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There is a 10,000 room beachfront hotel that no has
has ever stayed at. A hotel so huge it stretches over a staggering three
miles and has 10,000 bedrooms all facing the sea.
That is because this beach resort named Prora was build by the Nazis
between 1936 and 1939 on Hitler’s orders. Prora lies on an extensive bay
between the Sassnitz and Binz regions, known as the Prorer Wiek, on the
narrow heath (the Prora) which separates the lagoon of the Kleiner
Jasmunder Bodden from the Baltic Sea.
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The buildings extend over a length of 4.5 kilometres and are roughly 150
metres from the beach. The coast offers a long flat sand beach, which
stretches from Binz to the ferry port.
This beach was thus an ideal location for the establishment of a seaside
resort.During that same period, Hitler was making preparations for war
which ultimately took priority, and the massive building project was
never finished.
During the few years that Prora was under construction, all major
construction companies of the Reich and nearly 9,000 workers were
involved in this project. With the onset of World War II in 1939,
building on Prora stopped and the construction workers transferred to
weapon factories.
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The eight housing blocks, the theatre and cinema stayed as empty shells,
and the swimming pools and festival hall never materialised. During the
Allied bombing campaign, many people from Hamburg took refuge in one of
the housing blocks.
After the war, Prora was used as a military outpost for the East German
army. But since German reunification in 1990, the buildings have stood
empty. The vast complex, designed to accommodate 20,000 visitors, was
part of the Nazis’ “Strength through Joy” (“Kraft durch Freude,” KdF)
program.
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The aim was to provide leisure activities for German workers and spread
Nazi propaganda.Today, the whole place is still pretty deserted, except
for a small museum and disco.Locals call Prora the Colossus, due to its
gigantic monumental structure.
There are hundreds of empty rooms, with many windows smashed by
vandals.After years of debate, the plan now is to turn Prora into a
modern holiday resort, with four of the five blocks having been sold to
private investors.
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Developers have a new vision. They want to build hundreds of holiday
apartments, with cafes, discos, hotels, sports halls and swimming pools
in order to attract thousands of visitors.It’s so stark and overbearing,
typical of Third Reich architecture. Just walking up to it must have
felt oppressive. |