Many of you know Castle Wolfenstein from Wolfenstein 3D and Return to Castle Wolfenstein, but who of you knew that there was really an impressive castle used by the Nazis as an ideological centre? Well, as a matter of fact, there was one... or at least they had plans to turn one particular castle in Nordrein-Westfalen (Western Germany) into a place as huge and frightening as castle Wolfenstein. This Sunday I've been to the Wewelsburg southbound to Paderborn, some of you with soldiers as relatives who are/were positioned there might know the place. Heinrich Himmler chosed the decayed castle in 1933 as the ideological centre of the SS and wanted to make it the biggest and most important "school" of SS elites as well as creating an entire "SS-town" surrounding the castle in the shape of a javelin with the Wewelsburg being the very spearhead. All this only existed in the megalomaniac brains of Himmler and was never finished, only the castle had been restored by forced labourers of an extraly established CC in Wewelsburg (KL Niederhagen). The courtyard. It's not a very large castle. The interiors are being used as a youth hostel since 1950 (left on the picture) and partially occupied by a museum (about the people who once lived in the castle, the SS museum is located in a nearby-building and the north tower (right side of the picture)). Looks like a wall texture in RCTW A nice moat... but the sad history behind it is that forced labourers (jews, political enemies etc) had to use it as a stonepit to restore the North tower, and they built the underground "vault" which was dug 10m deep into massive stone. You are not allowed to take pictures inside the North tower, so here are some shots I found on the web: The vault ("Gruft" / engl. "crypt") The "Obergruppenführersaal" Note the ornamental swastikas in both pictures, looks like a place for dark rituals. It remains unknown what the actual purpose of both rooms was supposed to be, but due to gas pipes in the floor of the crypt one assumes the intention of an "eternal flame" for soldiers or killed members of the SS. It was probably thought to be a place for death watches or similar gatherings - let me tell you, it's one scary atmosphere down there. And it really felt like some obscure room in a Wolfenstein-game... The museum is very interesting as well, lots and lots of SS items, history of the Wewelsburg, the SS and their leaders, personal items etc. It's incredible how much "merchandise" there was made, no wonder there are so many collectors. That's the REAL castle Wolfenstein and I think it's really obvious what building inspired the makers once you see the pictures of the North tower and learn about the terrible idea that stood behind the castle. ps: And yes, I'm a history geek
Than you for sharing that. My "first" game (first I owned myself, not just played on my brothers systems) was the Dos Wolfenstein 3d. I love that game and seeing pictures of the real place was amazing.
Really cool. To be honest, I didn't know there was a real "Castle Wolfenstein". The first game to have that name was in fact Castle Wolfenstein on the Apple II: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Wolfenstein
