Camel from Kyzylkum

During the time of the Cold War between East and West, the Soviet Union was closed off to outsiders. When the country entered a period of political “thaw,” and the flow of tourists to the USSR resumed after the war, they were offered tours of Moscow and Leningrad. Other major attractions included Crimea and Volga cruises. A small provincial city like Vinnitsa was not to be included in this tour list. What made Vinnitsa special and open to foreign tourists was one of Adolf Hitler’s secret bunkers, from which he and his generals monitored the Eastern Front during World War II. The bunker was built in 1941 and hidden in the pine forest. It was called the Wehrwolf, in reference to “wolf,” the translation of “Adolf,” Hitler’s first name. The bunker was built by Soviet prisoners of war, most of whom were shot dead and buried in a mass grave after construction was finished. There is an elaborate gilded monument to be found in the nearby village of Stryzhavka for the estimated 14,000 victims who were brutally shot.