Visiting Wolf's Lair involves seeing the concrete and steel remnants of Hitler's bunker and the whole Wolfschanze camp in the Masurian Lake district of Poland.
In a beautiful green forest in northern Poland, just 8 kilometers east of the town of Ketrzyn, lies one of Hitler’s major bases during the second World War. What remains there today is a huge network of ruined concrete bunkers, plenty of towering green trees and a hotel that used to be an SS Barracks.

A Brief History of Wolf’s Lair

Hitler gave orders for the complex near Ketrzyn in mid 1940. He picked the Goerlitz forest in the Masurian Lake district because it was clear it would provide great camouflage. An existing train station was used and extended to accommodate the new demand, and the railway soon became exclusively for military use. At first, the bunkers and other buildings at Wolf’s Lair were built as wooden structures with some concrete covering, by 1944 many of the buildings were covered with roofs of concrete up to four meters thick.

Location of the Wolf's Lair in present-day borders

Hitler in fact spent 800 days at Wolf’s Lair between 1941 and 1944. It was also the location of the famous assassination attempt against Hitler when Colonel von Stauffenberg tried to explode a bomb hidden in a briefcase left near Hitler – but the attempt failed when the heavy wooden table protected Hitler.

Map of the complex Wolf’s Lair - Hitler’s Bunker in Poland

When the Russians advanced through Poland in 1944, the Nazis fled the complex but destroyed as much as possible first to avoid leaving something useful for the Red Army. As a result, most of the bunkers you can see today are in ruins – but in fact that makes it all the more interesting to see.

What to See at Wolf’s Lair

You can either experience Wolf’s Lair with the help of a local guide (they’re easy to locate in the car park area) or by doing a self-guided walk. Printed walking guides are available to buy at the shop next to the car park and you can then walk around at your own pace, examining each bunker and imagining who stayed there and what happened. The largest bunker you’ll see, of course, belonged to Hitler, but Göring had quite a decent house attached to his.

Mazurian Forest - Entrance to Wolf's Lair,
once filled with over 10,000 land mines

Although it’s quite a dark place to visit, especially when you reflect on the kinds of decisions and discussions that were made here, it is a fascinating and in some ways beautiful place to explore. Over the years trees, plants and mosses have grown over many parts of the concrete bunkers, although it’s possible to still walk inside some of them. As a combination of history and nature, it’s a memorable visit to make.