Wewelsburg

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Wewelsburg
The Wewelsburg, seen from the Almetal

The Wewelsburg, seen from the Almetal

Creation time : Predecessor building 9th to 10th century
Gräfliche Burg 1123, today's building 1603 to 1609
Castle type : Hilltop castle
Conservation status: Receive
Standing position : county
Place: Büren - Wewelsburg
Geographical location 51 ° 36 '24 "  N , 8 ° 39' 5"  E Coordinates: 51 ° 36 '24 "  N , 8 ° 39' 5"  E
Wewelsburg (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Wewelsburg
Aerial view of the Wewelsburg. The characteristic triangular floor plan can be recognized.
East wing with access bridge

The Wewelsburg is a castle-like renaissance castle in the Wewelsburg district of the city of Büren in the Paderborn district , North Rhine-Westphalia . The hilltop castle lies above the valley of the Alme and is one of the few castles with a triangular floor plan in Germany. In 1123 Count Friedrich von Arnsberg built a castle at this location. After his death, the castle complex was destroyed by farmers. Later, the Counts of Waldeck and the Prince-Bishops of Paderborn owned castles on this site. The current building was constructed between 1603 and 1609. From 1934 to 1945 the castle was used by the SS and partially redesigned. Today the Wewelsburg houses the historical museum of the Paderborn monastery and a youth hostel.

history

prehistory

A previous building was the Wifilisburg , mentioned by the medieval chronicler Annalista Saxo , which was used during the 9th and 10th centuries against the Hungarians , who in popular tradition were considered to be Huns . This emerges from the Saxon history of the chronicler of the first Liudolfingers , Widukind von Corvey , who wrote about Heinrich I (919–936) disputes with the Slavs :

“The Daleminzians could not withstand his attack and brought the Avars , whom we now call Hungarians, a very tough tribe in the war , against him . As some believe, the Avars were the remains of the Huns. "

Another building was erected in 1123 by Friedrich von Arnsberg . After his death in 1124, the castle complex was destroyed by the residents of the neighboring village, who had been suppressed by von Arnsberg . In 1301 Count Otto I von Waldeck sold the Wewelsburg, which was inherited from his mother Mechthild (* around 1235, † after August 13, 1298), daughter of Count Gottfried III. von Arnsberg , had come into his possession, to the Prince-Bishop of Paderborn. A document of this purchase shows that there were two fortress-like buildings on the hill: the Bürensche and the Waldecksche Haus. Until 1589 the estate was given to various liege lords by the prince-bishops.

Prince-Bishop's Palace

The Wewelsburg in the Monumenta Paderbornensia (1672)
Entrances in the courtyard
patio

The Wewelsburg was built in its current form from 1603 to 1609 by Paderborn Prince-Bishop Dietrich von Fürstenberg , who ruled from 1585 to 1618, as a castle in the Weser Renaissance style, after he had redeemed it in 1589 after multiple pledges. The masonry of both previous buildings was integrated into the new building, which has shaped the character of the Wewelsburg since then in its shape according to the specifications of the acute-angled mountain spur with the three towers above the river valley of the Alme. Von Fürstenberg used it as a hunting lodge and a secondary residence.
The Wewelsburg represents a so-called permanent castle (French: château fort ), which as a residential and administrative building shows elements of defensibility and for some time served as a secondary residence for the prince-bishops. To the south, the Vorwerk is surrounded by a curtain wall. There a dry ditch prevents access to the building. The eastern dry trench is crossed by a (train) bridge to the entrance portal, next to which loopholes are attached as in the south towers. The west side lies with a fortified overhang on the valley slope. All three towers were originally provided with non-functional crenellations that were only intended to have a symbolic effect .

The south wing is the widest and is framed by two towers that are narrower than the main tower in the northern tip. Building material is weather-sensitive limestone that was originally under plaster. This plaster also highlighted the colored window frames and colorful sculptural elements on the portals and bay windows.

The inscription in the bay window above the main portal - "Multi quaerent intrare et non poterunt" = many want to enter and cannot do so - primarily indicates the lord's right not to allow access to all visitors. This corresponded to the prince-bishop's will to enforce Catholicism among his subjects in the area of ​​Paderborn in the Catholic-Protestant denominational rivalry.

The most elaborate portal to the stair tower with the donor's inscription and praise for the builder and his family is in the inner courtyard and led to the prince-bishop's rooms in the south and east wings and to the ballroom in the west on the first floor. However, the two destructions under Carl Gustav Wrangel in the Thirty Years' War in 1646 and in March 1945 severely impaired the transmission of the building history, so that only remnants from the time of the prince-bishop can be seen in today's museum rooms: a fireplace with seven female virtues allegories, an interrogation room with adjoining dungeon cells (two witch trials took place in 1631 ), a judges' lodge, and an entrance to the living quarters.

During the reconstruction under Prince-Bishop Dietrich Adolf von der Recke , the battlements on the towers were replaced by Italian domes . Despite the reconstruction completed in 1660, the Wewelsburg lost its rank as a secondary residence for the prince-bishops. A last visit by the prince-bishop is documented for 1718. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the castle was poorly maintained due to the country's debts. The dungeons became civil dungeons in 1752/53; In 1759 they served as a military prison, mainly for deserters. The rent masters and their families and servants remained the most permanent residents in the south-east wing until 1821.

Prussian possession

In 1802 the Wewelsburg passed to the Prussian state due to the dissolution of the Paderborn bishopric in the course of secularization . On January 11, 1815, the north tower burned down after a lightning strike - only the outer walls remained. The former apartment of the rent master served as a parish apartment from 1832 to 1934.

Owned by the Büren district

In 1924 the Büren district became the owner of the castle. It was expanded into a cultural center, which in 1925 included a local museum and a youth hostel. The preservation of the castle was supported by the Association for the Preservation of the Wewelsburg . After 1925, the renovation work slowed down. At the end of the 1920s, the north tower proved to be a weak point in the architecture; in the winter of 1932/33 it was reinforced with heavy iron rings.

National Socialist Period

Planned and executed construction work between September 1934 and March 1945

Oil painting of the Wewelsburg in a meeting room of the SS, below, from left to right: SS-Obersturmbannführer Franz Josef Huber , SS-Oberführer Arthur Nebe , Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler , SS-Gruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich and SS-Oberführer Heinrich Müller , November 1939

As early as 1933, Hermann Bartels was appointed by the "Reichsführer SS" Heinrich Himmler as the leading architect for the conversion of the Wewelsburg into an SS castle . In June 1934 the castle was rented by the NSDAP for the symbolic price of one Reichsmark per year. Manfred von Knobelsdorff was “Burghauptmann” until 1938 and Siegfried Taubert until the end of the war . Himmler, who got to know East Westphalia during the Lippe state election campaign in January 1933, was made aware of the Wewelsburg by leading National Socialists from the region, in particular Adolf von Oeynhausen . Himmler initially planned a training facility for SS leaders. A small staff of SS scientists was hired. From the beginning of the war, new plans were aimed at making the Wewelsburg a meeting place for the SS group leaders (generals), especially on special occasions. Himmler's traditional guidelines provided for the hanging of the coats of arms of the group leaders (1937), the holding of an annual group leader conference with swearing in (1938) and the storage of the skull rings of deceased ring bearers (1938). The coat of arms campaign was canceled. Regular group leader meetings did not take place. Only in June 1941 did Himmler convene a group of SS officials to explain to them the war aims of the Russian campaign . The collection of skull rings seems to have been created. According to local residents, American GIs took such rings with them in 1945.

The structural measures of the SS reached - regardless of the rather vague conceptions - considerable proportions. In the early years, the Wewelsburg received a completely new interior, some of which was decorated with SS ornamentation. The exterior of the Wewelsburg was made more "castle-like" by removing the plaster, deepening the trenches and building a new bridge.

In the years 1936–1937 and 1939–1941 two large SS administration buildings were built on the forecourt. A villa for the chief architect and houses for SS personnel were built in the village. From 1940 the plans took on gigantic proportions under the influence of the architect Hermann Bartels commissioned by Himmler. In the area of ​​the village of Wewelsburg, a new castle complex was to be built in a three-quarter circle with a radius of 635 meters around the old building. The residents should be evacuated.

In order to be able to carry out the ongoing and planned construction work during the war, the SS set up a concentration camp in Wewelsburg. From May 1939, the camp initially consisted of a prisoner detachment that was subordinate to the main camp in Sachsenhausen . From 1941 the concentration camp (now at the third location on the outskirts) was elevated to the state main camp Niederhagen concentration camp . It existed until April 1943. The remaining prisoners were organizationally placed under the Buchenwald concentration camp . Of the total of 3,900 recorded prisoners from almost all of the countries occupied by the Wehrmacht , 1,285 did not survive the concentration camp.

In March 1945, Himmler ordered the castle and the adjoining administration building to be blown up. The Wewelsburg burned down completely, as did the guard building; the neighboring headquarters building was completely destroyed.

On April 2, 1945 the destroyed castle was taken by the Americans.

meaning

According to Karl Hüser , to whom the authoritative scientific work on Wewelsburg as a “cult and terror site of the SS” is to be owed, the “SS ideologues” assumed that a Saxon hill fort was the first predecessor building, namely from the “time the defensive battles of King Henry I around 933 against the Hungarians or 'Huns' ", which would have been" even in accordance with the first written tradition about the Wewelsburg "by Annalista Saxo .

Himmler's attention was drawn to Heinrich I in 1935 when Hermann Reischle , who represented him as deputy curator in the “ Ahnenerbe ”, informed him on October 24, 1935 that the city of Quedlinburg was asking for support to organize the celebrations for the 1000th anniversary of his death Search for Heinrich I on July 2, 1936. He called this celebration “propagandistically […] a real gift from heaven” and wrote: “With its functional design, we can achieve with one big blow what would otherwise only be fought through with great difficulty in years of propaganda. For this reason alone, the decisive involvement of the SS and thus our influence on the preparation and organization of the celebration must be urgently supported. ”Shortly afterwards, on November 6, 1935, Himmler took over the Wewelsburg in his“ personal staff ”and imposed one (1939 renewed) report ban on all processes in the castle. In December 1935 he stipulated "that the SS with the city of Quedlinburg should be the sole sponsor of the celebrations on July 2, 1936."

How Himmler's dealings with Heinrich I, whom he regretted late in his death-anniversary speech on July 2, 1936, affected the Wewelsburg can only be inferred from circumstantial evidence. State curator Robert Hiecke was responsible for the redesign of the Wewelsburg as well as for the renovations initiated by Himmler at the Quedlinburg collegiate church and at the Widukind memorial in Enger .

A renewed colonization in the east, including “ military farming ”, should begin in the Wewelsburg. This can be seen in Himmler's written order in January 1939 to the architect for a triptych in the castle entrance hall. According to this proposal, picture 1 shows a warlike SS attack, with an older SS man lying there dead (or mortally wounded). Figure 2 shows a field that is being plowed by SS military farmers in the new country. Figure 3 shows a newly founded German village in the east with families and many children.

The Holy Lance belongs to Henry I as the most important victorious relic of the Ottonian dynasty . For Albert Brackmann , with whom Himmler had exchanged information about the Ottonians since 1938, she was the "lance of the holy warrior and martyr Mauritius ". In the continuation of Otto Höfler's Germanic theory, in which it had become Wotan's spear , it could also continue to be interpreted as a symbol of Germanic rulership. The lance became an obvious reference point for Hermann Bartels ' building designs , in which the triangular castle ground plan resembled a lance shape initially copied from the Holy Lance, later a spear with the straight castle entrance as a long shaft. At the Wewelsburg, however, because of the no longer acknowledged importance of the castle for the SS as a foundation from the 10th century, all references to the Holy Lance are assessed exclusively as rumors or phenomena of fantastic literature, esotericism and right-wing extremism after 1945.

In 2009, Jan Erik Schulte believes that the importance of the castle for Himmler can only be read from the legend of the "Battle of the Birkenbaum" around the Wewelsburg. As a description of a final struggle between East and West, she provided the background for Himmler's invitation to the SS group leaders in June 1941 before the Russian campaign. It makes much more sense, however, to see Himmler's relationship to reality not only secured by a legend, but by the Wewelsburg war announcement based on the rulers Heinrich I and Otto I, who were stylized by Albert Brackmann as exemplary Eastern politicians and colonizers . For in 1939, after the attack on Poland had begun, Brackmann wrote a “world-historical” study on the crisis and construction in Eastern Europe on the order of the SS , 7,000 copies of which went to the Wehrmacht in 1940 . (See also “ Plan Otto ”).

For Brackmann, the claims to eastward expansion were based on the 1000-year "German" success story of the Slavs that began with the Ottonians. That was commonplace in Eastern research . On October 6, 1943, in his Posen speech at one of “the most remarkable gatherings of party functionaries” (Bradley Smith / Agnes Peterson) after his appointment as Reich Minister of the Interior , Himmler referred expressly to the achievements of Henry I, whose Reich authority he intended to solve the problems caused by the war conjured. How effectively and extensively the Ottonians were instrumentalized, especially on the Prussian side, was shown in the reaction of Polish West Research , which after 1945 defended itself under the protection of " pan-Slavic communism " ( Eugen Kogon , 1947) with a national claim also estimated at 1,000 years express and repeated reference to the Ottonians urged the "reslavization" of formerly Slavic areas.

Use today

youth hostel

The reconstruction of the Wewelsburg took place in 1948/1949; the north tower did not follow until 1973–1975. From 1950 it was again a youth hostel and seat of the local history museum of the Büren district, since 1975 of the Paderborn district. Today it houses the Wewelsburg district museum and a youth hostel .

In the south and east wings of the castle is the regional history department of the district museum, the historical museum of the Paderborn monastery . In 29 rooms, the permanent exhibition shows culturally and historically significant objects and presentations on the history of the Principality of Paderborn from the beginnings of settlement up to 1802.

The former SS guard building on the castle forecourt houses a contemporary history department of the district museum, the Wewelsburg memorial and memorial site 1933–1945 with the exhibition Ideology and Terror of the SS . This is the world's only comprehensive, museum-like overall presentation of the history of the Schutzstaffel (SS) of the NSDAP. The local history of the SS in Wewelsburg and the concentration camp there is embedded in an overall history of the SS. This contemporary history department of the museum was redesigned over several years and reopened on April 15, 2010.

The former " Obergruppenführer's Hall "; In the middle of the room there is an ornament called the " Black Sun ".

In addition to the exhibition rooms in the historical rooms of the former guard building, two rooms from the SS era have been preserved in the north tower of the Wewelsburg, which can be viewed during the opening hours of the memorial. These are the "Obergruppenführer's Hall" and the "Crypt". The dark green ornament on the marble floor of the “Obergruppenführer's Hall” has developed under the name “ Black Sun ” into a symbol of recognition among right-wing extremists and a supposed “power symbol” among esotericists . Since 1991 it has been associated with the esoteric-neo-Nazi concept of the black sun, which has been discussed since the 1950s.

Another permanent exhibition of the district museum on the subject of Germans in Eastern Central Europe. Flight - displacement - integration was closed with the renovation in 2010.

The youth hostel in the west wing is operated by the German Youth Hostel Association. It has 204 beds and several conference rooms as well as a sports hall .

See also

literature

  • Daniel Bérenger (Ed.): Guide to the prehistory and early history of the Hochstift districts of Paderborn and Höxter . Historical writings of the district museum Wewelsburg 4, Scriptorium, Münster 2002 ff., ISBN 3-932610-24-5 .
  • Heiner Borggrefe: The Wewelsburg - a historicizing hunting and pleasure palace around 1600 . In: Wulf E. Brebeck (Ed.): 400 years of Wewelsburg. Paderborn 2010, pp. 37-54.
  • Wulff E. Brebeck: The Wewelsburg. History and building at a glance . Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich / Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-422-06521-0 .
  • Wulff E. Brebeck, Barbara Stambolis (Ed.): Remembrance work against transfiguration of the Nazi era. How to deal with crime scenes, memorials and cult sites . Historical writings of the district museum Wewelsburg 7 / Wunderkammer 7, Munich.
  • Michael Burleigh: Germany Turns Eastwards. A Study of “Ostforschung” in the Third Reich. 2nd Edition. Pan Books, London 2002, ISBN 0-330-48840-6 .
  • Karl Hüser: Wewelsburg 1933–1945. Cult and terror site of the SS . Bonifatius-Druckerei, Paderborn 1982, ISBN 3-87088-305-7 .
  • Karl Hüser, Wulff E. Brebeck: Wewelsburg 1933–1945. Cult and terror site of the SS . Bonifatius-Druckerei, Paderborn 1999, ISBN 978-3870885342 .
  • Kirsten John-Stucke : "My father is wanted ...": Inmates of the Wewelsburg concentration camp . Historical writings in the district museum Wewelsburg 2, 4th edition. Essen 2001, ISBN 3-88474-542-5 .
  • Kirsten John-Stucke, Daniela Siepe (Hrsg.): Myth Wewelsburg. Facts and legends (= series of publications of the Wewelsburg district museum, volume 10). Schöningh, Paderborn 2015, ISBN 978-3-506-78094-2 .
  • Michael H. Kater: The “Ahnenerbe” of the SS 1935–1945. 4th edition. Oldenbourg, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-486-57950-9 .
  • Walter Melzer: The Wewelsburg from the high Middle Ages to the early modern period: results of an archaeological investigation into the beginnings of the castle. Series of publications of the district museum Wewelsburg 4, Paderborn 1992, ISBN 3-925355-70-7 .
  • Walter Melzer: The Wewelsburg in the Middle Ages - results of an archaeological dig. Published by the Historical Museum of the Paderborn Monastery, Wewelsburg District Museum, Büren-Wewelsburg 1998.
  • Karl E. Mummenhoff: Wewelsburg ( large architectural monuments , issue 265). Munich / Berlin 1972
  • Andreas Pflock, Gerrit Visser: From Hengelo to Wewelsburg - Stations in life and letters of the Dutch trade unionist from National Socialist captivity / Van Hengelo naar Wewelsburg - Levensloop en brieven van de Nederlandse vakbondsman uit het national-socialist gevangenschap (Dutch, German), 2005, ISBN 3- 932610-35-0 (279 pages, 67 photos).
  • Jan Erik Schulte (Ed.): The SS, Himmler and the Wewelsburg. Schöningh, Paderborn 2009, ISBN 978-3-506-76374-7 ( review ).
  • Albrecht Seufert: In the form of a triangle, in a truly beautiful and magnificent shape. The history of the Wewelsburg up to the beginning of the 19th century . Materials on the history of art and culture in Northern and Western Germany, Marburg 1992, ISBN 3-89445-121-1 .
  • Albrecht Seufert: The Wewelsburg as a triangular castle from the 17th century to the present day. Wewelsburg District Museum, Büren-Wewelsburg 1998.
  • E. Unger-Winkelried: The battle on the birch tree. In: Voice of the Homeland, March 7, 1943, Berlin, in special service for comrades at the front, ed. vd Reich press office of the NSDAP in cooperation with the High Command of the Wehrmacht, episode 246, pp. 16-17.
  • Arfst Wagner: National occultism , Part I. In: Flensburg Hefte No. 40: Racism, hatred of foreigners, nationalism . Flensburg 1993.

Other media

  • Black sun. Film by Rüdiger Sünner (editor: Absolut Medien, Series Documents 251 ) - the book accompanying the film has been published by the same author under the same title by Herder Verlag.
  • Heinrich Himmler's Castle. The Wewelsburg: The ideological center of the SS. Film by Karl Höffkes and Stuart Russell (publisher: Polar Film + Medien GmbH, series of videos on contemporary history ).
  • Wewelsburg 1933–1945, cult and terror site of the SS. A film by Anne Roerkohl (publisher: LWL-Medienzentrum für Westfalen). DVD, Münster 2006.
  • Wewelsburg. Ideology and terror of the SS. Main film by Anne Roerkohl and Gesa Kok. In addition, a series of additional films and materials (published by the Wewelsburg district museum and the LWL media center for Westphalia). Double DVD, Münster 2011.
  • Wulff E. Brebeck, Karl Hüser, Kirsten John-Stucke: The Wewelsburg 1933–1945, SS megalomania and concentration camp terror . CD-Rom with booklet (German or English) from the LWL Media Center for Westphalia, 2007.
  • ZDF documentary Evil Buildings, Part IV Hitler's Architecture - Traces from the Westwall to the Autobahn. 2017 (27.00, 33: 55min).

Web links

Commons : Wewelsburg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ralph Meyer: Wewelsburg is not the only triangle castle - three competitors in Germany. New Westphalian dated April 30, 2010.
  2. ↑ http://www.jugendherberge.de/de-de/jugendherbergen/wewelsburg386/portraet
  3. ^ Widukind von Corvey: Res gestae Saxonicae. The history of Saxony. Latin / German , Reclam, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-15-007699-4 , p. 55. - The etymological dictionaries also testify that in today's word “Hüne” = “Giant, tall, broad-shouldered man” both “Hunne” and "Hungarian" are included (cf. Duden 7, The dictionary of origin ).
  4. ↑ a b The Wewelsburg (history of the castle)
  5. ↑ Cf. on the building history Wulff E. Brebeck: The Wewelsburg. History and building at a glance . Munich / Berlin 2005, pp. 21–46.
  6. ↑ Information from the district museum in the Wewelsburg. Retrieved April 25, 2014 .
  7. ^ History of the Wewelsburg on rundfunk.evangelisch.de. Retrieved April 25, 2014 .
  8. ^ The burned-out Wewelsburg after the end of the SS rule, 1945. In: Westfälische Geschichte - a cooperation offer of the LWL Institute for Westphalian Regional History and the Westphalia Initiative Foundation ; old. URL: http://www.lwl.org/westfaelische-geschichte/portal/Internet/finde/langDatsatz.php?urlID=487&url_tabelle=tab_medien
  9. ↑ Jan Erik Schulte : On the history of the SS. Narrative tradition and research status , p. XX. In: Jan Erik Schulte, 2009, pp. XI – XXXV.
  10. ↑ Karl Hüser, 1987, p. 8 f.
  11. ↑ Michael H. Kater, 2006, p. 27.
  12. ^ Klaus Voigtländer: The collegiate church of St. Servatii in Quedlinburg . Berlin 1989, p. 38.
  13. ↑ Voigtländer, 1989, p. 38.
  14. ↑ How far the contact went, however, shows Katrin Himmler, Himmler's great-niece, in her book The Brothers Himmler. A German family history (Frankfurt 2007): Himmler's lover Hedwig Potthast spoke of Himmler in the family circle after the war only as "King Heinrich" (p. 265).
  15. ↑ At the Quedlinburg Heinrichsfeier on July 2, 1938, Himmler, along with eleven other cities, accepted Enger into the circle of "King Heinrich Cities", as reported by the Quedlinburger Kreisblatt on July 2, 1938.
  16. ↑ Hüser, 1987, p. 60; Jan Holger Kirsch: "We live in the age of the final confrontation with Christianity." - National Socialist projects for church renovations in Enger, Quedlinburg and Braunschweig . In: Widukind: Research on a Myth , ed. v. Stefan Brakensiek, Bielefeld 1997, pp. 33–93, here p. 59.
  17. ↑ Peter Padfield: Himmler: Reichsführer SS. Henry Holt, London and NY 1990, p. 248. (English; numerous new editions)
  18. ↑ Gerd Althoff : The Ottonians. Royal rule without a state , Stuttgart / Berlin / Cologne 2000, ISBN 3-17-015322-6 , p. 52.
  19. ↑ Michael Burleigh , 2002, p. 132 f.
  20. ↑ Friedrich Schneider : The more recent views of German historians on German imperial politics in the Middle Ages and the Ostpolitik associated with it, 4th edition, Weimar 1940, p. 92.
  21. ↑ Otto Höfler: The Germanic continuity problem . Writings of the Reich Institute for the History of the New Germany, Hamburg 1937.
  22. ↑ Cf. Hans-Walter Klewitz: The holy lance of Heinrich I. In: German Archive for the History of the Middle Ages, Vol. 6, Weimar 1943, pp. 42–58.
  23. ↑ See the various drafts between 1941 and 1944 in Hüser, 1987, pp. 292, 294 f. and back folder.
  24. ^ Daniela Siepe: The role of the Wewelsburg in fantastic literature, in esotericism and right-wing extremism after 1945 . In: Schulte, 2009, pp. 488-510.
  25. ↑ Jan Erik Schulte, 2009, pp. 6-10.
  26. ^ Albert Brackmann: Crisis and construction in Eastern Europe. A picture of world history . Ahnenerbe-Verlag, Berlin 1939, p. 16 ff. - Josef Otto Plassmann , member of Himmler's personal staff, secretary of the “Ahnenerbe” magazine “Germanien” and Heinrich researcher, also completed his habilitation in 1943 with a thesis on the Saxon emperors who were named after Walther Wüst "[should] help to realize the intentions of the Reichsführer SS in a way and strength that could not be imagined more impressively" (Michael H. Kater, 2006, p. 135).
  27. ↑ Bradley Smith, Agnes Peterson (ed.): Heinrich Himmler. Secret speeches from 1933 to 1945 and other speeches. With an introduction by Joachim Fest , Berlin 1974, p. 174: “I would like to say a few words on the question of imperial authority and go into the famous old chapter that we have been dealing with in Germany since the time of King Henry I, that is for 1000 years, deal with: Reich and Länder, Reich and Gaue, Reich and Provinces. ... There must be a clear imperial authority, otherwise the big tasks, especially in war, cannot be solved. Otherwise we would not be able to build up the even larger empire beyond Greater Germany, namely the Germanic Empire, whose borders I believe - now do not consider me a crazy optimist - will one day be on the Urals. "
  28. ↑ "The drive to the east , initiated by the murderous acts of Margrave Gero among the Elbe Slavs, [was] the beginning of Hitlerism", it was said for example in 1948. (See: Andreas Lawaty : The end of Prussia from a Polish perspective. On the continuity of negative effects of Prussian history on German-Polish relations . de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1985, p. 189 f.)
  29. ↑ Julian Strube: The invention of esoteric National Socialism under the sign of the black sun . In: Zeitschrift für Religionswissenschaft 20/2, 2012, pp. 223–268.