Skeletons without hands or feet have been discovered beneath the home of Nazi war criminal Hermann Goring in the sprawling bunker complex Adolf Hitler used as his headquarters during the Second World War.
Part of Hitler’s inner circle who went on to be the highest-ranking Nazi official tried at Nuremberg, Reichsmarschall Goring is responsible for some of the most heinous crimes against humanity in history.
His house in northeastern Poland was considered to have been thoroughly investigated, until a team of local researchers and amateur archaeologists set out to uncover a wooden floor in the concrete building.
German-Polish excavators went to the eerie site hoping to find some nails or other building materials, but instead they discovered something much darker.
The remains of three adults, a teenager and a baby were exposed in the excavation, each of whom appeared to have been buried naked and without hands or feet. An investigation has now been launched into their gruesome deaths.
Hermann Goring’s house in Wolf’s Lair. Adolf Hitler’s former war headquarters in Poland
Hermann Goring was the highest-ranking Nazi official tried for World War II war crimes at the Nuremberg tribunals.
Wolfsschanze, where Hitler’s bunker was located, is located in the northeastern region of Poland.
Goring (right) was part of Hitler’s inner circle and became the highest-ranking Nazi official tried at Nuremberg.
Located in the Masurian forests of northern Poland, the Wolf’s Lair was used as a base for Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union.
“We were completely shocked,” says Oktavian Bartoszewski, who has been working with the research association there for some years. Mirror reports.
It is unclear whether Goring’s residence in the building predates the deaths, and Bartoszewski claims that the bodies may have been dumped before the house was built in 1940.
He said the workers who laid the pipes would not have been able to miss the bodies if they had been there at the time, meaning Goring himself could have known about the deaths.
However, there are also theories that they could have been victims of a mass killing that occurred after the Nazi hideout was abandoned.
It is also unknown whether the victims’ bodies had their hands and feet amputated or whether their bones had decomposed over decades.
Piotrek Banaszkiewicz of the Latebra Foundation, who was involved in the discovery, said: “During the discovery of the first skeleton, as they moved from the ribs through the pelvis to the tibias, another skull unexpectedly appeared, surprising them.
Wolf’s Lair: It was from this secret complex in northern Poland that Hitler orchestrated some of his most terrifying campaigns on the Eastern Front.
Chilling images show the reinforced bunker overrun by foliage and moss, but its imposing structure still remains in place.
The site already attracts 300,000 tourists each year at a price of 15 zloty (£3.18), but organizers say they want to attract more visitors.
“This led police to decide to carry out a series of exploratory excavations to determine if there were more human remains beneath the ground.”
‘When the second skeleton was discovered, children’s remains appeared under the tibias.
‘The view surprised us. At first we thought they were animal bones and weren’t sure what we were dealing with until at one point a delicate skull emerged.
‘During the third exploratory excavation, additional remains were discovered. This time we came across the remains of an adult. All this happened at night.
‘After a moment of reflection, the phrase was uttered: ‘there is another.’ To the left of the last remains discovered, more remains of adolescents appeared.
‘The first set of remains was disposed in an unnatural manner; The spine was severely curved and the deformed skull with no visible eye socket and a displaced jaw suggests that the individual may have faced significant health problems during his life, although this could mean that the remains were displaced.
‘The jaw of the skull had worn teeth, indicating an older person.
‘Throughout the subsequent stages of the discovery of human remains, the police continually carried out documentation activities, recording what was observed and taking photographic documentation.
“After some time, a hearse arrived to collect the remains and transport them for examination.”
He added: “None of the skeletons had clothes; the bodies were buried without clothes.”
The prosecutor’s investigation is ongoing and its findings will be published in due course.
Located in the Masurian forests of northern Poland, tWolf’s Lair used to be a sprawling 618-acre complex.
It was used as Hitler’s temporary base during the years 1941-1943 and from here which launched a Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, known as Operation Barbarossa.
Reinforced bunkers at the site are now overrun by foliage and moss, but their structures still remain in place after their density made them difficult to tear down.
The complex called Wolf’s Lair (Wolfsschanze in German) was so named because Hitler often referred to himself as “the Wolf.”
The discovery of the bones at Goring’s house is potentially the most chilling since the site became a lurid tourist attraction in 1959.
Göring, one of Hitler’s right-hand men, held many positions of power and influence in the Nazi state.
He was Commander in Chief of the German Air Force, Director of the Four Year Plan of the German economy and a key force behind the Holocaust.
It was Goring who ordered Security Police chief Reinhard Heydrich to organize and coordinate a “total solution” to the “Jewish question” in 1941.
He was sentenced to death in Nuremberg before taking his own life the night before his execution.
