An unusual attraction, which I first learned about while looking at the vicinity of Zhytomyr on Google maps. Well, if a landmark is found, then it is necessary to go and see it.
Huiva in Zhytomyr region
From the center of Zhytomyr to Huiva is only 8 kilometers. The population of the village is 1635 according to the 2020 census and it is easily accessible by road to Berdychiv. It would seem that this is an ordinary Ukrainian quiet village, if it was not located there a sinister object of the Second World War – the headquarters of SS Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler and there were really sinister things happening here.
Himmler’s headquarters Hegewald near Zhytomyr
Hegewald means “Reserved Forest” in German. In the early 1930s, a military unit of the Red Army was located in the village. Barracks, capital headquarters and Officers’ House were built.
After the Germans captured Zhitomir and its surroundings, this part, and most importantly the forest behind it, was taken by one of the most dangerous and treacherous men of the Third Reich – Heinrich Himmler. Here, among the thickets of trees was built a whole complex – a command center with an area of 1.2 thousand square meters. m². In addition to Himmler, Hans Lammers, Minister of Health, and Joachim Ribbentrop, Minister of Foreign Affairs, were to be its masters.
The construction of the headquarters began on October 10, 1941, and was finished on July 1, 1942. The facility was built by Soviet prisoners of war, who were sent to camps or shot after the construction was completed, and the local residents were evicted to keep the buildings secret.
The area was camouflaged with greenery and fenced off with dozens of kilometers of barbed wire. There was everything – headquarters, barracks for soldiers, places for recreation and entertainment of officers. But the most remarkable thing was the underground bunkers, where you could not only hide from air raids and artillery, but also live for a long time, controlling the troops.
It was from here that Himmler plotted to depose his patron Hitler, and in the vicinity of the Gegwald they began to implement the Ost Plan – to evict the local population from the villages, replacing them with German colonists. And all this under the supervision of the cruel and inhuman Himmler.
The remnants of Himmler’s headquarters in Huiva
Now only two ground fortified entrances remain from the bunker. One with a free entrance near the Zhytomyr-Berdychiv highway. Now it is a concrete box with a wooden door for the entrance and a metal nest where the machine gunner sat.
The box has traces of the war – you can see how the steel was hit with bullets and the concrete was hit with shells. The box from the street is massive – the thickness of the walls and ceiling is 4.5 meters. But if you go inside, it’s a small space.
They say that this is not even an entrance to Himmler’s bunker, but a compressor room, through which air was supplied to the bunker. And the bunker itself could be accessed both from here and through a network of tunnels under the headquarters building.
In this compressor room there was a guard post, a machine gunner. To get here – through two massive steel doors, which are divided into two halves (otherwise very heavy). Here you can see the remnant of a thick cable that connected Himmler’s bunker and Hitler’s headquarters near Vinnitsa Werwolf.
This is where the entrance to the bunker itself is located. However, today it is firmly sealed – filled with earth and concreted. The Germans did it before retreating from here to keep their secrets. And so far no one has begun to discover them.
Hegewald now
In Soviet times, the remains of Himmler’s bunker were of no use to anyone. It seems that no one was interested in this place, and local residents kept preserves here, not even knowing what was hiding under their feet. And only in the early 1990s historians and researchers began to come here, and after them in the 2010s and to this day tourists and filmmakers come here to shoot feature and documentary films. Himmler’s grandson even came here, but he was not allowed to visit the site.
Surprisingly, the remnants of the military facility belong to a private person – also a former military officer of either the Soviet army or the Ukrainian army, who now does not live in the country.
Yes, this place is very popular, according to a local resident, there are many visitors and he is ready to conduct excursions without asking anything for it. Of course, it is necessary to offer to pay for the labor of the guide and he will not refuse the reward.