • In 1938, Siegfried Taubert was in charge of developing the castle, when Himmler inquired about the cost of installing a planetarium.
  • Legend suggests that it held thousands of accused witches during the 17th century, who were tortured and executed within its walls.


Niederhagen Camp

Just offsite of Wewelsburg was the smallest German KZ, Niederhagen prison and labour camp.[2] 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.[3]

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.[4] The camp was dissolved in 1943 with most of the prisoners resettled in Buchenwald, though several dozen prisoners remained behind, housed directly in Wewelsburg The concentration camp Niederhagen (in German).

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

In 1948/49 the castle was restored The history of the castle (in German). 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] In 2006 and 2007 it hosted the annual Internacia Seminario, a meeting of Esperanto youth.

See also

  • Nazi mysticism
  • Karl Maria Wiligut


Footnotes



External links



Castles in GermanyMonuments and memorials in GermanyBuildings and structures in GermanyBuildings and structures in North Rhine-WestphaliaVisitor attractions in GermanyWewelsburg

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Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wewelsburg
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