31. Jul 2025

Jezioro Kruklin - Gierłoz

Photo 1: This evening would be the only one this week were I would sleep in my tent. I had no idea where I would be doing that, just that there was a camping symbol in my hiking app with the name Wolf's Lair. Now I know...

Photo 2: I took a different path leaving Kruklanki than the St. James Way. This one was one of those where I wondered why it is not the official St. James route. It was very good to walk, away from the road, went through the woods and fields, along waterways a passed this blown up bridge. It was once a vital connector between Kruklanki and Giżycko. In 1918 during World War I the Germans blew it up to keep the Soviet troops from advancing. After the war the railroad bridge was rebuilt. Then towards the end of World War II, the Germans were preparing to blow it up again when the war ended. The explosives were removed, but one load was overlooked. In December 1945 the locals blew up the bridge themselves with the overlooked explosives in the hope to prevent Russian troops from coming and looting. The blown up bridge is one of the many scars of history that remind us of the tragedies and pain of the past.

Photo 3: I am always amazed how out of no where and all of a sudden there is a God-appointment. I was walking along a lake on a country road and went by a facility that is used for summer camps. These two instructors teach students among other things how to sail and do rescue swimming. They were taking a break to walk the dog Luca... I never did get the names of the two women. We talked and prayed. They offered me a cup of tea, but today was the third 40 km hike this week, and I needed to keep going.

Photo 4: This was another one of those "other" paths I took and was surprised to go up a hill and then see this beautiful field of sunflowers.

Photo 5: Now I know... The campground where I stayed this evening was part of the historical Wolf's Lair where Hitler had built a huge military fortress with bunkers that had concrete walls that were up to five meters thick. It was here that Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg made an assassination attemp on Hitler by placing a bomb under a table that went off during a military staff meeting on July 20, 1944 at 12:42 pm. My tent was probably within 200 meters of where that assassination attemp took place. This photo shows what remains of Hitler's bunker. He only lived in it for twelve days before going to the one in Berlin where he remained until his death at the end of the war.

I was very moved by what I saw and knew had taken place on these grounds, scars if history. After I finished my walk through the bunker ruins, I spoke briefly with a couple from Germany who were at the campground with a camper. I said that the bunkers were built to withstand airial bombings, but nothing that man builds will last forever. These ruins remind us that every politcal system that man has ever thought of, has ultimately failed. If God is not in the garden, death will come in and destroy it...

There is one other "scars of history" that I want to mention. In the Book of Revelations Jesus appears as the Lamb who was slain, and yet lives. We know from Jesus' talk with Thomas after Jesus rose from the dead, that his wounds from the crucifixion are still visible. These are the only scars from history that can truly heal the heart of man and the soul of a nation.