Wewelsburg (German pronunciation: [ˈveːvl̩sbʊɐ̯k]) is a Renaissance castle located in the village of Wewelsburg, which is a district of the town of Büren, Westphalia, in the Landkreis of Paderborn in the northeast of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The castle has a triangular layout, with three round towers connected by massive walls. After 1934 it was used by the Schutzstaffel (SS) under Heinrich Himmler and was to be expanded into a complex which would serve as the central SS cult-site.
After 1941, plans were developed to enlarge it to be the so-called "Centre of the World". In 1950 the castle reopened as a museum and youth hostel. (The youth hostel is one of the largest in Germany.) The castle today hosts the Historical Museum of the Prince Bishopric of Paderborn and the Wewelsburg 1933–1945 Memorial Museum.
History
Earlier structures
Predecessor buildings existed. One of these, the Wifilisburg, was defended during the 9th and 10th centuries against the Hungarians.
Count Friedrich (Arnsberg) built another predecessor fortification. In 1123/24, after his death, peasants whom he had oppressed demolished the building. In 1301 the Count of Waldeck sold the Wewelsburg to the Prince-Bishop of Paderborn.
A document concerning this acquisition indicates that two fortresslike buildings stood on the hill, the Bürensches Haus and the Waldecksches Haus.
Current structure
Prince-bishops of Paderborn
From 1301 to 1589, the prince-bishops of Paderborn assigned the estate to various liege lords.
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 Fürstenberg. Its location is near what was then believed to be the site of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest of 9 CE.
The Wewelsburg was taken several times during the Thirty Years' War. In 1646 it was occupied and then razed by Swedish troops, by the army commanded by General Carl Gustav Wrangel. After 1650 the mostly destroyed castle was rebuilt by Prince-Bishop Theodor Adolf von der Recke and his successor, Ferdinand von Fürstenberg. He carried out some architectural changes; the three towers of the castle were given their baroque domes.
From 1589 to 1821 the castle was the place of residence of a bursary officer (or steward). Two witch trials took place in the Wewelsburg in 1631. (There was an inquisition room in the basement next to the east tower.).
During the Seven Years' War (1756–1763) the basement rooms were probably used as a military prison.
Prussian state ownership
During the 18th and 19th centuries the castle fell progressively into ruin. In 1802, during German mediatisation, the castle came into the possession of the Prussian state. On 11 January 1815 the North Tower was gutted by a fire started by a lightning strike; only the outer walls remained. From 1832 to 1934 there was a rectory in the eastern part of the south wing of the castle.
District of Büren ownership
In 1924, the castle became the property of the district of Büren and was changed into a cultural center. By 1925 the castle had become a local museum, banqueting 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 Association for the preservation of the Wewelsburg (Verein zur Erhaltung der Wewelsburg). After 1925 the renovation activities decreased.
Nazi era
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 ("crisis workers"). Through the rent, the district of Büren thus hoped to recoup some of the running costs of the castle. However in early 1933 negotiations to set up a full-sized camp for 214 FAD participants failed.
Prior to the Nazi Party taking power Heinrich Himmler, as Reichsführer-SS, had decided that the SS should have a retreat at a castle "in the heartland of Hermann der Cherusker" (Armin the Cheruscian). Initially Himmler showed an interest in Burg Schwalenberg but negotiations failed in early 1933; he then visited Wewelsburg at the suggestion of a local Nazi leader, Adolf von Oeynhausen (1877–1953).
Himmler decided to buy or lease the castle on his first visit on 3 November 1933. His architect, Hermann Bartels, was able to draw on existing plans for the FAD camp for the now envisaged Reichsführerschule SS (SS Leadership School). This school was mainly intended to ensure a unified ideological training of the SS leadership and would be run by the Rasseamt of the SS.
Negotiations were difficult, however, since the Landrat of Büren was unwilling to give up control of the castle. In the first half of 1934 a 100-year lease was agreed for the symbolic annual rent of ℛℳ 1. Initial work on the school by the FAD had started in January 1934. That August, Manfred von Knobelsdorf, a brother-in-law of Walther Darré and a former professional soldier, moved in with his family as Burghauptmann. Himmler officially took over the Wewelsburg in a grand ceremony on 22 September 1934. The Völkischer Beobachter, in reporting on the event, while mentioning the Germanic and historic past of the region, emphasized the educational aspects.
In 1935 Himmler announced that the SS-castle was to be officially called SS-Schule Haus Wewelsburg (SS School, House Wewelsburg). The focus of the school was to become: "Germanische Vor- und Frühgeschichte, Volkstumskunde u. a. als Rüstzeug zur weltanschaulich-politischen Schulung" ("Germanic pre- and early history, folklore studies, etc. as a tool for ideological-political training"). Knobelsdorff envisaged a kind of Nordic academy.
There is some speculation that it was Karl Maria Wiligut who persuaded 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 conflict between Asia and Europe.
Wewelsburg SS School
Knobelsdorf led the SS School, House Wewelsburg but very quickly the focus of activity shifted away from schooling the SS leadership in a broad set of ideological fields to something much narrower. In fact work concentrated more on conducting basic pseudo-scientific research in the fields of Germanic pre- and early history, medieval history, folklore and genealogy (Sippenforschung), all intended to provide the underpinnings for the racial teachings of the SS. A scientific library was established. But even the first plans by Bartels from early 1934 did not show any large-scale classrooms, only smaller cell-like rooms for individual study. Among those active at the Wewelsburg was Wilhelm Teudt.
Fields of activity
Wewelsburg Castle was also a centre 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 latter activity 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.
Crew
The castle crew consisted of members of all SS branches, the "General SS" ("Allgemeine SS"), the police 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.
Redesign and reconstruction
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", referring to Henry the Fowler to whom Himmler claimed a connection), 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 Empire's Leader(s)"; Reichsführer-SS, or "the Reich's Leader of the SS" was Himmler's title), Fridericus (probably in reference to Frederick II of Prussia), tolle Christian ("Christian the Great", 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, a dining room, an 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 sparingly. 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 Sinnzeichen (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.
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. 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.
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 in line with the aesthetics of National Socialism).
Directors
The first commandant of the castle (Burghauptmann von Wewelsburg), from August 1934, was SS-Obersturmbannführer (Lieutenant Colonel) Manfred von Knobelsdorff. He was partial to Karl Maria Wiligut's religious theories. The opinion of other SS-scientists about Wiligut were absolutely negative. SS-Obersturmbannfuhrer 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.
Other activities
So-called "SS-marriage-consecrations" (SS-Eheweihen) took place at the castle.
Since 1936 Himmler (who was often at the castle) had increasingly wanted to expand the Wewelsburg to be a representative and ideological center of the SS Order. Consequently, although it had been originally intended to be an educational training center, during the 1930s increasing measures were taken to transform the castle into an isolated central meeting place for the highest-ranking SS-officers.
Financing
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. Until 1943, the project cost 15 million ℛ︁ℳ︁.
Bans on visits and publicity
On 6 November 1935, Himmler forbade visiting the castle without express permission. In 1939 he further forbade publishing anything about the castle.