Pic shows: Hitler's headquarters, Wolf's Lair in Poland;
Bailiffs have seized control of the Wolf's Lair, Hitler's military headquarters on the Eastern Front during World War II.
The company managing the property, in the Masurian woods near the town of Ketrzyn - formerly called Rastenburg - in north-eastern Poland, had failed to comply with their contract with Poland's State Forests.
It had reportedly failed to pay rent due to the Government organisation and to properly cooperate with Poland's Ministry of Culture on its plans for the historic property.
Local forestry official Zenon Piotrowicz said: "We brought in bailiffs, with the help of the police and the security company, to take over the Wolf's Lair, and also the hotel rooms and restaurant located there."
The Wolf's Lair was Hitler's first Eastern Front military headquarters in WWII. It was built for the start of Operation Barbarossa - the invasion of the Soviet Union - in 1941.
The top secret, high security site lies five miles (eight kilometres) east of the small town of Ketrzyn. The Fuhrer's bunker was located in the heavily-guarded central complex.
Despite the security, the most notable assassination attempt against Hitler was made at the Wolf's Lair on 20th July 1944 by Claus von Stauffenberg and other conspirators.
The apparent purpose of the assassination attempt was to seize political control of Germany and its armed forces from the Nazi Party and to make peace with the western Allies.
Hitler first arrived at the Wolf's Lair on 23rd June 1941. In total, he spent more than 800 days there until his final departure on 20th November 1944.
In the summer of 1944, work began to enlarge and reinforce many of the Wolf's Lair original buildings but the work was never completed because of the rapid advance of the Red Army.
On 25th January 1945, the complex was blown up and abandoned 48 hours before the arrival of the Soviet forces.
Les autorités polonaises métamorphosent The Wolf’s Lair, le quartier général d’Adolf Hitler de 1941 à 1944 et le site où s’est déroulé une tentative d’assassinat contre le dirigeant nazi. Selon les critiques, l’endroit pourrait transformer le site en un “Disneyland” monstrueux attirant des néo-nazis “pèlerins”.
Le porte-parole du district forestier de Srokowo, Sebastian Trapik, a déclaré à la BBC que «tout serait mis en œuvre» pour maintenir «le sérieux et le respect de la vérité historique» au complexe dans le but d’attirer plus de touristes.
Près de 300 000 touristes visitent le complexe chaque année, principalement des Polonais et des Allemands.
Des rénovations et de nouvelles expositions sont prévues sur le site, ainsi que de meilleures installations, un hôtel et un restaurant.
Trapik a déclaré qu’il était prévu d’organiser des reconstitutions historiques sur le site à partir de cet été.
L’historien polonais de la guerre, Pawel Machcewicz, a déclaré à la BBC qu’inviter des acteurs en uniforme nazi sur le site serait «insensé et scandaleux», ajoutant que «les cicatrices laissées par la guerre devraient être préservées et présentées comme une leçon, un avertissement… Les expositions devraient expliquer la histoire, contextualiser la place, mais ne pas l’ombrager complètement. “
