Side Trips

Hitler's "Wolf's Lair"

Hidden among the beautiful Mazurian Lakes is a fascinating and creepy place that you should certainly seek out if you're in the area. Near the little town of Ketrzyn, north of Mragowo, lies the bombed-out remains of Hitler's eastern command post, the Wolf's Lair ("Wolfschanze" in German, "Wilczy Szaniec" in Polish). It's best known as the site of a 1944 attempt on Hitler's life that nearly succeeded and might well have changed the course of history. The events provided the basis for the 2008 film Valkyrie, starring Tom Cruise.

The Wolf's Lair, in fact, was a large camp of reinforced-concrete bunkers, some with walls as thick as 8m (25 ft.). The top Nazi leadership, including Hitler and Hermann Goering, maintained their own personal bunkers. Additionally, there were bunkers for communications and troop commands, a train station, an airstrip, and even a casino bunker. Hitler was a frequent visitor to the Wolf's Lair from its initial construction in 1941 until 1944, when it was abandoned ahead of the Russian advance as the war drew to a close. In January 1945, the Germans dynamited the bunkers to prevent them from falling into enemy hands. This is what you see today. The bunkers have been preserved in their original "destroyed" state, and you're more or less free to walk among the jarring, jagged concrete ruins sitting incongruously amid beautiful forest.

The details of the assassination read like a spy thriller -- or, in fact, an action movie. The would-be assassin, an officer of aristocratic bearing named Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg, by 1944 had come to see the war as unwinnable. He and other like-minded officers believed that if Germany had any hope of avoiding total annihilation, Hitler had to be stopped. On July 20, 1944, Von Stauffenberg was dispatched to the Wolf's Lair to brief the Fuehrer and other top Nazi leaders on troop levels on the Eastern Front. He arrived at the meeting with a time bomb hidden in his briefcase. Just before the meeting started, he placed the briefcase near Hitler, activated the bomb, and immediately left the room. The resulting explosion eventually killed four people, but not Hitler. One of the generals had moved the briefcase just before it exploded, unwittingly saving the Fuehrer's life.

Von Stauffenberg quickly flew back to Berlin believing the assassination attempt had succeeded. Once Hitler recovered from his minor injuries, he ordered Von Stauffenberg's arrest and the rounding up of anyone and everyone who might have been involved in the plot. Von Stauffenberg was executed by firing squad later that night. The Nazis eventually arrested some 7,000 people on suspected involvement in the coup attempt, though many of these people had no prior knowledge of the plot and nothing to do it. In all, some 5,000 people were executed.

From Olsztyn you can get to the Wolf's Lair by taking a bus or train (about an hour in summer) to Ketrzyn, and then taking a bus from the combined bus/train station there 8km (5 miles) to the village of Gierloz. You can also take a taxi from Ketrzyn station to Gierloz. The fare will run about 30zl ($13/£8.10) one-way. If you're driving, follow the signs to Ketrzyn, picking up road 592 to the village of Gierloz, following the signs to Wilczy Szaniec.

Once there you can buy a map of the grounds for 6zl ($2.60/£1.60) and walk the red- and yellow-marked paths that connect the ruins. If you're interested in learning more of the history, hire a private guide. Guides start at around 50zl ($22/£13).

Admission to Wolf's Lair (tel. 089/752-44-29; www.wolfsschanze.home.pl) is 10zl ($4.35/£2.70), with parking costing 8zl ($3.50/£2.15). The site is open Tuesday through Sunday 9am to 6pm.

Oh, Give Me a Home, Where the Bison Still Roam . . .

Primeval forests and wild herds of bison in Poland? That's right. Those buffalo heads on the sides of bottles of Zubr beer and fifths of Zubrówka vodka are not just marketing ploys. Poland is home to Europe's largest surviving herd of ancient bison. As in North America, bison were once ubiquitous on the landscape of Europe, but through overhunting and habitat encroachment, their numbers were sharply reduced. Now it's estimated Europe's herd has no more than a thousand or so animals -- and many of them call Poland home.

You can see the bison at a remarkable national park that also holds some of Europe's last remaining parcels of primeval forest. The Bialowieza National Park (Bialowieski Park Narodowy; www.bpn.com.pl) covers some 1,000 sq. km (390 sq. miles) and since 1980 has been on the UNESCO list of World Natural Heritage Sites. In addition to around 250 head of bison, the park shelters large populations of deer, boar, elk, beaver, and wolf, as well as hundreds of species of birds and countless numbers of species of plant life. Something like 400 different types of lichen alone have been found in the park.

The park makes for a remarkable side trip. A separate nearby bison reserve, also has on display large populations of horses, boar, and deer, and is great for kids.

The center of the action is the village of Bialowieza, about 80km (50 miles) southeast of the industrial city of Bialystok. Here you'll find the main park office as well as several decent hotels and restaurants for an overnight stay.

While much of the park is open to the public, the more valuable areas of primeval forest are restricted and can only be visited with a registered guide. You can hire guides (about 170zl/$74/£46 per group of up to 20 people) at the main park office. It's usually possible to hook on to an existing group to lower costs. The tour, on foot, takes about 3 hours and covers 3km to 4km (about 2 miles) of ground (liberally interspersed with lively stories about the park's origins and animal and plant life). You can also enter the park via horse-drawn cart. Expect to pay around 150zl ($65/£40) for a cart that holds four people.

The forest at Bialowieza was known through the centuries as a prized hunting ground, and survived relatively intact for this very reason. It was a favored spot of the Polish and Russian nobility. The park had some rough years during World War II and immediately after, but appears to be thriving now.

The entrance to Park Palacowy is near the Best Western hotel in Bialowieza. For a guide, call tel. 085/682-97-00 (www.bpn.com.pl). The park is open Monday through Friday 8am to 4pm, and Saturday and Sunday 8am to 3pm.

The entrance to Rezerwat Pokazowy Zubrów (the bison reserve) is 4km (2 miles) from town along the road to Hajnówka. Hours are Tuesday to Sunday 9am to 5pm.