The Wolf's Lair (; ) was
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
's first
Eastern Front military headquarters in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.
The headquarters was located in the
Masuria
Masuria ( ; ; ) is an ethnographic and geographic region in northern and northeastern Poland, known for its 2,000 lakes. Masuria occupies much of the Masurian Lake District. Administratively, it is part of the Warmian–Masurian Voivodeship (ad ...
n woods, near the village of Görlitz (now
Gierłoż), about 8 kilometres (5 miles) east of the town of Rastenburg (now
Kętrzyn
Kętrzyn (, until 1946 ''Rastembork''; ) is a town in northeastern Poland with 27,478 inhabitants (2019). It is the capital of Kętrzyn County in the Warmian–Masurian Voivodeship.
The town is known for the surrounding Masurian Lakeland and num ...
), in present-day
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
. The central complex and the 's bunker were surrounded by three security zones guarded by two (SS) units: the and the .
The 's armored was held in readiness nearby but, as a part of the
German Army
The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (G ...
's elite
Division, was used to counter-attack
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
break-throughs in Army Group Centre's front and rescue cut-off Army,
Air Force
An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...
,
paratrooper
A paratrooper or military parachutist is a soldier trained to conduct military operations by parachuting directly into an area of operations, usually as part of a large airborne forces unit. Traditionally paratroopers fight only as light infa ...
, and SS armoured troops.
The
20 July plot
The 20 July plot, sometimes referred to as Operation Valkyrie, was a failed attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler, the chancellor and leader of Nazi Germany, and overthrow the Nazi regime on 20 July 1944. The plotters were part of the German r ...
, an assassination attempt against Hitler, took place at the Wolf's Lair on 20 July 1944.
Name
The name ''Wolfsschanze'' is derived from "Wolf", a nickname of Hitler used only by his close friends. "Wolf" was used in several titles of Hitler's
headquarters
Headquarters (often referred to as HQ) notes the location where most or all of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. The term is used in a wide variety of situations, including private sector corporations, non-profits, mil ...
throughout
occupied Europe
German-occupied Europe, or Nazi-occupied Europe, refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly militarily occupied and civil-occupied, including puppet states, by the (armed forces) and the government of Nazi Germany at ...
, such as
''Wolfsschlucht'' I and
II in Belgium and France, and ''
Werwolf
''Werwolf'' (, German for "werewolf") was a Nazi plan which began development in 1944, to create a resistance force which would operate behind enemy lines as the Allies advanced through Germany in parallel with the ''Wehrmacht'' fighting in ...
'' in
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
. The name
Adolf
Adolf (also spelt Adolph or Adolphe, Adolfo, and when Latinised Adolphus) is a given name with German origins.
The name is a compound derived from the Old High German ''Athalwolf'' (or ''Hadulf''), a composition of ''athal'', or ''adal'', mean ...
itself originates in Germanic ''Athalwolf'', "noble wolf".
Although the standard translation in English is "Wolf's Lair", a ''
Schanze'' in German denotes a
sconce,
redoubt
A redoubt (historically redout) is a Fortification, fort or fort system usually consisting of an enclosed defensive emplacement outside a larger fort, usually relying on Earthworks (engineering), earthworks, although some are constructed of ston ...
, or temporary fieldwork. The German translation for the lair of a wolf is ''Höhle'' (cave) or ''Bau'' (dwelling).
History
As part of the preparations for the coming
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...
, the decision was made in late 1940 to build a military headquarters for the ''
Führer
( , spelled ''Fuehrer'' when the umlaut is unavailable) is a German word meaning "leader" or " guide". As a political title, it is strongly associated with Adolf Hitler, the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. Hitler officially cal ...
'' in Eastern Europe, similar in concept to the ''
Felsennest'' in Western Europe. Like the ''Felsennest'', the new headquarters had to be as close to the front as possible, but far enough to be safe from enemy forces.
Eventually, a top-secret site was chosen in the middle of the Masurian woods, in what was then
East Prussia
East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...
, far from roads and urban areas, and accessible only by a single railway and small airstrip. To maintain secrecy, locals were told that the construction works were for a new cement factory. The
Organisation Todt
Organisation Todt (OT; ) was a Civil engineering, civil and military engineering organisation in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, named for its founder, Fritz Todt, an engineer and senior member of the Nazi Party. The organisation was responsible ...
completed construction of the entire complex by 21 June 1941.
Hitler first arrived at the headquarters on 24 June 1941, two days after ''Barbarossa'' commenced. At its peak, over 2,000 people lived and worked at the ''Wolf's Lair'', including food-tasters to sample Hitler's food before he ate it to guard him against being poisoned. Additional construction work began in mid-1944 to enlarge and reinforce many of the original buildings on the site on Hitler's orders, although the work was never completed because of the Red Army's rapid advance during the
Baltic Offensive.
Hitler left the ''Wolf's Lair'' for the final time in November 1944 after having spent over 800 days there, the longest he had stayed at any place over the course of the war, during a -year period.
Layout
The buildings within the complex were camouflaged with bushes, grass, and artificial trees on the flat roofs; netting was also erected between buildings and the surrounding forest so that the installation looked like unbroken dense woodland from the air. The site consisted of three concentric security zones.
*''Sperrkreis 1'' (Security Zone 1) was located at the heart of the Wolf's Lair, the perimeter was ringed by steel fencing and guarded by the SS ''
Reichssicherheitsdienst'' (RSD). Within the compound, security was managed by ''Dienststelle'' I (command I) from the ''
SS-Begleitkommando des Führers'' (FBK) which operated under the auspices of ''Obersturmbannführer''
Bruno Gesche. These were the only armed guards Hitler allowed to be near him. They never had to surrender their weapons and were never searched whereas the RSD were required to remain at positions some distance away from Hitler. The zone contained the Führer Bunker and ten other camouflaged bunkers built from
steel-reinforced concrete. These shelters protected members of Hitler's inner circle such as
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and philologist who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief Propaganda in Nazi Germany, propagandist for the Nazi Party, and ...
,
Martin Bormann
Martin Ludwig Bormann (17 June 1900 – 2 May 1945) was a German Nazi Party official and head of the Nazi Party Chancellery, private secretary to Adolf Hitler, and a war criminal. Bormann gained immense power by using his position as Hitler ...
,
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician, aviator, military leader, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which gov ...
,
Wilhelm Keitel
Wilhelm Bodewin Johann Gustav Keitel (; 22 September 188216 October 1946) was a German field marshal who held office as chief of the (OKW), the high command of Nazi Germany's armed forces, during World War II. He signed a number of criminal ...
, and
Alfred Jodl
Alfred Josef Ferdinand Jodl (; born Alfred Josef Baumgärtler; 10 May 1890 – 16 October 1946) was a German Wehrmacht Heer, Army ''Generaloberst'' (the rank was equal to a four-star full general) and War crime, war criminal, who served as th ...
. Hitler's accommodation was on the shaded northern side of the Führer Bunker. Both Hitler's and Keitel's bunkers had additional rooms where military conferences could be held.
[Kershaw 2000 p. 55]
*''Sperrkreis 2'' (Security Zone 2) surrounded the inner zone. The area housed the quarters of several Reich Ministers such as
Fritz Todt
Fritz Todt (; 4 September 1891 – 8 February 1942) was a German construction engineer and senior figure of the Nazi Party. He was the founder of '' Organisation Todt'' (OT), a military-engineering organisation that supplied German industry w ...
,
Albert Speer
Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer (; ; 19 March 1905 – 1 September 1981) was a German architect who served as Reich Ministry of Armaments and War Production, Minister of Armaments and War Production in Nazi Germany during most of W ...
, and
Joachim von Ribbentrop
Ulrich Friedrich-Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop (; 30 April 1893 – 16 October 1946) was a German Nazi politician and diplomat who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs (Germany), Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nazi Germany from 1938 to 1945. ...
. It also housed the quarters of the personnel who worked in the Wolf's Lair and the military barracks for the RSD.
*''Sperrkreis 3'' (Security Zone 3) was the heavily fortified outer security area which surrounded the two inner zones. It was defended by
land mine
A land mine, or landmine, is an explosive weapon often concealed under or camouflaged on the ground, and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets as they pass over or near it. Land mines are divided into two types: anti-tank mines, wh ...
s and the ''
Führerbegleitbrigade
The ''Führerbegleitbrigade'' (also spelt Führer-Begleit-Brigade; abbreviated FBB; ''Führer escort brigade'') was a German armoured brigade and later an armoured division (''Panzer-Führerbegleitdivision''), in World War II. It grew out of ...
'' (FBB), a special armoured security unit from ''
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...
'' which manned guardhouses, watchtowers, and checkpoints.
A facility for
Army headquarters was also located near the complex.
The FBK and RSD had responsibility for Hitler's personal security within the site, while external protection of the complex was provided by the FBB, which had become a regiment by July 1944. The FBB was equipped with tanks, anti-aircraft guns, and other heavy weapons. Any approaching aircraft could be detected up to from the site. Additional troops were also stationed about away.
Reinforcements
Hitler's secretary,
Traudl Junge, recalled that Hitler repeatedly spoke in late 1943 or early 1944 of a possible bomber attack on the ''Wolfsschanze'' by the Western
Allies
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...
. She quoted Hitler as saying, "They know ''exactly'' where we are, and sometime they're going to destroy everything here with carefully aimed bombs. I expect them to attack any day."
According to Speer, between 28 July 1941 and 20 March 1942, Hitler left Rastenburg only four times for a total of 57 days. Afterwards, Hitler spent the next three months in
Obersalzberg
Obersalzberg is a mountainside retreat situated above the market town of Berchtesgaden in Bavaria, Germany. Located about south-east of Munich, close to the border with Austria, it is best known as the site of Adolf Hitler's former mountain resi ...
before returning to Rastenburg for the next nine months.
Hitler's entourage returned to the ''Wolfsschanze'' from an extended summer stay at the
Berghof in July 1944. The previous small bunkers had been replaced by the
Organisation Todt
Organisation Todt (OT; ) was a Civil engineering, civil and military engineering organisation in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, named for its founder, Fritz Todt, an engineer and senior member of the Nazi Party. The organisation was responsible ...
with "heavy, colossal structures" of reinforced concrete as defense against the feared air attack. According to Armaments Minister
Albert Speer
Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer (; ; 19 March 1905 – 1 September 1981) was a German architect who served as Reich Ministry of Armaments and War Production, Minister of Armaments and War Production in Nazi Germany during most of W ...
, "some 36,000,000 marks were spent for bunkers in Rastenburg
olf's Lair"
[Speer, A: ''Inside the Third Reich'', p. 217]
Hitler's bunker had become the largest, "a positive fortress" containing "a maze of passages, rooms and halls." Junge wrote, "We had air-raid warnings every day" in the period between the
20 July assassination attempt and Hitler's final departure from the ''Wolfsschanze'' in November 1944, "but there was never more than a single aircraft circling over the forest, and no bombs were dropped. All the same, Hitler took the danger very seriously, and thought all these reconnaissance flights were in preparation for the big raid he was expecting."
No air attack ever came. It has never been revealed whether the Western Allies knew of the ''Wolfsschanze''s location and importance. The Soviet Union was unaware of both the location and the scale of the complex until the site was uncovered by its forces during their advance towards Berlin in early 1945.
Hitler's daily routine
Hitler would begin his day by taking a walk alone with his dog around 10 a.m. or so, and at 10:30 a.m. he looked at the mail that had been delivered by air or courier train. A noon situation briefing would be convened, either in Keitel's or Jodl's bunker, and frequently ran for two hours. This was followed by lunch at 2 p.m. in the dining hall. Hitler invariably sat in the same seat between
Jodl and
Otto Dietrich, while
Keitel,
Martin Bormann
Martin Ludwig Bormann (17 June 1900 – 2 May 1945) was a German Nazi Party official and head of the Nazi Party Chancellery, private secretary to Adolf Hitler, and a war criminal. Bormann gained immense power by using his position as Hitler ...
, and Göring's adjutant General
Karl Bodenschatz sat opposite him.
After lunch, Hitler dealt with non-military matters for the remainder of the afternoon. Coffee was served around 5 p.m., followed by a second military briefing by Jodl at 6 p.m. Dinner could also last as long as two hours, beginning at 7:30 p.m., after which films were shown in the cinema. Hitler then retired to his private quarters where he gave monologues to his entourage till late, usually going to sleep around 3 or 4 a.m. Occasionally, Hitler and his entourage listened to
gramophone record
A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English) or a vinyl record (for later varieties only) is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The g ...
s of
Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...
symphonies, selections from
Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...
or other operas, or German
lieder
In the Western classical music tradition, ( , ; , ; ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German and Dutch, but among English and French speakers, is often used interchangea ...
.
Notable visitors
*
Ion Antonescu
Ion Antonescu (; ; – 1 June 1946) was a Romanian military officer and Mareșal (Romania), marshal who presided over two successive Romania during World War II, wartime dictatorships as Prime Minister of Romania, Prime Minister and ''Conduc� ...
– marshal of Romania
*
Boris III of Bulgaria
Boris III (; 28 August 1943), originally Boris Klemens Robert Maria Pius Ludwig Stanislaus Xaver (Boris Clement Robert Mary Pius Louis Stanislaus Xavier), was the Tsar of the Kingdom of Bulgaria from 1918 until his death in 1943.
The eldest son ...
– tsar of Bulgaria
*
Subhas Chandra Bose
Subhas Chandra Bose (23 January 1897 – 18 August 1945) was an Indian independence movement, Indian nationalist whose defiance of British raj, British authority in India made him a hero among many Indians, but his wartime alliances with ...
– national leader from India
*
Dobri Bozhilov – prime minister of Bulgaria in 1943–44
*
Galeazzo Ciano
Gian Galeazzo Ciano, 2nd Count of Cortellazzo and Buccari ( , ; 18 March 1903 – 11 January 1944), was an Italian diplomat and politician who served as Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Minister in the government of his father-in-law ...
(minister of foreign affairs) – Italy
*
Lajos Csatay von Csatai (general, ministry of war) – Hungary
*
Rashid Ali al-Gaylani (former prime minister) – Iraq
*
Italo Gariboldi
Italo Gariboldi (20 April 1879 – 3 February 1970) was an Italian senior officer in the Royal Army (''Regio Esercito'') before and during World War II. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross by German dictator Adolf Hitler for his l ...
(general) – Italy
*
Rodolfo Graziani
Rodolfo Graziani, 1st Marquis of Neghelli ( , ; 11 August 1882 – 11 January 1955), was an Italian military officer in the Kingdom of Italy's Royal Italian Army, Royal Army, primarily noted for his campaigns in Africa before and during World Wa ...
(marshal) – Italy
*
Miklós Horthy
Miklós Horthy de Nagybánya (18 June 1868 – 9 February 1957) was a Hungarian admiral and statesman who was the Regent of Hungary, regent of the Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946), Kingdom of Hungary Hungary between the World Wars, during the ...
(regent) – Hungary
*
Gusztáv Jány (general) – Hungary
*
Miklós Kállay (prime minister) – Hungary
*
Prince Kiril of Bulgaria (prince of Bulgaria and Preslav, tsar successor) – Bulgaria
*
Slavko Kvaternik
Slavko Kvaternik (25 August 1878 – 7 June 1947) was a Croatian military general and politician who was one of the founders of the ultranationalist Ustaše movement. Kvaternik was military commander and Minister of the Armed Forces ('' Domobrans ...
(commander and minister of armed forces) –
Croatia
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
*
Pierre Laval
Pierre Jean Marie Laval (; 28 June 1883 – 15 October 1945) was a French politician. He served as Prime Minister of France three times: 1931–1932 and 1935–1936 during the Third Republic (France), Third Republic, and 1942–1944 during Vich ...
(prime minister of Vichy regime) – France
*
Konstantin Lukash (general, chief of Staff of the Bulgarian Army) – Bulgaria
*
Fanni Luukkonen (army colonel, leader of the voluntary auxiliary organisation for women) – Finland
*
Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim
Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim (, 4 June 1867 – 27 January 1951) was a Finnish military commander, aristocrat, and statesman. He served as the military leader of the White Guard (Finland), Whites in the Finnish Civil War (1918), as List of ...
(military leader and statesman) – Finland
*
José Finat y Escrivá de Romaní (Conde de Mayalde, ambassador to
Third Reich
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...
) – Spain
*
Nikola Mihov (general, minister of war) – Bulgaria
*
José Moscardó Ituarte
José Moscardó e Ituarte, 1st Count of the Alcázar of Toledo, Grandee of Spain (26 October 1878 – 12 April 1956) was the military Governor of Toledo Province during the Spanish Civil War. He sided with the Nationalist army fighting the Rep ...
(general) – Spain
*
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...
(prime minister) – Italy
*
Milan Nedić
Milan Nedić ( sr-Cyrl, Милан Недић; 2 September 1878 – 4 February 1946) was a Yugoslav and Serbian army general and politician who served as the Chief of the General Staff of the Royal Yugoslav Army and minister of war in the ...
– general and prime minister of
Serbia
, image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg
, national_motto =
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg
, national_anthem = ()
, image_map =
, map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...
*
Harald Öhquist – lieutenant general of Finland
*
Hiroshi Ōshima (general, ambassador to Third Reich) – Japan
*
Ante Pavelić
Ante Pavelić (; 14 July 1889 – 28 December 1959) was a Croatian politician who founded and headed the fascist ultranationalist organization known as the Ustaše in 1929 and was dictator of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), a fasc ...
– ''Poglavnik'' ("Head") of
Croatia
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
*
Jozef Tiso
Jozef Gašpar Tiso (, ; 13 October 1887 – 18 April 1947) was a Slovaks, Slovak politician and Catholic priest who served as president of the Slovak Republic (1939–1945), First Slovak Republic, a client state of Nazi Germany during World War ...
– Roman Catholic priest and President of Slovakia
*
Cemil Cahit Toydemir – (general) – Turkey
Assassination attempt
On Thursday 20 July 1944 an attempt was made to kill Hitler at the Wolf's Lair. It was organized by a group of acting and retired army officers, as well as some civilians, who wanted to remove Hitler and establish a new democratic government in Germany that would negotiate a peaceful end to the war with the Allies before Germany's inevitable defeat, which had become apparent to both sides by then. However, the main challenge facing the conspirators was that Hitler's habit of last-minute changes to his schedule had led to the failure of attempts by others to kill him.
Eventually, the conspirators chose the Wolf's Lair as a viable location to target Hitler because it was the only place where they were sure they could get close enough to kill him. Staff officer Colonel
Claus von Stauffenberg
Claus Philipp Maria Justinian Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg (; 15 November 1907 – 21 July 1944) was a German army officer who is best known for his failed attempt on 20 July 1944 to assassinate Adolf Hitler at the Wolf's Lair, part of Op ...
volunteered to carry a bomb hidden in a briefcase into one of the daily military briefings usually held in the bunkers, in the hope that the heavy reinforcements of the bunkers could be turned against the through the shockwave of the blast reverberating off the heavily reinforced walls of the room and certainly killing him.
However, on the day of the planned assassination, the location of the meeting was unexpectedly changed to a light brick hut due to Hitler's complaints about the immense heat within the bunkers that day. This change in venue, along with other factors, such as Hitler unexpectedly calling the meeting earlier than anticipated, would contribute to the eventual failure of the plot. Despite this change in plans, Stauffenberg went ahead with carrying out the plot. He carried the briefcase containing the bomb into the conference hut, making a request to be placed close to Hitler on grounds that he had trouble hearing due to his
injuries
Injury is physiological damage to the living tissue of any organism, whether in humans, in other animals, or in plants.
Injuries can be caused in many ways, including mechanically with penetration by sharp objects such as teeth or with b ...
sustained while fighting in North Africa, which would ensure that the bomb would be close enough to Hitler to be effective.
The bomb exploded at precisely 12:42 p.m., with Stauffenberg having excused himself from the meeting a few minutes before. The interior of the building was devastated, four officers were injured and would later die of their wounds but Hitler was only slightly injured. This was due to the fact that one of the other officers present at the meeting had, for his own comfort, moved the briefcase from where it had been put by Stauffenberg close to Hitler and placed it against one of the legs of the solid oak table being used for the meeting. Consequently, the thick, heavy table absorbed most of the blast and this, along with the collapse of some of the hut's thin walls thus dissipating the shockwave, saved the 's life.
Even before the bomb detonated, Stauffenberg and his adjutant, Lieutenant
Werner von Haeften
Werner Karl Otto Theodor von Haeften (9 October 1908 – 21 July 1944) was an Oberleutnant in the Wehrmacht who took part in the military-based conspiracy against Adolf Hitler known as the 20 July plot.
Early life
Haeften and his brother Hans B ...
, had already begun their departure for
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
where they planned to take control of the country alongside their fellow conspirators. Their escape involved passing through various security zones that controlled all access around the site. After a short delay at the RSD guard post just outside 1, they were allowed to leave by vehicle. The two officers were then driven down the southern exit road towards the military airstrip near Rastenburg.
The alarm had been raised by the time they reached the guardhouse at the perimeter of 2. According to the official
RSHA
The Reich Security Main Office ( , RSHA) was an organization under Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacity as ''Chef der Deutschen Polizei'' (Chief of German Police) and , the head of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS). The organization's stat ...
report, "at first, the guard refused passage until Stauffenberg persuaded him to contact the adjutant to the compound commander who then finally authorized clearance". It was between here and the final checkpoint of 3 that Haeften tossed another briefcase from the car containing an unused second bomb. The two men reached the outer limit of the security zones and were allowed to catch their plane back to
army general headquarters in Berlin.
The attempted assassination was derived from
Operation Valkyrie
Operation Valkyrie () was a German World War II emergency Continuity of government, continuity-of-government operations plan issued to the Replacement Army, Territorial Reserve Army of Germany to implement in the event of a general breakdown in n ...
, a covert plan officially sanctioned by Hitler for the
Reserve Army to take control and suppress any revolt in the country in the event of his untimely death, which the conspirators adapted to suit their purpose. Unfortunately for the conspirators, news soon arrived from the Wolf's Lair that Hitler was still alive. Upon hearing from Propaganda Minister
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and philologist who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief Propaganda in Nazi Germany, propagandist for the Nazi Party, and ...
that Hitler was indeed alive, as well as speaking to the himself, Major
Otto Ernst Remer, in command of the Reserve Army's troops in Berlin still loyal to the regime, was fully convinced of Hitler's survival and he quickly re-established control of key government buildings and arrested the conspirators.
That same evening, Stauffenberg and his co-conspirators were summarily executed by gunshot outside the in Berlin.
On 20 August 1944, Hitler personally presented survivors of the bomb blast with a "20 July 1944
Wound Badge
The Wound Badge () was a German military decoration first promulgated by Wilhelm II, German Emperor on 3 March 1918, which was first awarded to soldiers of the Imperial German Army, German Army who were wounded during World War I. Between the worl ...
". Next-of-kin of those killed in the blast were also given this award.
Destruction and capture
The
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
reached the borders of
East Prussia
East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...
during the
Baltic offensive in October 1944. Hitler departed from the Wolf's Lair for the final time on
Monday, 20 November 1944, when the Soviet advance reached Angerburg (now
Węgorzewo
Węgorzewo (until 1946 ; ) is a tourist town on the Angrapa River in northeastern Poland, within the historical region of Masuria. It is the seat of Węgorzewo County in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship and is located not far from the border ...
), away. Two days later, the order was given to destroy the complex.
The demolition took place on the night of 24–25 January 1945, ten days after the start of the Red Army's
Vistula–Oder offensive. Tons of explosives were used; one bunker required an estimated of
TNT
Troponin T (shortened TnT or TropT) is a part of the troponin complex, which are proteins integral to the contraction of skeletal and heart muscles. They are expressed in skeletal and cardiac myocytes. Troponin T binds to tropomyosin and helps ...
. Most of the buildings were only partially destroyed due to their immense size and reinforced structures.
The Red Army captured the abandoned remains of the Wolf's Lair on 27 January without firing a shot, the same day that
Auschwitz
Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...
was
liberated farther south.
Historical site
Following the war, more than 54,000 land mines were removed from the area, together with abandoned ordnance, and the entire site was left to decay by
Poland's Communist government. Since the
fall of Communism
The revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, were a revolutionary wave of liberal democracy movements that resulted in the collapse of most Marxist–Leninist governments in the Eastern Bloc and other parts of the world. Th ...
in the early 1990s, the Wolf's Lair has been developed as a tourist attraction. Visitors can make day trips from
Warsaw
Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...
or
Gdańsk
Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...
. Hotels and restaurants have grown up near the site. Plans have periodically been proposed to restore the area, including the installation of historical exhibits.
As of 2019, the site was drawing almost 300,000 visitors a year. The Srokowo Forest District, which manages the site, announced renovation and restoration plans for the historic site, including new accommodation options, expanded historical exhibitions, and other upgrades to improve visitor experience. Critics worried that the planned changes could turn the site into a place for neo-Nazi pilgrimages, although the District's spokesperson said that they would "make every effort" to maintain "due seriousness and respect for historical truth". Pawel Machcewicz, a Polish historian who specializes in World War II, said, "
e scars left by the war should be preserved and presented as a lesson, a warning ... Exhibitions should explain the history, contextualise the place, but not completely overshadow it."
In February 2023, the Srokowo Forest District officials announced that the renovation of the site had begun and is slated to be completed by the end of 2024. The project will include expanding and renovating the hotel and restaurant building, adding a new conference room, redesigning the exhibition space, as well as constructing a new observation deck.
In 2024, archaeologists exploring the complex's former living quarters of
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician, aviator, military leader, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which gov ...
reported discovering five human skeletons (three adults, a teenager and a baby believed to be a family) missing their hands and feet and lacking any traces of clothing or personal objects buried under the brick residence.
Alongside each of the skeletons
thunderbolt stones ()—bullet-shaped fossils of extinct squid-like creatures called belemnoids—were found.
[Bill Yenne (2010). ''Hitler's Master of the Dark Arts: Himmler's Black Knights and the Occult Origins of the SS.'' Zenith Press. p. 69.]
See also
*
Führer Headquarters
The ''Führer'' Headquarters (), abbreviated FHQ, were a number of official headquarters used by the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and various other German commanders and officials throughout Europe during World War II.Raiber, Richard, ''Guide to Hi ...
* ''
Führerbunker
The () was an air raid shelter located near the Reich Chancellery in Berlin, Germany. It was part of a subterranean bunker complex constructed in two phases in 1936 and 1944. It was the last of the Führer Headquarters (''Führerhaupt ...
''
*
Führersonderzug
References
Bibliography
*
Junge, Traudl, ''"Bis Zur Letzten Stunde: Hitlers Sekretärin erzählt ihr Leben"'', München: Claassen, 2002, pp. 131, 141, 162.
*
Junge, Traudl, ''"Until the Final Hour: Hitler's Last Secretary"'', London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2003, pp. 116, 126, 145.
*
Junge, Traudl, ''"Voices from the Bunker"'', New York: G.P.Puttnam's sons, 1989.
*
*
Speer, Albert, ''"Inside the Third Reich"'', New York and Toronto: Macmillan, 1970, p. 217.
External links
Wolf's Lair website
{{Authority control
Buildings and structures in Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship
East Prussia in World War II
Führer Headquarters
Kętrzyn County
World War II sites in Poland
World War II sites of Nazi Germany