The Lunacy Of Prora

The craziness and monstrosity of Prora can only be fully grasped when one is actually on location. The sheer lunacy of the project can´t really fit in a blogpost, so whenever you´re close-by, please convince yourself of the existence of one of those weird things you´d never thought could possibly exist, albeit in the minds of alien-controlled conspiracy psychopaths. It´s crazy, it´s huge and it´s mind-boggling.

Prora was planned by the Nazis as a centralized vacation and recreation factory for the masses. The ideological motivation was to keep the Germanic race in a good temper amidst all the consolidation that was transforming German society. A happy and content Nazi won´t question the leadership and its plans and goals - such was the reasoning of the propaganda masterminds. The plan never took action because the war interfered with the completion of the project, even though more than half had been constructed. The concrete nightmare fell into oblivion, and after the war the East German Army used parts of it.

Now, parts of the ruined buildings are being renovated and rebuilt for touristic and money generating reasons - real estate firms set up and sell luxury apartments for prices that would be asked for in the Hamptons. But the east coast of Rügen and its beaches are not the Hamptons and still there seems to be a clientele ready to pay any asked price. Apart from that, other parts are being used as a youth hostel, a high-end hotel, and a museum about the place and its history. 

Berlin wall artists on the move, or does Rügen have its own sub-culture?

Redevelopment underway...

...old windows are replaced by up-to-date ones.

Just a small part of the 2.5 km (1.5 miles). The original plan was allotted for 4.5 km (2.8 miles).

Just a few yards from the colossus lies one of the most beautiful beaches of Rügen.

Part of the planned shipping pier...

...where cruise ships of the national "Kraft durch Freude" organization were to

pick up the masses and make them even happier than they already were.

The signs read Education by the sea  and  ...more education.

Absolutely compulsory in these times.

The ruins, the beaches and redevelopment efforts attract a lot of tourists.

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Gallery