Members of Hitler’s chief of staff made an unsuccessful attempt on his life at the Wolf’s Lair on July 20, 1944.
Polish prosecutors have ended an investigation into human skeletons found at a site where German dictator Adolf Hitler and other Nazi leaders spent time during World War II because their advanced decay made it impossible to determine the cause of death, a spokesperson said Monday.
The remains were found on 24 February at Wolf’s Lair, which served as Hitler’s chief headquarters for the Eastern Front from 1941-44 when Poland was occupied by Germany.
Hidden in deep woods, the compound consisting of about 200 Nazi bunkers and military barracks was the site of the failed assassination attempt on Hitler by Colonel Claus Stauffenberg on July 20, 1944. The site is now a tourist attraction.
The spokesman for the prosecutor’s office in the nearby town of Kętrzyn, Daniel Brodowski, said police officers secured the remains after they were found by a local group, Latebra, which searches for historical objects.
A forensic medical expert examined them under the supervision of the prosecutor’s office, which was trying to determine if manslaughter had occurred. Brodowski said in a statement that the investigation was discontinued in late March due to a lack of evidence that a crime had been committed.
“The expert stated that the preserved bone remains were of human origin and came from at least four people, three of whom were most likely middle-aged men, and the fourth was a child several years of age whose sex cannot be determined,” Brodowski wrote.
But due to advanced decay of the remains, it was no longer possible to determine the cause of death, he said, noting that at least several dozen years had passed.
The investigation didn’t address who the people might have been due to the conditions of the remains and the passage of time.
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