Wolf's Lair

Historic Site in Warsaw

CC BY-SA 3.0 / dr. avishai teicher

The Wolf’s Lair (German Wolfsschanze; Polish Wilczy Szaniec) was Adolf Hitler’s main military headquarters on the Eastern Front during World War II, situated in dense Masurian forests near Gierłoż, approximately 8 km east of Kętrzyn. Built between 1940 and 1941, the 6.5 km² complex comprised around 80 structures, including bunkers with steel-reinforced concrete walls up to 7 m thick, barracks, power generators, a railway station, airstrips, even cinemas, cinemas, tea rooms, and living quarters for over 2,000 staff—including Hitler, Göring, Himmler, and other high-ranking officials.

The site is best known as the location of the July 20, 1944 assassination attempt against Hitler, led by Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg. A bomb was planted in a conference room, but due to an oak table shifting the blast away from Hitler, he survived with minor injuries, though several officers died. Shortly thereafter, the Nazi command realized the site was compromised. As Soviet forces advanced in January 1945, the complex was partially demolished by the retreating Germans—though many heavy bunkers remained intact due to their massive construction.

Today, Wolf’s Lair is a poignant historical monument and visitor site, open to the public and drawing nearly 300,000 visitors annually. Managed since 2017 by the Polish state forestry authority, the site now features new interpretive signage, a documentary theater, and multimedia guides to replace former entertainment-focused attractions like paintball and uniform photo ops—efforts made to maintain the place’s solemnity and historical accuracy.

Ruinous and overgrown, many of the surviving bunkers and shelters are being reclaimed by nature—covered in moss, lichen, and vegetation—and offer a striking elemental image of history’s decay. In recent years, archaeological investigations unearthed human remains beneath Hermann Göring’s former residence: five skeletons—including a baby—missing hands and feet, with no clothing or artifacts, leading to ongoing investigations into their origins.

The Wolf's Lair appears in our Complete Guide to Visiting Warsaw!

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