Nearly 20 years before the attack on Soviet Union in his book " mein kampf» Adolf Hitler formulated, among others, such important task, as a search for a "safe place for life in Russia and on its territory." Hitler had seven fortified headquarters: "Felsennest" (Nest in the rocks) - on the mountainous right bank of the Rhine, "Tanneberg" (Spruce Mountain) - in the mountain forests of the Black Forest, "Bear Hall" - three kilometers from Smolensk and others.
But the most powerful and largest shelter was built in a wooded and swampy region. East Prussia- near the then German-Soviet border, 8 kilometers northeast of Rastenburg - in a secluded, God-forgotten place, located away from the main roads. Local residents there could be counted on the fingers, and the safety of the Fuhrer was guarded not only by swamps, but also by rows of barbed wire, minefields, numerous guard posts and concrete bunkers with multi-meter ceilings. No wonder Hitler himself called his headquarters "Wolfschanze" - " wolf lair».
Who, how and why chose this place among the Masurian swamps and lakes, can only be said by Nazi astrologers who calculated this point on earth from the stars. In no other "nests", "gorges" and "tunnels" did Hitler feel as secure as in the "Wolfschanz", although his bunkers were not prepared for ground defense.
No one even thought that enemy troops could reach here, and therefore the personal bunkers of Adolf Hitler, Martin Bormann, Heinrich Himmler, Joseph Goebbels and Hermann Goering were interspersed with special air defense bunkers, from where quick-firing anti-aircraft guns and machine guns could cover the headquarters with a fire umbrella ... Inhabitants The "Wolf's Lair" was most afraid of the sky and air strikes, as evidenced by the sloping walls of the fortifications without embrasures, but with a huge multi-meter concrete coating.
E. Kochnev's article "Secrets of the Wolf's Lair" states that the construction of the "Wolfschanze" on "the borders adjacent to the front" began in the autumn of 1940, that is, shortly before the approval of the Barbarossa plan and the attack on the Soviet Union. Officially, the "Organization Todt" allegedly erected buildings here chemical plant"Askania", and only the Germans worked on the construction - 2000-3000 people. Already on initial stage construction, the “lair” was carefully camouflaged and protected, two airfields were being built near the headquarters at the same time - the main one (5 km to the south) and the spare one (directly on the Wolfschanze territory).
A. Hitler decided to move to the still unfinished "Wolf's Lair" immediately after the attack on the Soviet Union, feeling the increased danger for him, especially after the first bombing of Berlin. At the end of June 1941, following the Fuhrer, his generals with their headquarters began to arrive in the bunkers erected in the swamps near Rastenburg. So among pine forests an ominous and mysterious town arose, from where for more than three years the administration of the terrible war in the history of mankind. Here decisions were made about the fate of entire countries and peoples, the construction of new "death camps", the creation of super-powerful weapons mass destruction etc.
Almost the entire war, Hitler was in the "Wolfschanz", only occasionally coming to Berlin. All the time he lived in his bunker, leaving it only for walks, which he made with his sheepdog Blody along a narrow path laid between minefields. Occasionally, the Fuhrer allowed himself more distant walks around the neighborhood - to a villa on the shore of a picturesque lake located nearby, where he could spend several pleasant hours in the company of Eva Braun.
"Wolfschanze" was a complex of various buildings (about 80), located in a relatively small area. Among them - seven heavy bunkers, several medium and dozens of light ones, called "barracks". A single-track road ran along the stake from the Görlitz railway station. The "barracks" were one-story concrete buildings with a flat roof and windows that were closed with steel shutters. The dimensions of these buildings are simply colossal: length and width - 30-50 meters, wall thickness - 4-6 meters, ceilings - 6-8 meters, and in Hitler's bunker it reached 10-12 meters.
Inside, all rooms were finished with wood, and the ceilings were reinforced with protective armor plates. The roofs of heavy bunkers were provided with shallow edges to aviation bombs"jumped" away from them. Landed directly in front of the bunkers huge trees, and grass was sown on the roofs, which was supposed to serve as a natural disguise.
by the most large building"Wolfschanze" was, of course, Hitler's bunker, which had U-shape. Its foundation, unlike other objects, went to a depth of 6 meters. From the facade of the bunker there were two entrance doors leading to a long transverse corridor, from which there were passages to two conference rooms with an area of 150-200 square meters. FROM right side a one-story concrete building of the kitchen adjoined it, on the left - a kennel.
Hitler moved into a heavy bunker after a failed assassination attempt on him and ordered a bedroom to be equipped in one of the halls. It was a room without natural light - dark and gloomy, with bare walls and a steel ceiling. It contained a bed, a desk and several chairs. The bunker of Imperial Marshal Hermann Goering was located a few dozen meters from railway and was more modest: it had only one conference room, but its wooden decoration was distinguished by the special luxury that could be afforded here.
None of the generals liked to come to Wolfschanz, and everyone tried to visit there less often. higher ranks The Third Reich was brought here by plane, and they had no idea what area they were in. locals they also did not suspect that a few kilometers away was the "Wolf's Lair", in which the Fuhrer sat out almost without a break. He himself said: "This is one of the few places in Europe where I can work freely and safely."
In the mid-1990s, I visited these places Russian writer N. Cherkashin with his brother. In the middle of the clearing, they saw gaping hatches and concrete steps clinging to the walls... A cramped half-filled corridor leads to Hitler's bunker, squeezed from all sides by multi-ton blocks. At the end of it was a hall, similar to the burial chamber in the pyramids of the Egyptian pharaohs. It was dangerous to make our way further, as blocks hung overhead on the bars of reinforcement, which were raised by explosions into the air ...
N. Cherkashin in his story also cites the story of the engineer-surveyor Otto Renz, associated with the Wolfschanze, although he was in these places only once, and then after the war, as an ordinary tourist. As a child, this German youth dreamed of becoming an orientalist and was always interested in historical homeland his mother (Kyakhta), but his father wanted to see his son only as an engineer, a man with a secure future. Therefore, he insisted that Otto go to study at the Berlin Higher School road transport. In the end, both agreed on a compromise: the son would be an engineer, but in the field of geodesy and cartography.
As a student at the Berlin high school road transport, Otto still studied books on the East and visited the only Buddhist shrine in Berlin Buddisherhaus, arranged in a private estate in Fronau (in the north of the German capital). Here an old Tibetan monk taught him the art of meditation and then helped him make the journey to Tibet that Otto Renz had always dreamed of.
Adolf Hitler also visited the same idol several times, but even before he became Reich Chancellor. The Guru then predicted that he would win the elections to the Reichstag with an accuracy of one vote. And the Fuhrer then favored Buddisherhaus and its inhabitants.
On one of his visits to the shrine in the spring of 1940, Otto Renz met Himmler (SS Reichsführer) there, sitting in an orange robe thrown over a black uniform. Renz was offered to go to Tibet and there to make a geodetic survey - to take a plan of one "object", about which he would be informed on the spot.
Otto Renz underwent a special briefing, the Zeiss company made a portable theodolite directly for him, which was easily disassembled into separate parts. Moreover, the optical sight was inserted into an old spyglass, which looked so antediluvian that it could not arouse suspicion in anyone. The tripod, which was assembled from two crutches and a cane, was also skillfully disguised. O. Renz was given documents in the name of a citizen of Manchukuo - a traveling salesman of one of the Harbin firms, who was heading to the deep regions of the country. The Guru of Buddhischerhaus provided him with a safe-conduct addressed to the spiritual leaders of Tibet, whom Otto could count on in times of need.
The purpose of O. Renz's journey was the high-mountainous monastery "Protected by Heaven", which took 11 days to climb. The monastery opened with a short chain of crude buildings with sloping walls. Only the gilded top of the main temple shone dazzlingly in the deep blue sky - so rarefied that it seemed as if the blackness of the cosmic abyss appeared through it. It is hard to imagine that all construction material for the construction of the monastery was brought from below, from the valleys. Rather, it seemed that all the monastic buildings and temples were lowered from heaven in finished form.
In this part of Tibet, they idolized Tsongkhava, the founder of a new direction - the "path of virtue", also known as the "path of the yellow hats". In the vicinity of the monastery, they revered the traces of the saint left in the stone - his finger, elbow and foot. And in the monastery they worshiped the most important relic - the heart of Tsongkhava, which was a large piece of basalt. It was kept in the main temple (dugan), around which, in a certain mystical order, were sume - small chapels. Dugan and one of the sumes were surrounded by a hiking trail that repeated the shape of the heart of Tsongkhava. It was believed that if a person walked around the temple along this path 3333 times, he would be forever freed from heart disease.
Returning to Berlin, Otto Renz gave the plan of the monastery "Guarded by Heaven" to the guru of Buddhischerhaus. Here the story is interrupted by more than 20 years, during which Otto's life was rich in other adventures. And in the 1960s, he really came to Poland as a tourist, and when he saw the plan of Hitler's main headquarters on the information board, he was shocked. Almost one to one, this plan repeated that drawing of it, which was made in Tibet.
The plan of many Tibetan monasteries (and even individual temples) is based on a symbolic drawing of the world structure - the so-called "Mandala" principle. The mutual arrangement of temples, shrines and cells symbolizes the inseparability of the central single essence with the multiplicity generated by it.
Mandala ("circle", "disk", "round", "circular", etc.) is one of the main sacred symbols in Buddhism. The most universal is the interpretation of the Mandala as a model of the Universe, assuming that the outer circle designates the entire Universe as a whole, outlines its boundaries and limits in the spatial plan.
A square is inscribed in the outer circle, the sides of which model the spatial coordinates of the Universe, the entry points of which into the inhabited world deserve special attention and protection. The inner 8-petal circle (yantra) inscribed in a square symbolizes the feminine principle, the childbearing womb, inside which is often placed a vajra - a sign of the masculine principle. Ratio geometric symbols in the center of the Mandala is enhanced by a ritual and mythological motif: the invoked deity descends from heaven to the very center of the Mandala, marked by a lotus, where it performs an act that brings fertility, abundance and success. In Tibet and Mongolia, the Mandala is often seen as the dwelling place of a deity or deities...
That is how the Wolfschanz's bunkers were laid out: they all face north, like altars in Tibetan temples. Hitler's bunker (dugan) and Bormann's house (sume) were surrounded by a path that had the shape of a heart. The bunkers of Himmler, Goering, Goebbels, Mine were located exactly in accordance with the location of the small temples of the Tibetan monastery. Thus, it turns out that the plan taken by Otto Renz formed the basis of the Wolfschanze being built, and the secondary buildings (bunkers for guests, representative offices of various branches of the military) were already built outside the scheme of Otto Renz, but also had magical significance.
The Fuhrer was assured that the "Wolfschanze" was inaccessible to aviation, since it was located in a transformed space, that is, it was raised above the ground to the level of the high-mountainous monastery "Protected by Heaven." That's why everything enemy aircraft they fly not over the bunkers, but under them: and indeed, not a single bomb fell over the Wolf's Lair during the entire war.
The intelligence of the allied armies (American, Russian and English) could not establish where the main headquarters of Hitler was located. The Fuhrer left his "lair" in November 1944, when the troops of the 2nd and 3rd Belorussian fronts had already come close to the borders of East Prussia. After High Command The Third Reich left for Berlin, the bunkers were occupied by the headquarters of the 4th Army of General Hossbach, but he did not have to sit here for long. Mid-January 1945 Soviet troops moved west, and the Germans had to flee from here in a panic and hastily cover their tracks.
The Nazis themselves blew up their bunkers. A sapper battalion came here, and on January 24, thunderous explosions thundered in the empty shelters, waking up the inhabitants of nearby villages. But even powerful TNT charges could not completely crush the reinforced concrete monoliths. One of the walls of Hitler's bunker is frozen in eternal fall, and tourists prop it up with logs, which has become almost a ritual.
For a long time it was believed that under the bunkers there were cellars 8-12 meters deep, which stored important archives of the Third Reich and even jewelry taken from the East, including the famous Amber Room. However, there have never been any flooded dungeons here, and legends about high-rise underground bunkers with power plants, subways, warehouses and hiding places, they remained nothing more than legends. And how could the Nazis leave something important and valuable there if they were evacuated with German accuracy - systematically and slowly. Although the inhabitants of the Wolfschanze were hiding, they did not burrow too deeply into the ground, because they were afraid only of the sky ...
To get into this gloomy and mystical, but at the same time extremely interesting place I dreamed for a long time. Do you remember the primitive American action films with a kind of "center of evil", a huge global center with a bunch of computers, huge monitors and a map of the world, where everything in the world is regulated from? Here, in the north-east of Poland, among the most beautiful lake region, surrounded by rivers and forests, is located the very "center of evil". Only not cinematic, but absolutely real. From 1940 to 1944, on a territory of several thousand square kilometers, the Nazis erected about 10 massive complexes, each consisting of many dozens of bunkers that go many levels underground, airfields, defense lines, minefields, see below. exact coordinates places on Wikimapia. The largest of these complexes is the so-called "Wolf's Lair", Hitler's headquarters, which consisted of 80 (!) Bunkers scattered over an area of 20 hectares. Here Hitler was from June 26, 1941 until 1944 and led the actions on Eastern Front. Leaving the headquarters and retreating, the Germans blew up the object with tens of thousands of tons of dynamite. This place is also known for the fact that on July 20, 1944, a unsuccessful attempt on Hitler -
I want to immediately warn all romantics that you will not be able to feel like stalkers and discoverers of gloomy catacombs. I'm not talking so much about the Wolf's Lair, but about this fortified area in general, even a few tens of kilometers from Hitler's headquarters. Everything is a little bit interesting objects have long been "captured" by local businessmen from tourism, who partially ennobled the objects, in some places turned them into mediocre props (trade in souvenirs, a shooting range, restaurants, cafes, etc.) and charged money from those entering for every step.
These same figures brazenly concreted and blocked everything where it was possible to get through without paying money. Sometimes, having found an object of interest to you on the map, you will already meet a collector of money for the entrance near the objects. What are they taking money for? It's not always obvious. So that the failure does not fail, apparently. Sometimes you can bypass the tax collectors, and sometimes they are on duty right next to the object. And if avoiding the parking fee is not so difficult (park nearby), then getting into the bunker without paying is already more difficult. On average, the cost of visiting each of the sites varies from 10 to 15 zlotys (1 euro = 4 zlotys).
A small memorial plaque in honor of Colonel Klaus von Stauffenberg, who made an attempt on Hitler and was subsequently shot "for treason" along with 5,000 other Wehrmacht officers (including the commander of the German African Corps, Erwin Rommel), who took part in a conspiracy against the Fuhrer -
Memorial plaque in honor of the Polish sappers who died during the clearance of about 54,000 mines laid by the Germans around the Wolf's Lair -
And we go further, to the town of Mamerki (Mauerwald), where another fortified area is located. By the way, pay attention to these roads, laid down by the Germans in the late 30s. See the exact coordinates of the object on Wikimapia -
Located about 20 km north of the Wolf's Lair, this fortified area was the headquarters of such famous German commanders as Paulus, Guderian, Rommel and the aforementioned Von Stauffenberg. Foreign guests stayed in these bunkers, for example Benito Mussolini, Karl Mannerheim (remember the Finnish Mannerheim line?) and others. In 1944, the headquarters was evacuated and partially destroyed by the retreating German troops -
And just a couple of hundred meters from the gloomy bunkers - the most beautiful lake Mamerki -
Whatever you say, but the roads built by the Germans have survived just the same in perfect condition, neither time (almost 70 years!), nor climate - nothing has power over them -
Having driven somewhere into the forest, we stumbled upon bunkers that have not yet been captured by tourism. But here too, active construction in progress infrastructure in the form of restaurants, hotels and ticket offices -
And these are the locks on the Masurian Canal -
We continue to move north, using the navigator to search for a number of obscure military fortifications. Alas, it was evening, getting dark, plus we almost ran into the border fence separating Poland and Kaliningrad region RF. Literally a kilometer from this place, on Russian side, the village of Krylovo is located Zheleznodorozhny district. It is noteworthy that with the Poles you can come close to the border fence, and on the Russian side they invented border zones and fined (rather robbed for bribes) for the very fact of being closer than 50 km to the border -
Some barns -
And lakes again
After spending the night in the wonderful town of Kętrzyn (former Rastenburg), about which the story will be later, we go to the town of Gerloz (Gierłoż, German Görlitz), where Hitler's headquarters was located during World War II.
In fact, Hitler had more than a dozen rates. In the picture below, the red dots indicate the rates in which the Fuhrer personally visited.
From the Wolf's Lair (Wolfsschanze / Wolfschanze), Hitler led military operations against the USSR. Here he spent more than 800 days from June 21, 1941 to November 20, 1944. Only for three and a half months from July 16 to October 31, 1942, the headquarters from the Wolf's Lair was transferred to the Werwolf bunker near Vinnitsa (Ukraine).
Like the headquarters ground forces Wehrmacht in, the headquarters in Wolfschanz was conceived to lead the fighting on the eastern front against the USSR. The construction of both complexes, which began in the spring of 1940, was entrusted to the secret organization of Fritz Todt. For cover, the object was posed as the chemical enterprise Chemische Werke Askania. The location of the headquarters in this particular place was determined by the proximity to the border of the USSR, the inaccessibility and deserted territory. In just four years, more than 80 different objects were erected on an area of 250 hectares. At its core, the Wolf's Lair is whole city with all the services and facilities necessary for life - an airfield, a railway station, power plants, a heating system, water supply and numerous economic and communication services.
The whole complex consisted of three zones, differing in the degree of protection. The most protected was the inner zone 1 (Sperrkreis I), where the headquarters complex and the bunkers of Hitler, Bormann, Goering, Dietrich (the press secretary of the NSDAP and the Imperial government) were located. Access to it was strictly limited and about 130 people had the right to be in it.
This photo, taken in June 1940 in Wolfschanz, shows the headquarters of the German command.
Bottom row from left to right: W. Brickner, O. Dietrich, W. Keitel, A. Hitler, A. Jodl, M. Bormann, N. von Below.
Middle row: K. Bodeschanz, R. Schmund, K. Wolf, T. Morel, R. Schulze.
In the second zone (Sperrkreis II) were located railroad station, meeting rooms, separate objects of the Wehrmacht command and the commandant's office. The third, outer, zone (Sperrkreis III) was a patrol zone and was limited by minefields 50-250 m wide along the outer perimeter.
The camouflage of the complex was given increased attention. Four times a year, in accordance with the season, the camouflage nets stretched over the entire complex changed. Aerial photography of Wolfschanze was carried out regularly to identify possible shortcomings in camouflage. objects A special system was developed for external lighting with special lanterns invisible from above. The outer camouflage of the bunkers was the same as in: algae and moss.
An amazing fact: during the entire existence of Wolfschanze, Allied aviation never made any serious bombardment of the complex. Although the construction of the bunker in which Hitler was supposed to be was not completed in the summer of 1944, it was vulnerable to heavy bombs.
There are facts that suggest that the exact location of the Wolf's Lair was known to the allies almost at the end of 1943. It is possible that the Soviet command also knew about the coordinates of the headquarters. At the end of July 1944, the troops of the Red Army were about 140 km east of Görlitz and a landing would be enough a large number paratroopers in order to seriously disrupt (if not completely destroy) the functioning of the rate. In 1944, there were a little more than 2,000 people at the headquarters, of which 300 were senior commanders, 1500 soldiers of the security battalion and 150 people of the intelligence and security service of the SS. But be that as it may, the Wolf's Lair was blown up by the Germans themselves on January 23-24, 1945. Our troops entered Wolfschanze without a fight on January 27th.
The demining of the complex was carried out by Polish sappers right up to 1956. In total, about 54,000 mines and over 200,000 munitions were cleared.
The thickness of the walls of the bunkers reached 8.5 m. The reinforced concrete of the walls is very similar to that used in the construction of the recently destroyed trestle bridge in Kaliningrad. Only in the Wolf's Lair everything is much stronger and more massive.
Remains of an anti-aircraft artillery bunker
When blown up, separate fragments of the walls of this bunker ended up in a fire pool
Remains of the walls of the officer's casino
Communication bunker. The telegraph was located here.
security bunker
Hitler was supposed to be in bunker No. 13 (I wonder if this number was assigned to the bunker during construction, or after, during the organization of the museum in the Wolf's Lair?)
Now in the former inner zone (Sperrkreis I) Wolfschanze there is a museum and the entrance to its territory is paid.
Entrance to the territory of Sperrkreis II is free. An old German paving stone passes through it, along which you can get to Gerlozh. Along the road there are the remains of several objects, access to which, in general, is not limited by anyone and nothing, except for the standard inscriptions about the need to comply with security measures.
Close to Wolfschanze, in addition to the complex
Wolfschanze (Wolf's Lair) - Hitler's central headquarters
Nearly 70 years ago died down last shots World War II, and over the captured Reichstag, the Soviet flag began to wave. Much water has flowed under the bridge since then: Germany has again become a strong power, forgetting about the plans for world domination, Europe has become accustomed to peaceful life. Only the concentration camps and the Fuhrer's headquarters, turned into sights of Poland, remind of the terrible pages military history. One of the most famous monuments past - Hitler's main headquarters "Wolfschanze" - is located in the Gerlozh forest, which is 8 km from Polish city Kentshin, formerly known as Rastenburg. The place where attacks on the USSR were planned, strategies for fighting on the Eastern Front were created, and the bloody denouement of the legendary Operation Valkyrie took place, today has become a museum open to the public all year round.
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History of the Wolfschanze.
In the summer of 1940, in the forests near Rastenburg, it deployed vigorous activity: on the closed area construction began on a command post to control Operation Barbarossa. grand construction, suggesting the creation of a whole military city of 80 structures, was disguised as the construction of a chemical plant: fortunately, a secluded place was chosen, and purchases were made through specially created fictitious companies. More than 20 thousand workers were involved in the construction, the Görtlitz railway station was expanded, reinforced structures were created that protected the buildings from bombs and fragmentation shells. Thanks to skillful camouflage, the impregnable bastion, surrounded by a minefield without the possibility of "easy clearance" and equipped with three security zones, looked more like a sanatorium for high officials. After three stages of construction, the Wolf's Lair was ready for use: more than 2,000 people lived and worked here.
Hitler spent over eight hundred days in the Wolfschanz from June 24, 1941: a good place not far from Soviet borders made it possible to draw up plans for expansion directly "on the ground". On July 20, 1944, at 12:42 p.m., in the premises of the zone of the highest secrecy, where the operational meeting of the Nazi command was held, a strong explosion. Despite the casualties among the headquarters command, Operation Valkyrie, planned by the Wehrmacht military, failed: by the will of fate, Hitler, who received many shrapnel wounds and shell shock, survived. Having fallen into depression and arranged a "witch hunt", the Fuhrer remained in the Wolfschanz until mid-November, and upon departure he ordered to mine the bunker. January 23, 1945 "Wolf's Lair" was blown up. When, a few days later, the troops of the Third Belorussian Front, only fragments scattered through the forest and thousands of mines buried in the ground reminded of Hitler's important headquarters. In 1958, when the perimeter, numbering 55 thousand shells, was nevertheless neutralized, the ruins of the Wolfschanze received the status of a Polish landmark open to the public.
Wolfschanze - landmark of Poland during the Second World War
What to look for in Wolfschanz.
The entrance to the museum "Wolf's Lair", located in the "First Zone", is located near railway platform station "Görlitz", which provided the delivery of high-ranking officials to the Fuhrer's bunker. The only fully preserved headquarters building that was not damaged by the explosion of 1945 is the accommodation for Wehrmacht officers, today used as a restaurant and hotel. Other objects of the complex are in a much worse, but quite recognizable condition.
Four Colossus Bunkers Nazi Germany were located on the territory of the main headquarters: the concrete blocks that served as shelters for Goering, Bormann, Keitel and the Fuhrer were fortified as much as possible. Like leaves of cabbage, the levels of protection of government premises followed one after another: behind the outer multi-meter layer of concrete there was a layer of gravel, after it - again five meters of concrete. In a huge-looking structure, only a small interior, and special wooden houses attached to the blocks were adapted for work. Six entrances led to the largest bunker that belonged to Hitler: its area around the outer perimeter was about 2500 sq.m.
The ruins of two guest bunkers serve a prime example competent camouflage: on the partially preserved roof, recesses are still visible, where bushes and grass were planted, and air defense systems were located at the corners of the structure. Little has been preserved of the office premises of the post office, the dining room and the office of stenographers - all internal structures were destroyed during the explosion. At the place where the fatal "Valkyrie" took place, memorial stone, as well as an information board with photographs. The remains of Nazi garages are also very interesting: somewhere under them, behind behind closed doors, hiding underground rooms. It is not customary to talk about them: according to official data, there were only ground structures in the Wolf's Lair. But that's what makes the mysteries of wartime interesting: who knows, perhaps secret archives were located here or diabolical plans were made.
What to see in the Wolfschanze district.
Not far from the Wolfschanze headquarters, there are other important sights of Poland: the headquarters of the ground forces, hiding under the name "object" Mauerwald "(Kentszyn), Himmler's headquarters, known as the object" Hochwald "(Pozezdra), the headquarters of the Air Force under code name“Robinson facility (Goldap), bunkers in Rosengarten and the castle of Heinrich von Lendorf (Steinort), a member of the conspiracy against the Nazis.
How to get to Wolfschanze.
Provincial roads pass through Kętrzyn: No. 591 from Mrągowo to Michalkowo, No. 592 from Bartoszyce to Giżycko, and No. 594 from Bishtynek to Kętrzyn. From Bartoszyce, Olsztyn and Gizhitsko to the railway station Kętrzyna, state and commercial trains leave every 1.5 hours. You can get directly to the Wolfschanze rate at public transport(stop Gerlozh) or during excursion program organized by the tourist offices of Kętrzyn. You can find out about the prices for the services of the Wolf's Lair museum on the website
In 1944 the group German officers made an assassination attempt on Hitler. The main executor, Claus von Stauffenberg, arrived at headquarters from Berlin on July 20 for a staff meeting. He had a briefcase with him, which contained explosives. He placed the briefcase next to Hitler and then went out to answer a prearranged phone call. Meanwhile, one of the officers, who was in the way of the briefcase, moved it to another place. As a result of the explosion, several people were injured or killed, but Hitler escaped serious injury. Von Stauffenberg and about 500 other people allegedly involved in the assassination were executed.
On January 24, 1945, when the Red Army was very close, the Germans blew up the headquarters, and most of bunkers was seriously damaged or completely destroyed. Nevertheless, you can still see huge concrete slabs, some up to 8.5 m thick, and crumpled reinforcement. All this looks especially impressive in winter under a thick layer of snow, and there are not so many tourists during this period.
Large map of the complex with marks on English language located at the entrance to the territory (Hitler's bunker was apparently assigned number 13 on purpose). Booklet (there are versions in English and German) , offering a self-guided tour of the bet, can be purchased at a kiosk in the parking lot. For 60zl you can hire a Russian-speaking guide.
Wilczy Szaniec; Tel: 89 752 4429; www.wolfsschanze.pl admission for adults/reduced 12/6zt; from 08.00 until dark.
