The Wolf’s Lair Tours
David Irving’s guided tours of Hitler’s wartime headquarters and historic sites in Poland
For more than a decade, David Irving led week-long guided tours of Adolf Hitler’s wartime headquarters — the Wolfsschanze (“Wolf’s Lair”) at Rastenburg in East Prussia (now Kętrzyn, Poland) — and other historic sites across Poland and the Baltic states. These tours brought participants face to face with the bunker complexes where the war was directed, and with the sites of the Operation Reinhardt camps.
The Tour
Each tour started and ended in Warsaw, Poland, and lasted approximately one week. The itinerary covered some of the most significant sites of the Second World War:
- The Wolf’s Lair (Wolfsschanze) — Adolf Hitler’s main military headquarters from 1941 to 1944, a vast complex of bunkers and command buildings hidden in the Masurian forests of East Prussia
- Hochwald — SS Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler’s nearby field headquarters, less well-known and “very interesting, authentic, and not touristy”
- The German Army High Command (OKH) — The headquarters of the Army General Staff
- Operation Reinhardt sites — Including Treblinka, Sobibór, Bełżec, and Majdanek
An optional four-day extension took participants to Riga, Latvia, and through Lithuania, before joining the main tour in Warsaw.
Your Guide
David Irving — the author of Hitler’s War, the definitive biography drawn from primary sources — served as personal guide throughout each tour. Participants had direct access to his unrivalled knowledge of the sites and the events that took place there. As one guest wrote: “David is THE man! Of course he was the main reason to take this trip, so the more ‘David’, the better. Everybody could get close to him and ask him whatever they wanted.”
What Guests Wrote
“Hitler’s headquarters was the highlight of the tour!”
“I have to say that I have never had an experience quite like it before, and I mean that in a positive way. There was an excitement from the moment I landed at Warsaw to when I touched down in England. I have made some great friends and I think it’s one of those life experiences which I will dine out on for a very long time.”
“I would like to say what a fantastic time I had on the trip! What an interesting, friendly group of people from many differing educational and occupational backgrounds, all sharing a common interest. We all got on so well and genuinely enjoyed each others’ company.”
“I found the talks illuminating and greatly enjoyed David’s stories and anecdotes. All my questions were answered to my satisfaction.”
“[Himmler’s headquarters, ‘Hochwald’] was very interesting, authentic and not touristy!!”
“Overall the hotels were the perfect choice.”
“I loved that we had time for sightseeing and recreation on our own.”
“I especially enjoyed the opportunity to swim in a lake, something that I have never done before.”
Tour Brochure
