This was published 7 years ago
Prora, Germany: Nazi holiday resort to be transformed into luxury tourist destination
By Hugh Morris
Prora, on the island of Ruegen on Germany's Baltic coast.Credit: Alamy
One of the biggest relics left behind by the Nazis is set to become a luxury – but controversial – tourist destination.
Prora, on the island of Ruegen on Germany's Baltic coast, was designed to house 20,000 tourists as part of Adolf Hitler's 'Strength Through Joy' programme, designed to keep the German nation healthy.
However, construction that began in 1936 was halted in 1943 due to the war and the eight concrete monoliths that line Ruegen's beautiful sandy beaches were left to ruin.
Prora was designed to house 20,000 tourists as part of Adolf Hitler's 'Strength Through Joy' programme.Credit: Alamy
Instead of being used to lure and indoctrinate sunseeking families, the resort was turned into a secret military barracks under East Germany's communist rulers.
Now, however, developers are slowly realising a dream to turn the resort into a summer success. After years of false starts, four of the uniform six-storey blocks are being developed (a fifth is being sold off by the local government, six and seven belong to a company in Liechtenstein, while the Soviets destroyed the eighth).
See also: Six reasons to visit a site of unspeakable horror
Prora was built between 1936 and 1939 as holiday resort for the Nazi regimes "strength through joy" but it has never been used. The buildings extend over 4.5 km and has a formal heritage listing as a very striking example of Nazi - architecture.Credit: iStock
The first development, called Prora Solitaire, opened this summer. It boasts a cream-coloured façade, glass-fronted balconies and an on-site spa. Already more than 95 per cent of its holiday apartments have been sold, thanks to tax breaks afforded to investors, a healthy economy and record low interest rates.
"It is basically the last new complex in Germany where you have direct access to such a gorgeous beach," sales representative of Irisgerd real estate Werner Jung told AFP.
But the development of the area has caused some consternation as some say that the history of the estate should not be whitewashed.
"On the one hand there's an interest maintaining it as a memorial, and on the other there are the interests of the investors who have put a lot of money into this and want to see something for it," said Jung. "I think it's a good compromise."
See also: UNESCO World Heritage status sites: 10 of the best
Katja Lucke, chief historian at a private museum on site, however, is keen to ensure that Prora's past is remembered at the resort.
"This is a place where 20,000 people were to be groomed to work and wage war," she told the news agency. "Of course people see this gigantic complex and are fascinated by it. But you cannot afford to make it banal. You have to put it in context."
It is understood that up to 600 forced labourers worked on the complex under the Nazis.
Another museum is run by Susanna Misgajski. She said: "Military conscripts, prisoners of war, forced labourers, refugees - they were all in Prora at various points."
The two museums hope to merge and become a permanent fixture on the site, but this will likely depend on the outcome of an election this week in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state, and to whether they can count on government support.
A report in 2011, cited the resort had been transformed into one of the country's largest youth hostels.
The Telegraph, London
See also: Cambodia's chilling house of terror, and why you must visit
See also: Chernobyl video: The eerie abandoned city, 30 years after nuclear disaster
Sign up for the Traveller Deals newsletter
Get exclusive travel deals delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up now.