Hitler's castle

Himmler's ghost
Himmler history
Ss castle ship

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by Ray and Josephine Cowdery
Copyright © 1990, 1997, 2006, 2009, 2012
Used with permission

Wewelsburg, a small village of the town of Büren in Paderbornland, Westfalia (Nord), Germany has for hundreds of years been the site of a beautiful stone castle set atop a natural rock outcropping overlooking a wide valley. Built between 1604 and 1607 on the ruins of a much older fortress, Wewelsburg castle was the seat of Fürstbischof Theodor von Fürstenberg. For many years it was host to history, accommodating Napoleon, the Prussians and countless religious leaders. In 1815 lightning struck and destroyed a part of one of the three towers and the building fell into disrepair with only sections of it being put to use. Destruction by time and nature seemed all but certain.

Fate and the Third Reich intervened, however. Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler was searching Germany in 1933 for an acceptable site for an Ordensburg (or Order Castle) and Reichsführerschule (or National Leader School) for the high leadership within the SS. Subsequent to a c

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Wewelsburg in Westfalia, Germany has for centuries been the site of a beautiful stone castle set atop a natural rock outcropping overlooking a wide valley. Built between 1604 and 1607 on the ruins of a much older fortress, Wewelsburg castle was the seat of Fürstbischof Theodor von Fürstenberg. For many years it was host to history, accommodating Napoleon, the Prussians and countless religious leaders. In 1815 lightning struck and destroyed a part of one of the three towers and the building fell into disrepair with only sections of it being put to use. Destructio

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Wewelsburg

Renaissance castle located in the village of Wewelsburg

For the village of Wewelsburg, see Wewelsburg (village).

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 SS under Heinrich Himmler, and was to be expanded into a complex which would serve as the central SS cult-site.^[1]

After 1941, plans were developed to enlarge it to be the so-called "Centre of the World".^[2] In 1950, the castle reopened as a museum and youth hostel. (The youth hostel is one of the largest in Germany.)^{[citation needed]} 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