The eerie castle owned by Schutzstaffel’s boss Heinrich Himmler has been transformed into an exhibits archive showcasing the evil SS’s history.
Wewelsburg Castle had served as Himmler’s home and the SS’s headquarters throughout the Nazis’ reign in Germany. Heinrich Himmler, an ardent occult practitioner and believer, made use of concentration camp labor filled the edifice with symbols that showed his fascination with the supernatural realm.
For one, he built a giant swastika in the castle’s basement where his SS heroes were to be cremated. He also had a chamber constructed where flame could burn overlooked by 12 pillars representing 12 SS ‘knights’, his own version of legendary King Arthur’s knights of the round table.
Currently, the 17th century fortress located near Paderborn, Germany, has turned into a £7 million museum housing various SS artifacts, paraphernalia and propaganda exhibiting the extent of evil Heinrich Himmler and his SS henchmen did throughout WWII.
However, critics of the “museum of death” have cautioned that the castle could turn into a shrine and a pilgrimage site for the far right neo-Nazis.
“Unwanted right wing visitors who want to make the castle a pilgrimage site will be kicked out,” was the strong answer of Kirsten John-Stucke, the museum’s deputy director.
In spite of the criticisms, German authorities are planning to start more museums about the Nazi regime including a Berlin museum committed to the Nazi’s dreaded secret police, the Gestapo, on its former HQ’s site.