Dubbed 'Naziland' by critics, this forbidding fortress was once the spiritual home of the most murderous cult in human history.
It was here that the darkest deeds of the Second World War were plotted by SS chief Heinrich Himmler, a man so obsessed with medieval fantasy that even Hitler thought he was mad.
Now, after undergoing a £5million revamp in 2010, Wewelsburg Castle has become one of Germany's most popular tourist attractions.
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Dubbed 'Naziland' by critics, this forbidding fortress was once the spiritual home of the most murderous cult in human history. Now, after undergoing a £5million revamp, Wewelsburg Castle is a popular tourist attraction
House of horrors: It was here the darkest deeds of the Second World War were plotted by SS chief Heinrich Himmler, a man that even Hitler thought was mad. Pictured is the so-called 'Crypt', with its ceiling swastika
Thousands of people, including schoolchildren, police officers and civil servants sent to learn about how quickly a civilised state can collapse into depravity and mass murder, have visited the site.
A 17th century three-sided castle, it was bought by Himmler just before the Second World War.
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In 1934, one year after the Nazis took power, he signed a 100-year lease to take over the fortress to fashion into a leadership school for the SS.
His vision was to transform it into a Nazi Camelot where he could bark out orders to his SS 'knights', parading around in full medieval costume as he did so.
Third Reich historian Phillip Mayer, who did his university thesis on the SS, told Allan Hall for the Daily Mirror: 'Himmler developed the corps into one of the Nazis' most powerful organisations and its spiritual centre was Wewelsburg.
Himmler (pictured) had a vision to transform the 17th century castle into a Nazi Camelot where he could bark out orders to his SS 'knights', parading around in full medieval costume as he did so
'He was a mass killer but also an incurable romantic and this three-sided castle fuelled his racial fantasies and let him live them out like a medieval warlord.
'From June 12-15, 1941, he assembled his top officers a week before the Russian campaign to plan the SS's involvement, including the death squads that would accompany the army in the invasion.'
It was at Wewelsburg that Himmler, who believed 9th century pre-Christian Saxon king Henry - who had driven the Slavs beyond the River Elbe - was within him. This, he thought, gave his body the power of mystical Aryan forces.
Obsessed with the occult, the Nazi chief also used concentration camp labour to build a giant swastika in the basement, where SS heroes were to be cremated.
Elsewhere he constructed a chamber with an eternal flame overlooked by 12 pillars for SS 'knights' as his version of King Arthur's round table.
When it opened, critics feared the museum would become a shrine to far right neo-nazis who would make pilgrimages to the castle.
However, its curators say most of those have stayed away.
The free exhibition, which claims to be the world's largest devoted to the history of the SS, is instead designed to act as a reminder for humanity to be on its guard about how quickly a state can descend into madness.
Spiritual home of the SS: A Swastika adorns the ceiling of the 'Crypt'. The circular crypt had a gas pipe in the floor for an eternal flame, and 12 pedestals at even intervals around the walls
The free exhibition at Wewelsburg Castle claims to be the world's largest devoted to the history of the SS
Concern: When it opened, critics feared the museum (left), which includes this infamous SS badge (right) would become a shrine to far right neo-nazis who would make pilgrimages to the castle. But this has not happened
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3366926/Welcome-Naziland-forbidding-fortress-SS-chief-Himmler-plotted-darkest-deeds-WW2-one-Germany-s-popular-tourist-attractions.html#ixzz3usKVogL5
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