Saturday, April 23rd 2016

Walk in the Woods at Wolfsschanze 

1.5 hours east of Olsztyn is the Wolf's Lair

Where Hitler spent 800 days with his field commanders

Planning and plotting

Walked down a woodsy path and found a bunker

It looked like a pile of concrete and rubble

We were missing the explanations, the details 

Returned to the parking lot and found a guide speaking English, Polish, German and Russian 

Paid 60 zlotys ($15) for a 90 minute tour

There's a bunker back there - hard to see

Wolf's Lair was built in a marshy swamp with a big lake to the east (towards Russia)

It was heavily camouflaged and controlled. Over 2,000 lived/worked here in 1944

This is where Col von Stauffenberg (played by Tom Cruise in the movie Valkyrie) tried to assassinate Hitler

Hitler's bunker is one of many
- 8 meters of concrete on top
- Layer of loose rock to absorb shockwaves
- Another 4 meters of concrete.
- Sitting on 8 meters of concrete flooring

Germans tried to blow up the bunkers. The Russians arrived and tried to do the same.

You aren't supposed to go inside but everyone does.

There are pieces strewn about, splits and cracks in the ones standing, protruding iron reinforcement rods, loose stone, brick and tile among the bunkers, barracks, and other buildings. It's a broken city succumbing to the forest.









Our guide provided a running commentary as we walked. He teaches mathematics at a technical school.









Wolfsschanze is most frequently visited by Poles, Germans, Russians and a smaller combination of Lithuanians, Estonians and Brits. "Not many Americans, our guide said, "It's too distant."

People have placed hundreds of sticks under this huge piece of bunker roof over the years. No one knows why it hasn't fallen. Maybe it's the sticks.

It wasn't a normal walk in the woods.