Schloss Wewelsburg Review
Just got back from my first visit to Schloss Wewelsburg. I had first seen the Schloss in a 1997 BBC documentary - so my visit had been a long time coming! It is situated in the village of Buren Westfalen, more or less in the middle of Germany about an hours drive south of Hannover. One of the reasons it took me so long to get there is its isolation, the nearest large city being Paderborn which is not on a main line rail route.
The Schloss is visually striking, featuring an unusual triangular shape. There has been some form of building on the site since c.1100 and possibly even before. It took its current triangular form in the 1600's and has been continually modelled and remodelled throughout its history.
The most recent remodelling took place in the 1950s after it had been virtually gutted at the end of WW2 by the retreating Nazi SS who dynamited the building days before the end of the war on the direct orders of Heinrich Himmler. Himmler had acquired the Schloss in the early 1930s intending to use it as a school for future SS leaders. However over time the building developed differently (under the architect and SS member Hermann Bartels) to become a venue for meetings and ceremonies for SS leaders.
The main part of the building is now used as a Jugendherberge (Youth Hostel) where I stayed in a very comfortable room for two nights. The Schloss also contains a regional museum displaying a history of Westfalen and Wewelsburg plus a small room for temporary exhibitions.
For me the highlight was the large museum building adjacent to the main Schloss which houses a permanent exhibition on the history of the SS organisation and their involvement in the remodelling of Wewelsburg.
The tour ends in the north tower of the main Schloss in what is known as the 'crypt' room, believed to have been built as a place for SS ceremonies. It was never completed. The north tower and much of the remodelling of the building was carried out by slave labour and the museum features touching displays commemorating those people who lost their lives.
