Deep inside the Masurian woods, the ruins of the Wolf’s Lair are an architecture document of the scale of Hitler’s infamous delusions of omnipotence. The headquarters was located near the village of Görlitz (now Gierłoż), about 8 kilometres east of the town of Rastenburg (now Kętrzyn), in present-day Poland. The central complex and the Führer’s bunker were surrounded by three security zones guarded by two Schutzstaffel (SS) units.
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. The 20 July Plot, an assassination attempt against Hitler, took place at the Wolf’s Lair on 20 July 1944. 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 3+1⁄2-year period. 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 8,000 kg of TNT. 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 was liberated farther south.