Wewelsburg (German pronunciation: [ˈveːvl̩sbʊɐ̯k]) is a Renaissance castle located in the village of Wewelsburg, which is part of the town of Büren, Westphalia, in the Landkreis of Paderborn, in the northeast of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The castle has a triangular shape, with three round towers connected by thick walls. After 1934, the SS, under Heinrich Himmler, used the castle and planned to expand it into a complex that would serve as the central SS cult-site.
After 1941, plans were made to enlarge the castle into 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.) Today, the castle houses the Historical Museum of the Prince Bishopric of Paderborn and the Wewelsburg 1933–1945 Memorial Museum.
History
Earlier buildings existed on the site. One of these, called Wifilisburg, was defended in the 9th and 10th centuries against the Hungarians.
Count Friedrich of Arnsberg built another earlier fortification. In 1123 or 1124, after his death, peasants who had been mistreated by him destroyed the building. In 1301, the Count of Waldeck sold the Wewelsburg to the Prince-Bishop of Paderborn.
A document about this sale shows that two buildings resembling forts stood on the hill: the Bürensches Haus and the Waldecksches Haus.
From 1301 to 1589, the prince-bishops of Paderborn gave the estate to different lords who owed them loyalty.
The stone work from both earlier buildings was used in the current triangular Renaissance castle. The Wewelsburg, as it appears today, was built between 1603 and 1609 as a secondary home for the prince-bishops of Paderborn, at that time Dietrich von Fürstenberg. It is located near what was once thought to be the site of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 CE.
The Wewelsburg was captured several times during the Thirty Years' War. In 1646, it was taken over and destroyed by Swedish soldiers led by General Carl Gustav Wrangel. After 1650, the mostly ruined castle was rebuilt by Prince-Bishop Theodor Adolf von der Recke and his successor, Ferdinand von Fürstenberg. He made some changes to the design, adding baroque domes to the castle’s three towers.
From 1589 to 1821, the castle was the home of a bursary officer (or steward). Two witch trials happened at the Wewelsburg in 1631. (There was a room for questioning in the basement next to the east tower.)
During the Seven Years’ War (1756–1763), the basement rooms were likely used as a military prison.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the castle gradually fell into disrepair. In 1802, during German mediatisation, the castle was taken over by the Prussian state. On January 11, 1815, the North Tower was burned down by a lightning strike; only the outer walls remained. From 1832 to 1934, a rectory was located in the eastern part of the south wing of the castle.
In 1924, the castle became the property of the Büren district and was turned into a cultural center. By 1925, the castle had become a local museum, banquet hall, restaurant, and youth hostel.
At the end of the 1920s, the North Tower again became a weak point in the structure and needed support with guy wires during the winter of 1932–1933. The preservation of the castle was supported by the Association for the Preservation of the Wewelsburg. After 1925, renovation work decreased.
Nazi era
In 1932, the local leader of the district (called the Landrat) ordered about seventy members of the Freiwilliger Arbeitsdienst (FAD) (a voluntary labor service) to live at Wewelsburg Castle. These people were unemployed and received help from the government as Notstandsarbeiter ("crisis workers"). The district of Büren hoped that the rent paid by these workers would help cover the costs of running the castle. However, in early 1933, plans to create a full-sized camp for 214 FAD members did not work out.
Before the Nazi Party took control, Heinrich Himmler, who was the leader of the SS (Reichsführer-SS), wanted the SS to have a retreat at a castle in the area of "Hermann der Cherusker" (Armin the Cheruscian). At first, Himmler was interested in Burg Schwalenberg, but talks failed in early 1933. Later, he visited Wewelsburg at the suggestion of a local Nazi leader, Adolf von Oeynhausen (1877–1953).
Himmler decided to buy or rent the castle during his first visit on November 3, 1933. His architect, Hermann Bartels, used plans for the FAD camp to design the new Reichsführerschule SS (SS Leadership School). This school was meant to train SS leaders in a unified way and would be run by the Rasseamt (SS Race Office).
Negotiations were difficult because the Landrat of Büren did not want to give up control of the castle. In early 1934, a 100-year lease was agreed upon for a symbolic rent of ℛℳ 1. Work on the school by the FAD began in January 1934. That August, Manfred von Knobelsdorf, a relative of Walther Darré and a former soldier, moved into the castle with his family as Burghauptmann (castle commander). Himmler officially took control of Wewelsburg in a ceremony on September 22, 1934. A newspaper called the Völkischer Beobachter reported on the event, noting the area’s Germanic and historical background and the school’s educational goals.
In 1935, Himmler announced that the castle would be officially named SS-Schule Haus Wewelsburg (SS School, House Wewelsburg). The school’s focus was on teaching Germanic history, folklore, and other subjects to train SS members ideologically. Knobelsdorf imagined the castle as a kind of Nordic academy.
Some people believe that Karl Maria Wiligut convinced Himmler to use the castle not only as a school but also as a place for rituals. Wiligut was inspired by an old Westphalian legend about the "Battle at the Birch Tree," which tells of a future battle where a large army from the East is defeated by the West. In 1935, Wiligut reportedly told Himmler that the castle would be a "bastion" (stronghold) during a big conflict between Asia and Europe.
Knobelsdorf led the SS School at Wewelsburg, but the focus of the school soon changed. Instead of broad ideological training, the castle became a place for narrow research in Germanic history, medieval history, folklore, and genealogy (Sippenforschung). This research supported the racial teachings of the SS. A scientific library was created, and the first plans by Bartels from 1934 showed small study rooms, not large classrooms. Wilhelm Teudt was one of the people working at the castle.
Wewelsburg Castle also became a center for archaeological work in the area. Activities included studying prehistory and ancient history (led by Wilhelm Jordan), medieval history and folk traditions (led by Karlernst Lasch starting in 1935), building the "Library of the Schutzstaffel in Wewelsburg" (led by Dr. Hans Peter des Coudres), and promoting the National Socialist worldview in the village (led by Walter Franzius).
Franzius worked on projects like restoring a wooden house in the village center, called "Ottens Hof," between 1935 and 1937 to use as a community center. He also did other architectural tasks.
The people working at the castle included members of all SS groups, the police, and the Waffen-SS. Some also promoted SS beliefs, such as Germanic mysticism, ancestor worship, and racial theories. Himmler, for example, used the idea of the Grail to create a pagan mystery for the SS.
Although there is no proof that Himmler wanted a Grail castle, the SS redesigned the castle with names related to Grail legends. Study rooms were named "Gral" (Grail), "König Artus" (King Arthur), "König Heinrich" (King Henry, referencing Henry the Fowler, whom Himmler claimed to be related to), "Heinrich der Löwe" (Henry the Lion), "Widukind," "Christoph Kolumbus" (Christopher Columbus), "Arier" (Aryan), "Jahrlauf" (seasons), "Runen" (runes), "Westfalen" (Westphalia), "Deutscher Orden" (Teutonic Order), "Reichsführerzimmer" (Room of the Empire's Leader), "Fridericus" (likely Frederick II of Prussia), "tolle Christian" (Christian the Great, likely Christian the Younger of Brunswick), and "Deutsche Sprache" (
Post-war
In 1948/49, the castle was restored. On June 29, 1950, the castle reopened as a museum and youth hostel. At the same time, the Niederhagen kitchen was fixed up to become a village fire station.
In 1973, a two-year project started to restore the North Tower. Because of a local government change, Wewelsburg became the property of the district of Paderborn in 1975.
By 1977, it was decided to restore the entire site as a war monument. It opened on March 20, 1982, and was named "Wewelsburg 1933-1945: Kult- und Terrorstätte der SS" in the former SS guard house in the castle forecourt. Some survivors of the Niederhagen camp were present at the opening.
In 1996, the Historical Museum of the Bishopric of Paderborn opened in the east and south wings. The museum shows the history of the Bishopric of Paderborn, which was one of the territories of the Holy Roman Empire.
In 2000, a memorial was built to honor the Niederhagen prisoners who died. Four years later, the Kreismuseum Wewelsburg received DM 29,400 to restore and move the remains of the Niederhagen camp and to create an educational film about the Ukrainian and Russian prisoners who lived there. In 2006 and 2007, the museum hosted the annual Internacia Seminario, a meeting for Esperanto-speaking youth.
The Youth Hostel Wewelsburg, which has 218 beds, is located in the west wing of the castle. The Historical Museum of the Prince Bishopric of Paderborn is in the south and east wings.
In 2010, the museum’s contemporary history department reopened as the "Wewelsburg 1933–1945 Memorial Museum." The new permanent exhibition, "Ideology and Terror of the SS," explains the history of the SS’s activities in Wewelsburg in the larger context of the SS as a whole. A news item said the exhibition is the first of its kind to focus entirely on the SS, showing how it grew from Hitler’s elite guard to a group of a million men who committed crimes across Europe. A 2020 discussion on the Expedia website mentioned that visitors can see the "Ideology and Terror of the SS" exhibit in the former guardhouse in the castle forecourt. A fee was required to tour the castle.
The Kreismuseum Wewelsburg website said the exhibition uses many media tools and includes classic images and text. It also displays original items such as Heinrich Himmler’s pocket calendar, concentration camp barrack walls, and prisoners’ clothing.