We are in Poland, a country near and far away at the same time. What adventures are waiting there? Today we are starting our tour on the Krutynia, the most beautiful paddling river in Europe. After the tour we*re now visiting one of the darkest places in whole Europe. Follow me under the surface into the ruins of Hitlers concrete castle Wolfs Lair. Were visiting Mauerwald and Hitlers headquarter Wolfsschanze today.
You can read the first part here, second here, 3 here and 4 here and the 5 here, 6 here and more here and here
It is supposed to be here somewhere, the legendary Amber Room. We are in the middle of Poland, far in the East, in an area contaminated by history. Here in the Mauerwald area, the German Wehrmacht High Command once directed the millions of soldiers marching to the East from a rieige bunker complex.
Not far away, Adolf Hitler had his headquarters, a bunker city he called "Wolfsschanze", polish: Wilczy Szaniec. Everything lies in ruins today. But they are impressive: Concrete castles under green nature, trees growing from stones and the time seems frozen.
The "Wall Forest"
Most recently, the Wall Forest in Mamerki, Masuria, made headlines with a new lead to the legendary Amber Room. Researchers had discovered clues that the Nazis might have hidden the unique treasure they looted in Russia on the grounds of the Mauerwald bunker complex in a previously unknown secret chamber. Misinformation, the stolen room was again not found. But the historically rich region around Ketrzyn (Rastenburg) attracted attention again.
Both the army headquarters and Hitler's concrete castles are gloomy places deep in the forest, from which the fascination of evil jumps out at the visitor. Every year, a few hundred thousand visitors come in search of the spooky thrill. We are there, walking along the same paths that the nazi mass murderers once walked.
A lots of mines
Surrounded by forests, lakes and lots of mines, Hitler and his command staff moved into bunkers with walls and ceilings made of meter-thick concrete more than 80 years ago. For 800 days, the dictator lived and ruled in this control center of terror; the bunkers, then still build with damp concrete, were home to the most powerful man in the world. From here he directed the campaign of extermination against the Soviet Union.
Here he ordered women and children in rebellious Warsaw to be shot and the city razed to the ground. And it was here that Stauffenberg's assassination attempt to free Germany from Nazi barbarism failed. As the Red Army approached in 1945, the Nazi leadership itself decided to blow up the quarter.
Bizarrely twistes ruins
What remained were ruins, some of them bizarrely twisted, that populate the forest like primeval creatures. Covered by lichen and moss, overgrown by grass and ferns. An unreal and eerie atmosphere, which one leaves hurriedly after two hours, also because of the mosquitoes.
The Wolfschanze (Wolfs Laird) was the largest of the so-called "Führer headquarters" during World War II. A place that was kept secret for a long time in the Nazi state and around which legends and rumors grew. A German place of fate.
The Mauerwald (Wall Forest) is less known and it is less visited, although it is only about 20 kilometers away. If the huge bunkers of the Wolfsschanze are a symbol of the megalomania of the National Socialists, Mauerwald, with its mossy concrete colosses scattered in the marshy forest, is a record of Hitler's insane decisions.
Hitles Mosquito hole
Thousands of people were forced to live here on his orders, a small town with health-threatening air, full of mosquitoes, dampness and confinement, called "Mückenloch" ("Mosquito hole") by its inhabitants. The generals of the German Wehrmacht unconditionally submitted to the demands of the "Fuehrer" in this respect as well: they moved into the isolation of barricade circles and bunkers, which were built with by the workers and construction machines from the bulding site "Masurian Canal", that was shuted downd before.
While Germany's cities slowly sank into rubble, tens of thousands of workers were employed here in the following years. Every man was replaced every six months and everyone allowed to work on only one construction section. The camouflage name of the alleged factory was "Chemische Werke Askania".
Walls, 10 meters thick
Seven massive bunkers with walls more than 10 meters thick were built, as well as countless light bunkers and residential buildings for more than 2000 officers and crews. At times, up to 6000 people lived here. Camouflage was provided by the workers of a gardening company. Camouflage nets, the facilities plastered with mortar, which was mixed with seaweed because of the structure, completed the perfect camouflage.
All this can still be seen today, because every blasting attempts failed. What remains are concrete giants, half collapsed, half still recognizable in their original form. The complex had a rail connection, two airports, three restricted areas, extensive mine belts and miles of barbed wire fences.
Only for air raids
Barracks served as living quarters, and the bunkers were only visited in the event of an air raid how Hitler it feared. Clearing the approximately 50,000 land mines buried around the site alone took more than 10 years, during which numerous sappers were injured and killed.
Hitler attracted all his paladins like a magnet. Himmler built his "Black Redoubt" (Hochwald) at some distance, Secretary of State Ernst von Weizsäcker took up residence in the lavishly renovated wing of Steinort Castle.
The black heart of the Nazi Empire
Until 1944, Hitler ruled his empire mainly from here, an he was staying even after the failed Stauffenberg attack. He did not leave Wolfsschanze until November 1944, when the Red Army broke through the 700-kilometer front of Army Group Center with "Operation Bagration." The dark chapter in the history of the actually so beautiful forests of Masuria has left behind indelible traces and images that no one who has seen them with their own eyes can forget.
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