Prora
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Prora was a Nazi-planned spa on the island Rügen, Germany. The massive building complex was built 1936-1939 as a Kraft durch Freude (KdF) project. The eight buildings are identical, and while they were planned as a holiday locale, they were never used. The complex is notable as a particularly striking example of Third Reich architecture.
Prora sits on an extensive bay between the Sassnitz and Binz regions, near Prorer Wiek, on the narrow heath, which is called the Prora, which separates the Jasmunder Bodden from the Baltic Sea. The buildings extend over a length of 4.5 km and are roughly 150 m from the beach. The coast offers a long flat sand beach, which stretches from Binz to the Fährhafen. This beach was thus an ideal location for the establishment of a seaside resort.
[edit] History
Prora was built as a workers resort, planned to house 20,000 holidaymakers, under the ideal that every worker deserved a holiday at the beach. Designed by Clemens Klotz (1886-1969), all rooms were planned to overlook the ocean. Later plans included two wave-swimming pools, a theatre, a cinema and a festival hall that could seat all 20,000 persons. A large dock for passenger ships was also planned.
In the 1937 World's Fair in Paris, the complete plans for the Prora were given the Grand Prix of Architecture.
Each room of 5 by 2.5 metres (15' x 8') was planned to have two beds, an armoire (wardrobe) and a sink. Communal toilets and showers were located down the hall.
During the few years that Prora was under construction from 1936-1939 all major construction companies of the Reich were involved at some level. In this construction project nearly 9,000 construction workers were involved.
With the onset of World War II in 1939 construction on Prora stopped. The eight housing blocks, the theatre and cinema stayed as empty shells, and the swimming pools and festival hall were not yet built. When the war became a war of bombs many people from Hamburg took refuge in one of the housing blocks. By the end of the war, these buildings served to house female auxiliary personnel for the Luftwaffe.
In 1945 the Soviet Army took control of the region, and established a base at Prora. The sturdy but derelict shell of the complex remains as a tourist curiosity.
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