Wewelsburg museum lays bare the black heart of Himmler’s SS

Haunted castles really do exist. Take Wewelsburg in northern Germany, which holds a sinister fascination for midnight visitors. It is 65 years since the collapse of the Third Reich but the fortress, used as a spiritual hub by Heinrich Himmler’s SS officers, is still regularly broken into by Satanists who celebrate black masses in the crypt. Not to mention the neo-Nazis who sidle in to rub the occult symbol of the Black Sun set into the mosaic stones.

Now Wewelsburg wants to exorcise its ghosts: it has opened the world’s first permanent exhibition dedicated to the SS. The idea is to demystify the black-uniformed Nazi Praetorian guard and remove the macabre glamour that the SS holds for far-Right extremists.

And just in case neo-Nazis should want to purchase a ticket and pay tribute to their heroes, CCTV cameras have been installed in the 17th-century castle. “We reserve the right to throw people out,” said Heinz Koehler, senior manager at the castle. “We’re not going to have people coming here and performing the Hitler salute any more.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article7113508.ece

I love that!