- Type
- Castle
- Origins
- 1603 · 17th century per Wikidata: founding, first mention or construction
- Location
- North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
- Style
- Renaissance architecture
- Visiting
- probably – Wikidata lists it as a museum or gives tickets, opening hours or visitor numbers; check before you go
- Coordinates
- 51.6068°, 8.6514°
History
Dietrich von Fürstenberg, Prince-Bishop of Paderborn, built the castle between 1603 and 1609 on the site of an older stronghold, giving it an unusual triangular plan. Damaged in the Thirty Years' War, it was rebuilt, and in 1802 it passed to Prussia. In 1934 Heinrich Himmler took it over, intending to make it an ideological centre of the SS. Prisoners from the nearby Niederhagen concentration camp were forced to work on the conversion, and more than 1,200 of them died. In March 1945 the SS, on Himmler's orders, blew up and set fire to part of the castle, which was rebuilt after the war.
What to see
The castle with its three corner towers now houses the Paderborn district history museum and a youth hostel. The former guardhouse holds a memorial with the exhibition Ideology and Terror of the SS, which also commemorates the victims of the Niederhagen camp. In the north tower visitors can see the rooms fitted out by the SS, including the crypt and a hall with an ornament set in the floor, presented with historical context.
Wikipedia article Official website Wikidata Q637827
Popularity: articles about this site in 25 Wikimedia projects (Wikipedia language editions and others).