Going underground

We headed west from Oswiecim and into the night, finally stopping at a nice hotel at nearly 9pm. Thankfully this one took visa and had a restaurant so we settled in for the night.

Next morning we headed for the town of Gluszyca and into the Sowie Mountains to visit the one of the largest underground structures of the Third Reich. On the way we meandered through beatuful wooded glades and wound up the into the hills, passing a huge dam on the way.


The subterranean complex was started in November 1943, unfortunately no documents exist as to its purpose; maybe to house secret laboratories, for industry, experimental new weapons, or maybe underground headquarters for Hitler and his staff? Whatever the purpose it was not finished, but the scale of what was constructed is impressive. Many of the slave labourers from the nearby concentration camp at Gross-Rosen gave their lives in its construction.


They drilled parallel tunnels, one over the other, then break out the floor between them, and then broaden to the required width. A reinforced concrete lining was then cast for support. The biggest halls were 12m high by 10m wide, linked by corridors 4x4m. In total there are 8.5km of galleries (halls) and 60km of narrow gauge railway line to remove spoil. The complex included sewage systems, dams and locks and it is suspected that what has been discovered is only a small part of what was constructed and planned.



This information was gleaned from a small leaflet. Our guide did not speak any English, though he talked at great length in Polish, and the kids and I got a bit bored in places while he lectured the group before moving on to the next tunnel (Vanessa had chickened out, after I'd bought the tickets!).

One of the halls had electrical switch boxes on the wall and a pair of copper covered tables with ankle and wrist manacles and a quartet of electrodes where the head would be. Eeeek!


We had wanted to stay longer in Poland, and had found a site in the mountains which was next to the town Lido, the outside swimming pool. We found this big beastie.


Unfortunately we had threaded the regulator and jettisoned the Campingaz bottle at crap camp,and this camp had no cooking facilities, so we headed towards Germany. Shame, as southern Poland was very beautiful with helpful and friendly people and we didn't want to leave so soon.