Wewelsburg - Carly Kutschbach

Wewelsburg Castle

Wewelsburg Castle

Today, was the most somber and serious day of the trip so far. We went to Wewelsburg Castle. This was the base for the Nazi SS Regime. It was the location that Hitler chose to use as a school for his SS officers. They use it now as a museum and memorial. It is important that we learn about the SS as well as the survivors; this is because it is the only way we can understand how such a thing as the holocaust could happen, as well as remember that the SS officers were not evil aliens but average men that entered the Nazi  regime as a simple step in their lives. 

Propaganda

We started by looking at the ideology and propaganda of the Nazis. They believed that the Aryan/German race was the superior race. They retold the history of Europe to make it seem that everything originated from the German tribes. They painted the picture of a perfect and peaceful world that had only German blood, people with blonde hair and blue eyes. They ranked people by their eye color, skin color, structure, and nationality. They blamed problems on those who did not fit the perfect aryan race. They blamed other races for "infecting" the aryan race. The Nazi plan was to purify Germany, and eventually all of Europe. 

It began by riding Germany of disabled people. Then it grew to any person who was not Catholic or Christian, homosexual, or against the Nazi regime- for any reason. 

Propaganda

However, what was special about this museum was its focus on the SS officers. We read on the lives of many officers. They all had different biographies, different lives, and different reasons to join the force. None of the reasons to join the force included being murderers. In the end, people blamed Hitler for it all. But was he the sole person to blame? Did he truly kill millions of people by himself? No. So the SS is blamed. However, can you blame only the SS officers? There were many forced behind Hitler that weren't only SS officers: gestapo and German police. We also have to look at the public, because in reality they were not ignorant to all that occurred; they watched the Jews and prisoners be marched to concentration camps, they saw the distraction and disappearance of neighbors. Still, we can't blame everyone. Because what happened was terrible, the Nazi regime as a whole is to blame. 

Prisoner Hat

Prisoner Uniform

SS Officer Uniform

It was surreal to look at real SS uniforms next to the uniforms of those in concentration camps. To look at the pins and jewelry of the men and women who belonged to or supported the Nazis. 

SS Officer Hat

But the most chilling part was the castle itself. The Nazis used it as the center for the SS, as I said before. They built the North tower for rituals. The ground floor was a dome shaped room made of stone. The center held an eternal flame and above was a Swastika. Now the flame has been removed and if you stand in the center and speak it is like surround sound, your voice blasts in your ears. Also, if you speak towards the wall, the sound travels across the room, directly to the other side of the room. It was chilling to stand there and hear the echoes of a million voices in a dark dome. The room directly above it was more formal looking. In the center of the floor was the "black sun" a symbol that was in the marble floor. It is unknown what the Nazis or SS used such rooms for. However, the symbols are so powerful that pictures are not allowed to be taken. We were told that current Nazis still visit the tower to worship the symbols and feel the power inside the rooms. They are not allowed to do this but it is hard to spot Nazis, especially because most of the symbols of the Nazi regime are illegal. 

Next, we went to the memorial part of the museum that focused on the concentration camp that was next to the castle. The prisoners of the camp were used to construct and fix the castle. The camp had an extremely high death rate of 1:3. We watched a film on the liberation of the camps; seeing the dead bodies as well as starving people cry as they were carried out and fed. There were interviews to listen to from the men that survived this camp. 

However, the camp does not still stand today. Two buildings that were apart of the camp have now been turned into houses that people currently live in and where the fire department stays. 

There is a memorial that has been placed. It is in the shape of a triangle, made by many small triangles to symbolize the triangles that the prisoners wore that labeled them. We placed flowers on the memorial and prayed. 

Concentration Camp Memorial

It was a very somber day, as we learned about such a mass genocide. We walked the floors that the Nazis did; as well as stood on the ground that the prisoners died on. It was all very surreal. But it is important to learn. So maybe one day we can learn from the past. 

I ask you all now to take a moment to pray for those who lost their lives on the ground we walked on, for all of the people killed by the Nazi regime all across the world. As well as the families and survivors. May God mend the souls of those that were destroyed by this terrible time, and the people who died rest in peace.