Wolf's Lair — Attraction in gmina Kętrzyn

Wolfsschanze, translated, Wolf's Lair, is Adolf Hitler's military headquarters to prepare for Operation Barbarossa. Here, the famous July 20th Assassination Plot took place, most popularly depicted in the movie: Valkyrie.

At the entrance of the ruins, you will be immediately greeted with the remains of a bunker, a wall which has camouflage running around it. Visitors get to feel and see first hand how the camouflage worked, and this is only a sneak peek at what was about to come up.

While most of the place is destroyed, ruins of these bunkers still immerse visitors in the life in here. Walking through the forest you'll get to see remains of the attempts taken to camouflage the place, wires running through from tree to tree. Some bunkers remain partially intact, and entering them is a worthwhile opportunity. Cold and dark, it is what remains of what used to be a properly lighted facility.

The building that is most intact is the office, a room once filled with typewriters and administrative workers used to be with wiring on the roofs remaining.

Of course the most famous event that took place here was the Assassination Plot taken by Claus von Stauffenberg. Apart from being on the site of the attempt, a detailed sign explaining the event and the aftermath is all you get, if you do not have a guide.

Guides are well conversed in both English and Polish, very clear and fluent. What's more, some guides have a few tricks up their sleeves, such as knowing the location of where some special remains of the bunker lay which are not shown to the general public.

Overall the place is an attraction worth visiting. Experience how Hitler and his men walked around what used to be,...

Go earlier in the morning, as it can get crowded with long queues in the afternoon. Having a real live guide is worth it, and the cost can be shared with other tourists. 4 others from Denmark joined us, making it well worth it to hire Marcin, who was an excellent guide, with great knowledge and humour. The tour takes about 90 minutes, opening your eyes to a history of WW2 that most are unaware of. I had studied the war and worked as a guide in Warsaw, but learned much that was new. The location is well preserved, considering that it was destroyed by the Germans when they retreated. You can go inside some of the ruins. Here you will learn things about Hitler that will surprise you, and German operations that affected the war that were directed from here. Set aside at least 2 hours, don't rush and bring comfortable shoes. For PLN20 we bought a guide book, map and reference written by our guide and his father, and got it...

Always a great walk full of history and this time also cats. We got an English speaking guide who walked us through almost all of the area.

All over a great tour, however as for me I found it very inappropriate to rant on about current Germany and compare it to "back in the days" as I lived in Germany for most of my life. Give minus from my side about that one. My partner from the UK did not understand some of the tour as the guides English was not the best. Plus I felt like we've been forced to buy a paper tour guide afterwards which got signed by the guide and is full of pictures of himself in different places lol

All over it was fun, after the guide dropped the political critics about theEU and Germany. I'm glad the place is kind of open and not you can actually walk into some parts of the bunkers srill.

If you go there, also go to Memerki, where the intact bunkers are...