SIGHTSEEING
“Ideology and Terror of the SS”
An exhibition about the
perpetrators, victims
and bystanders in the
memorial museum of
Wewelsburg
Kirsten John-Stucke
Director of the Kreismuseum
Wewelsburg
T
he Wewelsburg is a Renaissance castle that was built at the beginning of the 17th
century on behalf of the Prince Bishops of Paderborn, located 20 km south-west of
Paderborn (North Rhine-Westphalia). The castle, in the trusteeship of the district
of Paderborn, houses a district museum with two historical departments: the “Historical
Museum of the Prince-Bishopric of Paderborn” which presents the history of the region
from the beginnings of human settlement to the end of the Prince-Bishopric of Paderborn
at the beginning of the 19th century and the “Wewelsburg Remembrance and Memorial
Museum 1933-1945,” with its permanent exhibition “Ideology and Terror of the SS”.
This exhibition was redesigned in 2010 and provides extensive information on both the
local activities of the Schutzstaffel (SS) in Wewelsburg and the general history of the
Schutzstaffel within the NSDAP. Simultaneously, the victims of SS violence in Wewelsburg
are commemorated at the location. Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler leased Wewelsburg
in 1934 and planned to extend the castle by adding a huge complex of buildings to
transform it into a centre of ideology and a location for the SS order’s sense of elitist self-
affirmation. For the construction work he used prisoners from the concentration camp set
up in the village especially for this purpose. Of the approximately 3,900 inmates, at least
1,285 died as a result of inhumane living conditions and abuse by the SS.
Due to its history, Wewelsburg Castle is regarded as being particularly suited for presenting
not only the crimes of the SS, but also the varied facets of the ideology and worldview as
well as the historical narrative of the criminal organisation of National Socialism. The
historic location of Wewelsburg is of particular importance in this regard - historical
culture and its mediation cannot be imagined without fixed spatial points. At a time when
virtual networks seem to bring places and events in the world closer together, people search
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Observing Memories
ISSUE 2