Page 38 - All About History - Issue 56-17

Hitler and the Occult

Inside Wewelsberg castle, the SS’s monument to mysticism

With the SS increasingly retreating into a world of alike in an imagined Germanic tradition, millions Similarly, the personalised SS-Ehrenring
its own, distinct even from the collective madness of Reichsmarks were sunk into renovating and (SS-honour rings, also called Totenkopfring,
of the Third Reich, Himmler hit upon the 17th- redecorating the castle. A concentration camp was or ‘death’s head rings’), designed to signal
century Wewelsburg Castle in Westphalia as the opened nearby to provide a labour force and the membership of the inner circle of Himmler’s order,
perfect inner sanctum for his unholy order. Ahnenerbe became glorified interior designers as were returned here for storage upon the owner’s
The castle was appropriated for the ideological rooms were named after great German rulers and death, creating an eternal brotherhood linked in
indoctrination of the SS Race and Settlement filled with related artwork, artefacts and armour, death as they were in life by the twisted ideals of
Office in 1934 under the esoteric influence of both stolen and bought. the genocidal Schutzstaffel.
Wiligut Himmler. He began to envisage it as The castle’s two showstopping features were Plans compiled across 1940 and 1942, set aside
a tribute to Henry the Fowler, a 10th-century testament to Himmler’s mythic pretensions: a as the tide of war turned against the Third Reich,
German ruler reimagined by Wagner in his opera pseudo-Arthurian round table for the SS elite provide for the entire relocation of the nearby
Lohengrin as the first great pan-Germanic hero, and a vast hall, the floor adorned with a jagged village and a vast complex spilling out over a
uniting the nation against the Hungarians. Himmler ‘black sun’ that glorified in the deeds of dead kilometre on a wheel of towers and curtain walls.
believed himself to be the reincarnation of Henry. SS-Gruppenführer (SS-group leaders), who would In 1945, as the US Army advanced, Himmler
While Himmler’s loyal lieutenants held pseudo- be ritualistically cremated and stored in one of ordered Wewelsburg to be razed rather than see
pagan rites, celebrating weddings and solstices seven urns in the vault below. his sacred temple profaned. In the end, it was
only partly destroyed but damaged enough to
“Millions of Reichsmarks were sunk into inspire mystery and invite questions that cannot be
easily answered. Wewelsburg became a subject of
renovating and redecorating the castle” fascination in the 1970s, a Nazi ‘Camelot’ of occult
mysteries and secretive rituals.

The Honour Among Thieves All that glitters
As well as being silver, SS-Ehrenring are
Black Sun Designed by Willigut and initially presented only to senior rare. According to rumour, the castle’s
stock of honour rings — around 9,280
officers, the SS-Ehrenring was a personal gift from
Himmler and signified the bearer’s membership — were sealed in a nearby cave with
dynamite, capturing the imagination of
Now nearly as potent in its toxicity of an ‘elite’ within the SS. It was to be treasure hunters for over half a century.
as the swastika, the black sun worn on the left hand ring finger and
wasn’t widely used by the Third returned upon death, dismissal
Reich, appearing only on the floor or retirement.
of Wewelsburg’s ‘hall of heroes’.
Composed of a sunwheel — one of
the traditional symbols of Germanic
paganism — and 12 single sig runes
radiating outwards, the black sun was
an astrological body whose power,
according to Himmler’s occult mentor,
Karl Maria Wiligut, could be harnessed
through yoga.
Oak leaves
A feature on older Prussian military Inscription
decorations, oak leaves symbolised
The recipient’s name,
regeneration and were incorporated
Himmler’s signature
into the Knight’s Cross medal and
and the date it
onto gravestones during the Third
was awarded were
Reich to displace Christian imagery
engraved on the
interior of the ring.

Totenkopf rune
The ‘death’s head’ of the SS,
Sig rune symbolising, of course, death or valour
A single ‘lightning bolt’ in a in the face of death. Like the oak leaves,
triangle, symbolising victory it was also used by the Prussian army.
from which we get the Nazi
salute ‘Sieg Heil’ or ‘Heil Victory’.

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