The Black Madonna 27: Sonnenrad

The ideological center of the SS was at Wewelsburg castle in North Rhine-Westphalia. The organization was very interested in esoteric concepts and mysticism and it is believed that the castle still holds many secrets. One of them is in the Obergruppenführer hall, a room held up by twelve columns and with a dark sun symbol embedded in the floor.

It is said that the floor design was made on the request of Himmler based on an "old Aryan emblem". Each spoke of the sun wheel supposedly represents one "knight" of the ”Order of Death’s head”, the inner core of the SS.

Today the symbol is used by Neo-Nazis as an alternative to the, in many countries, outlawed swastika. Some believe that the black sun is a mystical source of energy, "capable of regenerating the Aryan race".