Several Nazi era bunkers, shelters and fortifications can still be found, and while the forests of Gdynia are particularly abundant with such concrete carbuncles one doesn’t haven’t to stray anywhere near that far. In central Gdańsk, for instance, head to C-3, Olejarna 2 to find a hulking big air raid shelter dating from 1943. Used as a climbing wall in recent years, its entrance is currently bolted closed.
In close proximity why not visit the U7 bowling alley (C-3 Plac Dominikański 7) . There’s a particularly sordid story behind this one; after the war German prisoners seconded into rubble clearance noticed a horrific stench emanating from the ground. When they broke through the entrances, which had collapsed under bombardment, they found it literally flooded with gunk. The air raid shelter, built below the water table, had flooded during shelling, and those trapped inside had been slowly drowned in the most agonizing way imaginable. The putrid soup in front of them was decomposing remains mixed with stagnant flood water.
Elsewhere, check out the Napoleonic hilltop forts on Gdańsk’s Grodzisko Hill (A-1/2, ul. Gradowa). Built 46 metres above sea level the views across the Gdańsk are awesome, and their strategic importance wasn’t lost on the Germans. Close up investigation is obstructed by fences and warning signs, though you can just about make up a concrete observation post installed at some stage during the war.