The mysterious RIESE project – one day trip
Every now and then I organize a field trip along the trail of the Mysterious Project RIESE. It is always a pleasure for me to show these top places already known throughout Poland and see the joy and excitement on the faces of my clients.
The RIESE project and the places associated with it have been attracting explorers and tourists to Lower Silesia for years. In the 1990s, selected objects carved in the rocks of the Sowie Mountains were made available for tourist traffic.
I have even more fun when I show tour participants places that are definitely less known, such as the railway tunnel under Mały Wołowiec or the RIESE prisoners’ cemetery in the village of Kolce – victims of hard labor who died while digging adits and other works.
What is the RIESE Project?
What is Project RIESE – is it Adolf Hitler’s super secret field headquarters? Underground ammunition factories or secret superweapons laboratories? What was the purpose of the facilities located in the Owl Mountains? How were they built? Who was involved in the planning? Did Hitler visit the construction site in the Owl Mountains?
I try to answer these basic questions during the trip. Of course, I also touch upon the terrible fate of concentration camp prisoners, whose slave labor was used for construction. I talk about numerous camps located in small towns in the Sowie Mountains and quote the memories of the most important witnesses of history, such as Hieronim Grębowicz, Abraham Keiser and a number of other people.
The Mysterious Project RIESE Tour Itinerary
Świdnica
The trip along the mysterious RIESE Project may start quite unexpectedly – in Świdnica. To start, we drink good coffee at the Red Baron Hotel or another cool place in Świdnica.
On one inconspicuous street there is a building that is probably the least known of all. The building that housed the so-called Schweidnitz 1 repeater during the war. I will of course tell you more about this building during the trip.
From Świdnica we head to the mountains, which is where the actual field trip begins.
Mały Wołowiec in the Wałbrzych Mountains
On the route we visit a disused railway tunnel carved in the rock in the second half of the 19th century. Mały Wołowiec is still the Wałbrzych Mountains. An interesting fact is that this tunnel and the second, active tunnel next to it, are the longest railway tunnels in Poland.
There are speculations related to the tunnel that it could have been prepared for the staging of the so-called special train Amerika (the name was later changed to Brandenburg), which Hitler used to travel throughout Europe during the war. An interesting fact is that a replica of the staff wagon from the Amerika train can be found at the Jedlinka Palace in Jedlina Zdrój (Jedlinka district).
The tunnel is also related to the topic of the so-called Rudiger – it may have been a codename for a specialist telephone exchange. A mysterious adit was found near the tunnels – it is currently inaccessible.
Jedlinka Palace
The next stop on the route is the Jedlinka Palace, where we tour the interior. It would be impossible to miss the building that served as the headquarters of the RIESE construction management – it housed, among other things, the offices of Director Mayer from the Todt Organisation.
In the next stage of the tour, the Stars of the day await us – the most famous RIESE objects – Osówka and Włodarz.
Osówka
It should be mentioned that it is believed that Osówka was to be the largest facility in the Owl Mountains. It is likely that it was planned for the Fuhrer of the Third Reich himself – Adolf Hitler – to stay there. It is the most advanced facility in terms of construction of all those located in the Owl Mountains.
We visit the underground using an extremely professionally prepared tourist route with audio-visual elements and excellent lighting of underground passages and stairs. We also see the remains of powerful crushers that were used to crush rock, which was taken away by tons during the drilling of the adit.
Włodarz
Włodarz offers us the longest tourist route available. It is no surprise that the most impressive part of the flooded adit, which you sail through by boat. This is probably the most spectacular part of the tour.
During the tour I show you a few more places that complete a day full of impressions and emotions among the beautiful, mysterious in their nature, densely covered with forest, Owl Mountains.
Contact and booking:
phone 579 159 869 | email: michallubowiczguide@gmail.com
Trip details:
