The narrow road through the Masurian countryside winds alongside shimmering lakes and mossy swamps. It passes through sleepy villages filled with steep-roofed houses that, even on a warm summer’s day, look ready for deepest winter.
This region of northeastern Poland is known for outdoor recreation. It’s a destination for hiking, horseback riding and other pursuits that thrive in clean air and boundless countryside. A peaceful escape.
Suddenly, the road dives into a thick forest. Birds chirp high in the branches of deciduous trees. The scene is bucolic, but the setting is deceptive.
An abandoned railway track appears first. Then, ruins begin to emerge from the foliage.
These peaceful country roads have led to somewhere dark: The Wolf’s Lair — a vast, secluded complex where Nazi leader Adolf Hitler planned major military campaigns of World War II, and where an assassination plot nearly altered the course of the war.
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