Prora – Nazi Architecture on Rügen Island

This month, I went to the German island Rügen for five days and stayed one day in Hanzestadt Greifswald. I swam in the sea, biked 40 km, walked 15 km through the forest and I went to one of the northernmost spots of Germany. But the most impressive was my visit to Prora, the place where the Nazi's started to build the largest holiday resort of the world.

We start with the trip from Greifswald to the beach of Sellin (famous of the 394 meters long pier, see picture): inside car, overgrown track, small zoo, good jazz, bridge at Stralsund, Altefähr, Rügen, 30 km, Sellin, pension, walk, forest, steep, beach, swim, big jellyfish, small jellyfish, blue towel, clouded, sun, shade, silence, magazine, loud guy, mental handicapped, 'You have to wear a shirt', people in tent-construction, applying sunblock, loads of sand, murmur of the sea, children playing in the sand, filming father, filmed daughter, naked woman, splashing water...

MACHT Urlaub
After an early breakfast at Pension Störtebeker in Sellin (named after pirate Klaus Störtebeker who lived at the end of the 14th century), I get in my car with destination Prora. This small town is situated at the most beautiful bay on the island. After a 30 minutes ride, I arrive as one of the first visitors at the parking lot of the 'seaside resort for 20.000'. After paying the parking fee, I get inside the Prora Documentation Centre where I visit the exhibition 'MACHT Urlaub' (a word play meaning both 'make holiday' and 'power holiday').

The leader of the German Labor Front, Robert Ley, stated that Hitler himself has had the idea of building five seaside resorts. However, it is only in Prora where building really started. Hitler himself chose the design by the Cologne architect, Clemens Klotz. The seaside resort contains a 4,5 kilometres long building strip, consisting of five blocks, each with a length of 500 metres. This enormous building was designed to house 20.000 holiday makers. All rooms measure 5,0 x 2,5 m², contain two hospital beds and have seaview. The shared toilet facilities were located at the other side of the building.

Strength through Joy
The construction took place between 1936 and 1939 on the authority of the Nazi association KdF – 'Kraft durch Freude' ('Strength through Joy'). As World War II started in 1939, all construction work stopped and the workers were withdrawn. So, the building was never completed and would never serve its intended purpose. Between 1939 and the end of the war, some parts of the construction were used as an education camp for police officers. Any further work was carried out by people sentenced to forced labour and prisoners of war. In 1943, citizens of Hamburg, who had been left homeless by the allied bombing raids, were housed at Prora. From 1944 it did serve as a military hospital. During the era of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) Prora was declared a military prohibited area and was not open to the public until 1991.

Nowadays, Prora is well known as an architectural monument and a part of the social history of 'The Third Reich'. Prora claims to be the largest closed architectural residue of the Nazi era. The unfinished construction shows the failure of the Nazi's social policy.

Urban Exploring
It is not easy to urban explore the building, since most of the windows have been barricaded. That is why I go to the northern part of the building. And there I find a open window to climb into the building. But, since I am on my own and the inside darkness, I only explore for ten minutes. There are better explore possibilities at Rügen near the village of Lobbe (see picture).

The northernmost point of Rügen island is Kap Arkona, famous of the lighthouses (see picture). The older, angular lighthouse was built in 1826 and was designed by the famous architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel. He is the architect of the Altes Museum, the Neue Wache, the Schauspielhaus at the Gendarmenmarket, the Schlossbrücke, Schloss Tegel, the Friedrichswerdersche Kirche, the Neuer Pavillon, Schloss Glienicke, the Bauakademie and the Luisenkirche in Berlin and Schloss Charlottenhof, the Nikolaikirche, the Römische Bäder and Schloss Babelsberg in Potsdam.