The Wolf's Lair,Hitler's World War II secret bunker.Credit:Alamy
It's unnerving to stand at a location which was almost a turning point in history.
At my feet is a monument resembling the crumpled pages of an open book. One side is inscribed in Polish lettering,the other side in German. It marks the conference room where,on 20 July 1944,Claus von Stauffenberg attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler with a bomb.
The attempt,dramatically recreated in the Tom Cruise movieValkyrie,very nearly succeeded. If it hadn't been for a change of venue the bomb would have exploded inside a bunker,concentrating the blast,and the history of the Second World War would have been quite different.
The Wolf's Lair,Ketrzyn,Poland.Credit:Alamy
It's an incident worthy of reflection,magnified by the eerie nature of the complex within which the memorial stands. For this is the Wolf's Lair (Wilczy Szaniec in Polish,Wolfsschanze in German) in northeast Poland. It was Hitler's Russian Front headquarters,in which the German dictator lived for most of the period between 1941 and 1944.
This military base was built within a forest in what was then Germany,hidden by trees and camouflage netting. As the Soviet Union's army approached in late 1944,the order was given to demolish it with explosives. But the enormous concrete bunkers were so hefty,with two metre thick walls,they were merely left fractured and broken.
The result is a fascinating collection of shattered buildings scattered through the woods,in equal parts creepy and thought-provoking.
Bunker slab at the Wolf's Lair.
It's possible to wander the Wolf's Lair independently,but it's worth hiring an onsite guide to receive the full picture. My guide,Jadwiga Korowaj,is well versed in the history of this unusual attraction.