The Dark Lord's castle

J.E. Schulte, Die SS, Himmler und die Wewelsburg, Schöningh, 2009

The history of the Vril Society is riddled with ancient castles set deep into the German and Austrian heartlands, where dark Aryan warlords and magicians attune themselves through occult techno-rituals to the distant rays of the Black Sun.

One of these is the castle of Wewelsburg at Paderborn, that was destined to become Himmler's Camelot', as one author has it. Many years ago I studied the seminal tome Wewelsburg 1933-1945, Kult- und Terrorstätte der SS by Dr. Karl Huser, that was published in the 1980's, and some related German language pamphlets released around the same time.

With some hesitation that is gradually overcome, a slowly swelling current of books concerning Himmler's Grail Castle is being released, among them this recent (it was published in january 2009) German language study Die SS, Himmler und die Wewelsburg by Jan E.Schulte. A browse on the link just demonstrates the wealth of German language studies in their strange and mysterious past.

One of the most important - if not paramount - assets needed is an excellent grasp of the German language, when studying the history and influence of the Vril Society. Schulte's 2009 compilation for instance has not been translated into any other language as far as I am aware. The book contains various contributions of academic scholars, as one German website has it, and a review of it reflects that attitude. The contents of Schulte's anthology are:

JAN ERIK SCHULTE: Zur Geschichte der SS. Erzähltraditionen und Forschungsstand.
JAN ERIK SCHULTE: Himmlers Wewelsburg und der Rassenkrieg. Eine historische Ortsbestimmung.
ARMIN NOLZEN: “…eine Art von Freimaurerei in der Partei“? Die SS als Gliederung der NSDAP, 1933-1945.
MICHAEL WILDT: Instrument einer neuen Ordnung. Das Reichssicherheitshauptamt als nationalsozialistische Institution.
RUTH BETTINA BIRN: Die SS – Ideologie und Herrschaftsausübung. Zur Frage der Inkorporierung von „Fremdvölkischen“.
MATTHIAS HAMBROCK: Dialektik der ›verfolgenden Unschuld‹. Überlegungen zu Mentalität und Funktion der SS.
MARTIN CÜPPERS: Waffen-SS und Judenmord. Der Kommandostab Reichsführer-SS 1941.
JAN ERIK SCHULTE: Initiative der Peripherie. Globocniks Siedlungsstützpunkte und die Entscheidung zum Bau des Vernichtungslagers Belzec.
CHRISTIAN JANSEN: Völkische und rassistische Tendenzen in den deutschen Wissenschaften 1900-1940.
MARKUS MOORS: Das „Reichshaus der SS-Gruppenführer“. Himmlers Pläne und Absichten in Wewelsburg.
MARKUS MOORS: „Die SS als geistiger Stosstrupp“? Dr. Hans-Peter des Coudres, Schulungsleiter der »SS-Schule Haus Wewelsburg« 1935-1939.
BEATE HERRING: Wilhelm Jordan. Der Archäologe auf der Wewelsburg.
FRANK HUISMANN: Wilhelm Jordan. Als Wissenschaftler im besetzten Osten.
MARKUS MOORS: Von der „SS-Schule Haus Wewelsburg“ zum „Kommandostab Reichsführer SS“. Rudi Bergmann und Bernhard Frank zwischen SS-Forschung und Vernichtungskrieg.
DINA VAN FAASSEN: Himmlers Wewelsburger Gemäldesammlung.
MARKUS LENIGER: Um-Siedlungen – Anspruch und Scheitern der SS-Siedlungspolitik.
NORBERT ELLERMANN: Erfahrungen im Umsiedlungslager der Volksdeutschen Mittelstelle in Wewelsburg von 1943-1945.
JENS-CHRISTIAN WAGNER: Konzentrationslager und Region. Die Lager und ihr gesellschaftliches Umfeld am Beispiel des KZ Mittelbau-Dora.
KIRSTEN JOHN-STUCKE: Die Zeugen Jehovas im Konzentrationslager in Wewelsburg und ihre Geheimdruckerei.
ANDREAS NEUWÖHNER: Radikalisierung und Expansion. Der Wandel der Häftlingsgesellschaft im Jahr 1942: Zwangsarbeiter aus Osteuropa als neue Häftlingsgruppe im KZ Niederhagen-Wewelsburg.
SABINE KRITTER: Briefe vom KZ-Dienst. Selbstbild und Motivationsstruktur eines SS-Wachkompanieführers des Konzentrationslagers in Wewelsburg.
DANA SCHLEGELMILCH: Mittendrin – oder nur dabei? Wewelsburger Blicke auf die SS-Zeit im Dorf.
KAROLA FINGS: Umgedeutete Vergangenheit. Erinnerungsdiskurse über Konzentrationslager.
KARSTEN WILKE: Geistige Regeneration der Schutzstaffel in der frühen Bundesrepublik? Die »Hilfsgemeinschaft auf Gegenseitigkeit der Angehörigen der ehemaligen Waffen-SS« (HIAG).
MICHAEL OKROY: „Nach 26 Jahren nun Mammutprozess gegen Polizisten.“ Die justitielle Aufarbeitung von NS-Verbrechen der Ordnungspolizei am Beispiel der Wuppertaler Bialystok-Verfahren.
WULFF E. BREBECK: Entstehung und Beseitigung von Mahnzeichen in Wewelsburg seit 1945. Zur konflikthaften Geschichte des öffentlichen Gedenkens an die KZ-Opfer.
DANIELA SIEPE: Die Rolle der Wewelsburg in der phantastischen Literatur, in Esoterik und Rechtsextremismus nach 1945.
JAN ERIK SCHULTE: Stärkemeldungen des Konzentrationslagers Niederhagen 1942/43. Ein Quellenfund aus dem britischen Nationalarchiv in Kew.
KIRSTEN JOHN-STUCKE: Häftlingskleidung des Wewelsburger „Restkommandos“. Symbol und historische Quelle zugleich.

The Vril Society documentary

Dark Fellowships: The Vril, aired on 29 September 2008

Sometime around June, 2008, I was contacted by a new York production company if I wanted to be interviewed for a documentary on the Vril Society, to be aired on Discovery Channel. The documentary is titled Dark Fellowships: The Vril and it was aired on U.S. TV on 29 September, 2008.

As any researcher and writer who has had their experience with film and TV companies, I was reluctant at first, knowing that no matter what you say, the outcome is decided on the cutting table, when all the filmed materials are put together to form a coherent whole. You are never there when this happens as your job is over. So at this crucial juncture, others decide what will remain of your statements, how these will be presented and in what context. For the interviewed participant it is always a matter of wait and see.

However, I found its producer sincere and seemingly honestly driven to explore the complex topic of the mysterious Vril Society the best way he could. As an added bonus, I was transported to Himmler's castle of Wewelsburg on a sunny day to be interviewed there. Since I was in the company of an American film team with the necessary clearance, was able to access parts of the castle that these days are strictly off limits, such as the infamous crypt and the hall above with the 'black sun' design in its marble floor.

My first impression of the castle was that it is much smaller than I thought it would be, if you have seen it only on pictures circulating on the net, or on TV. Another nice touch was the nearby inn, that was perfectly restored to its original appearance. This was undertaken in 1937, when the Third Reich was still an upcoming and very strong force. I noted the golden swastika and lizard motifs in the framework of the building, and while we ate an excellent meal there, pointed out all the various details constructed by Himmler's mystical visions to the film team.

The nearby concentration camp suffered a different fate; no trace of it remains.

my previous publications on the Vril Society

Free Energy Pioneer: John Worrell Keely, Illuminet Press, 1998

One of the questions often asked to me is, if I have written on the Vril Society in the past. Yes I have. The first time that I identified the Vril Society's real name appeared in my book on inventor John Keely, in the second part, titled 'The Secrets of Occult Technology'. This book was published in 1998. A Japanse translation was published in Japan in 2000. The U.S. edition was reprinted in 2004 and is still available.


The Japanese edition, Chu Art Publishing, 2000.

Those conversant in the French language find an updated status report on the Vril Society (in its entirety never published in the English language) published here, in the magnificent periodical La Gazette Forteénne, volume 2, 2003. I am honoured to feature in the same publication with luminaries as Ted Bloecher, Chris Aubeck, Michel Granger, Peter Brooksmith, Hilary Evans, Michel Meurger, Linda Cortile, Fabio Picasso, Jérôme Clarke and Scott Corrales.


Gazette Fortéenne, Vol. 2, L'Oeil du Sphinx, 2003

Lastly, in 2009 my paper 'The Occult Roots Of Nazi Technology' was published in Darklore volume 3. In this paper I focus on a host of pre world war German occult orders and esoterists, and their strange fascination with 'occult technology'. I developed this specific term in my 1998 book on Keely, to describe the various and many instances where avantgarde technological concepts and occult philosophy meet, oftentimes yielding a surprising array of mysterious machines and devices. Again I also briefly treat the Vril Society, providing it this time with a clear context. Such a mysterious group, after all, did not develop in a vacuum. Rather, pre world war II Germany was a hotbed of various secret societies, orders and groups, and it is important to recognize the sometimes subtle lines of influence that they had in regards to each other.


Darklore 3, Daily Grail Publishing, 2009.